Pariyaram Medical College: No Benefit; Pariyaram medical school college students go on strike – The trial court docket right here on Saturday…

Posted on by

Kannur: Students are getting ready for an indefinite strike to protest the non-payment of payment exemption regardless of the takeover of Pariyaram Medical College. Students enrolled within the self-financing system earlier than the federal government takes over the medical school are getting ready to strike. The college students complain that they need to pay big charges even after the federal government takes over.

Also learn:.

'The credit score of land reforms shouldnt be given to anybody else': Kanam

Students whove been admitted to benefit in 2018 are getting ready for the strike earlier than the federal government takes over. Students pay a hard and fast payment once they have been in a cooperative medical school. Students complain that theres a distinction between the charges paid by the federal government and the charges already paid by the federal government.

Also learn:.

Move to take away Sasheendran from state cupboard Manny C Kappan part with mannequins

They are getting particular charges from them as much as forty thousand rupees. The college students say they need it to be examined. The similar scenario prevailed when the Kalamassery Medical College was taken over earlier. When the Nayanar authorities took over the medical school, the scholars have been getting ready for a strike, alleging that everybody had diminished their charges.

Dileep will get no escape

(function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0); if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

fbq('init', '459529110917769'); fbq('track', "PageView");

Abigale is a Masters in Business Administration by education. After completing her post-graduation, Abigale jumped the journalism bandwagon as a freelance journalist. Soon after that she landed a job of reporter and has been climbing the news industry ladder ever since to reach the post of editor at Our Bitcoin News.

See the rest here:
Pariyaram Medical College: No Benefit; Pariyaram medical school college students go on strike - The trial court docket right here on Saturday...

Trudy Lieberman: Low-value tests are costly, can lead to harm; limit medical costs by avoiding them – User-generated content

Posted on by

We know too well the cost of American health care keeps rising as far as the eye can see. In 1995 health care accounted for 13.4 percent of GDP; in 2018 it consumed 17.7 percent. It is projected to rise even more.

Despite all the talk about how patients should become wise consumers of medical care, they cant really do much to stop the big hospital systems, big physician groups, or powerful drug companies from charging the prices they do. In our system, those groups pretty much control what medical care costs.

There is, however, one thing patients can do that would contribute to eliminating some wasteful health care spending and at the same time get better care for themselves. They can try to avoid what health researchers call low-value care.

Trudy Lieberman

Health researchers estimate that low-value medical services add up to about $100 billion in health care spending each year. Thats waste that pushes up insurance premiums, deductibles, and other cost-sharing we all have to pay.

Perhaps even more important, low-value tests can lead to what medical researchers call cascades, a series of tests and treatments that follow from a test.

They are incredibly common, said primary-care doctor and health-policy researcher Dr. Ishani Ganguli, who is also an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School.

They occur when an unexpected finding leads to new tests, phone calls, ER visits, invasive procedures, or hospitalizations.

Weve observed most cascades lead to nothing.

Ganguli and colleagues looked at Medicare bills for cataract surgery, one of the most common and low-risk procedures for older adults. Pre-operative testing doesnt change outcomes or reduce your risk of complications from surgery, she said.

Every group of 100 people who got an EKG before cataract surgery also got up to 11 extra tests, office visits, treatments, new diagnoses, or hospitalizations in the next three months. Researchers estimated the extra cost was $35 million in one year, 10 times more than the total cost of all the initial EKGs.

On average, those extra treatments offered no benefits, Ganguli said.

Given those outcomes, why are eye surgeons still ordering the test? Some erroneously believe Medicare requires the test. Others do it out of habit or because their colleagues still order the tests. Some have experienced malpractice claims or are worried about being sued if something is missed.

Another study of some 400 physicians found more proof that cascades can cause further harm. All but two doctors surveyed had experienced cascades for their patients, and also either they or their family members had experienced them. The doctors reported that such cascades harm patients psychologically, physically, and financially.

That study also found that doctors in rural areas were more likely to say such cascades harmed patients. Such tests left many of the rural doctors feeling anxious and frustrated, and many believed they had wasted a lot of time and effort dealing with the additional tests and treatments. Ganguli said some may be frustrated by the lack of resources in rural areas and the additional burden placed on patients who may have to travel miles for some test that might be unnecessary in the first place.

So what should patients do?

If you have a medical abnormality that is in the gray area, its hard to leave it alone. Anxiety often drives the cascade. Still, patients in that situation need to ask a lot of questions about why further testing or medical procedures are necessary and whether more information would tell a doctor something new. Patients need to understand up front what the consequences might be.

A few years ago, the American Board of Internal Medicine and other partners launched the Choosing Wisely project, which aims to help patients select tests and treatments that are evidence-based, non-duplicative of other tests, and are truly necessary. Check its website choosingwisely.org to learn about low-value tests.

Trudy Lieberman writes for Community Health News Service. Contact her at trudy.lieberman@gmail.com.

Go here to read the rest:
Trudy Lieberman: Low-value tests are costly, can lead to harm; limit medical costs by avoiding them - User-generated content

Michigan Medicine kicks off celebration of 150th anniversary – University of Michigan Health System News

Posted on by

One hundred and fifty years ago this month, something extraordinary happened at the University of Michigan. Its effects have reverberated down through history not only on the campus, but across the state and nation.

In December 1869, the first patients checked in to the universitys first hospital.

It wasnt a fancy facility just 20 beds in a converted former professors house on North University Avenue, where the Chemistry Building now stands.

Its patients had to travel across the Diag, to the Medical School building built 20 years before, to have an operation or examination by a professor with hundreds of medical students looking on.

The professor's house that was converted to become the first U-M hospital.

But its opening marked the first time an American university had run a hospital, adding patient care to its missions of medical education and research. The birth of the academic medical center now known as Michigan Medicine began a movement that spread to universities across the country, and accelerated medical innovation.

A celebration of that 150th birthday begins today, and will continue through most of 2020, marking many of the medical and life sciences milestones and achievements that have happened at U-M and helped transform care everywhere.

A new timeline of historical events has just launched on the Michigan Medicine website, along with links to resources to explore U-Ms medical history further and a new overview video.

Theres also a video of a recent lecture by Joel Howell, M.D., Ph.D., co-author of the 2017 book Medicine at Michigan: A History of the University of Michigan Medical School at the Bicentennial and the Elizabeth Farrand Collegiate Professor in Medical History, as well as a professor of internal medicine, history, and health management and policy.

Throughout the coming months, new stories and social media posts will bring Michigan Medicines history to life, linked by the hashtag #michmed150 on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Anyone at the university interested in receiving updates when new stories or updates are available may join an email list.

Michigan Medicine faculty, staff, retirees, alumni and patients will be invited to share their memories, and interact with historical content, too. Units within Michigan Medicine can tap into the celebration by noting events in their own past all have firsts or major national contributions of their own.

See the original post:
Michigan Medicine kicks off celebration of 150th anniversary - University of Michigan Health System News

The Relation Between Calcaneus Stiffness Index as a Measure of Bone De | JMDH – Dove Medical Press

Posted on by

Khalid Ali,1 Salma MS El Said,2 Nermien N Adly,2 Samia A Abdul-Rahman2

1Academic Department of Geriatrics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK; 2Geriatrics and Gerontology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Correspondence: Salma MS El SaidGeriatrics and Gerontology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Emtedad Ramsis Street, Abbasia, Cairo, EgyptTel +201222202878Email Salma_elsaid@med.asu.edu.eg

Background: Obesity and osteoporosis are two conditions that are associated with morbidity and mortality; there is contradictory evidence regarding this association.Purpose: The aim of the current study was to explore further the association between obesity and calcaneus stiffness index (CSI), as a measure of bone density, in a community-based cross-sectional study in an Egyptian population.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among active subjects, aged 20 years old, over one year. CSI was measured by Quantitative ultrasound (QUS), in addition; QUS T-score and Z-score of the non-dominant heel scan were recorded.Results: Two hundred and eighty participants were recruited; 7 subjects were excluded because of Z score more than 2, mean age was 61 ( 11.9) years, and mean BMI was 29.7 (5.6). Female participants were 77.7%, with mean of age 60.3 ( 11.6); and age range 2082 years. Male participants were 22.3%, with mean of age 63.6 ( 12.7); and age range 3080 years. Older subjects (>55 years) had significantly lower CSI and worse T-score than the younger subjects (P < 0.001 for both). In the younger age group, BMI was not significantly associated with CSI, even after adjustment for gender (P= 0.52). However, in the older age group, BMI was significantly associated with stiffness index (P= 0.049, O.R.= 1.73), even after adjustment for gender (P= 0.041, O.R.= 1.7).Conclusion: Compared to young subjects, older subjects (55 years) had significantly lower bone strength as measured by CSI, and their BMI was significantly positively associated with bone density. In younger people(<55 years), BMI was not associated with bone strength.

Keywords: BMI, bone, obesity, QUS, stiffness index

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

See original here:
The Relation Between Calcaneus Stiffness Index as a Measure of Bone De | JMDH - Dove Medical Press

Essay: It is OK to continue searching for a career after graduation – GW Hatchet

Posted on by

I thought my career path would be sorted out by the time I became a senior in college, but I have just one semester left and still do not know what career path to pursue. That sounds daunting at first, but I have come to realize that the end of college does not need to be a deadline for finding a job I love.

I studied as an English major with a pre-medicine track when I came to GW, thinking I would head to graduate school afterward. But as I headed further into my studies, I struggled in some pre-med courses and was finally told by my adviser that I am not a good fit for medicine. Feeling directionless, I turned to friends and family to help me figure out how I should spend my time post-graduation.

Now, I plan to graduate college and spend one or two gap years preparing for the medical school admission test and gaining more hands-on experience in the field by shadowing physicians or working as a medical tech in a hospital. The time off is not what I originally anticipated, but I know these opportunities will help me better prepare for the career in medicine I have always wanted.

It is easy to feel nervous at the idea of being jobless after graduation, but I have realized that it is better to spend time navigating my interests than to dive into a path I may not be ready to pursue. I spent time volunteering at the GW Hospital and internship in health care advocacy and policy organizations, but I still felt that I lacked enough perspective to take on a job right away. Some of my peers who are currently in medical school pursued research, some worked in the hospital, some pursued teaching and others went to graduate school. Knowing my friends knew their post-graduate plans made me feel pressured to continue on the path I set at the beginning of college, but I know some time off will ultimately be more valuable for me.

It is OK not knowing what you want to do immediately after college. The caveat is that you should be vigilant and diligent about finding a suitable passion. Use your time to find new opportunities instead of waiting for a job to come to you. Before the summer begins, I plan to publish a book about pediatric cancer patients and would like to participate in medical missions overseas to determine whether I really want to help others through medicine. It may not be what I originally wanted a few years ago, taking on these opportunities could help me become more confident in where I want my life to go.

My church ministry leader once told me to stick it out once you commit. I realized that I lost confidence in my abilities after a bad grade or a discouraging comment and always thought about giving up. Rather than basing success on how fast it is achieved or how many traditional steps taken, I think success should be based on my own timeline. If more skill and certainty can be built with a gap year, then take a gap year. College is already a handful of growth and learning but post-graduate life is also another handful of experiences. I am still unsure about my future but I think that I will find answers with each small step I take. I might still be apprehensive, but I am excited to meet a new phase in life.

Jina Park, a senior majoring in English, is an opinions writer.

This article appeared in the January 3, 2019 issue of the Hatchet.

Follow this link:
Essay: It is OK to continue searching for a career after graduation - GW Hatchet

‘Sacred’ ceremony at University of Minnesota honors those who donated their bodies to science – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted on by

Norma Telander took her Scrabble seriously. On the rare occasion when her grandchildren or great-grandchildren bested her, they knew they had won honestly. Telander was too competitive to throw a game, even to her beloved family.

She beat me right before she died, when she was 96 and in transitional care recovering from a broken hip, said her granddaughter Laurie Bauer. She was always such fun, so generous. Thats the core of who she was.

On a recent evening, 10 members of Telanders intergenerational family climbed the steps of Northrop auditorium to attend the Academic Health Centers annual Service of Gratitude. The ceremony, which included performances by medical students, paid solemn tribute to the 688 people who, like Telander, bequeathed their bodies to the University of Minnesota in the past year.

They made a brave and selfless decision, Dr. Mark Rosenberg, vice dean of education at the medical school, said as he thanked families and friends of the donors. In life, they were barbers, firefighters, nurses, homemakers. They are united in death as teachers.

Those who become what are called whole body donors choose to leave their physical remains to be used for education and research purposes. At the U of M, cadavers are used in anatomy courses required for medical and dental students and those preparing for careers as physician assistants, physical therapists and other medical careers.

Current health care practitioners learning new surgical techniques, researchers pioneering clinical breakthroughs and medical device companies preparing new approaches also rely on donor bodies to advance their work.

What our students and researchers learn from the gifts will impact health care outcomes in their communities and around the world, said Angela McArthur, director of the universitys Anatomy Bequest program.

Although the program hosts the Service of Gratitude, the students who spend long days dissecting cadavers in the anatomy lab are responsible for its production from greeting family members as they arrive to performing for them.

Uriel Vasquez Rios, 27, in his first year in the Us School of Dentistry, led the committee that sought Health Science Center students to participate in the event.

Rios said it was gratitude that motivated him to take on the task. Hed been studying human anatomy from two-dimensional illustrations, but that paled in comparison to what he is learning by working from a human body.

You see the variations and learn about size and texture when you actually grasp the organs, bones and muscles, he said. When I used my scalpel to go through the tissue for the first time, I realized that without the gift from this person I wouldnt have this opportunity.

My future patients will benefit because I have this foundation.

Schooled in respect

Ben Byun and Paul Cho are in the first semester of their first year of medical school. Theyre still adjusting to jammed days and a punishing study schedule, but the classmates, both 23, carved out about 20 hours to rehearse a demanding musical piece to perform at the Service of Gratitude.

They played Sicilienne a Gabriel Faur composition that gained renewed fame when it was played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Performing it is a labor of love, said Byun, a cellist. We put time and emotion in preparing and its taken effort; its not simple. Its a small, nonverbal way of saying thanks.

The pair of doctors-in-training played their best, knowing that members of the audience are likely related to the bodies assigned to them in the anatomy lab.

At first were cautious; cutting is so unnerving and foreign. In every person we see differences that books dont teach you, the variations in the fat and the skin and the connective tissue. You have to get comfortable so you can do what youll need to do, said Byun. As it becomes more familiar, you feel a connection to the cadaver.

Before any student picks up a scalpel, they have been schooled by faculty members in a culture of respect.

Our instructors instill in us that this is someones loved one. They remind us to think about how we would want to be treated if we were a donor, said Cho. What we do is profound and powerful.

Sacred and stirring

Jean Larson, a volunteer advocate for the Anatomy Bequest program, has become a regular presence at the annual Service of Gratitude. She first attended in 2015, when her husband of 60 years was recognized for his whole body donation.

This ceremony is stirring and sacred, she said. Its meant to be a thank-you from the students to us, but I am here offering my gratitude back to them, for how graciously they treated us in every step of the process. Im thankful for the service. Im thankful they show their thanks.

Now 84, Larson has formalized plans to leave her body to the university.

Its the thing to do, she said. I believe in medical advancement. I wouldnt want a surgeon working on me who hadnt seen inside a human body.

The highlight of the service was a slide show of the donors. Each appeared in a larger-than-life image projected onto a screen.

They smiled in formal portraits likely lifted from church directories or in candid snapshots a proud mother of the bride, a pastor in a clerical collar, a serviceman posing in his military uniform, a fisherman driving his boat on a bright summer day.

And then there was the picture of Norma Telander, sitting in front of her Scrabble board.

When her image appeared on the screen, the Telander family issued a collective gasp. A few shed some tears.

My life was enriched by her. I miss her terribly, said stepdaughter Barb Heilman. But it was an amazing tribute. This felt like a celebration and, oh, it was so touching. So good to see her again.

Kevyn Burger is a Minneapolis-based freelance broadcaster and writer.

Continue reading here:
'Sacred' ceremony at University of Minnesota honors those who donated their bodies to science - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Earned bachelor’s abroad? Key facts on U.S. med school admissions – American Medical Association

Posted on by

According to the Association of American Medical College (AAMC), 49 medical schools last year indicated that they accepted international applicants. In 2017, AAMC application data shows that about 15% of applicants who attended undergrad internationally were accepted and matriculated to U.S. medical schools.

What are the unique challenges you might encounter as an international applicant and how can you succeed in spite of them?

In short, if you are not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who holds a green card, youll need to clearly state your visa status on your application.

Most schools require international students to have one of the types of visas that allows them to reside and study in the United States. Some schools may work with certain students to sponsor them for a student Visa.

Very few other countries have a grading system similar to that of U.S. undergraduate institutions. This likely means that if you are an international applicant, you will not have an undergraduate grade point average (GPA). It is possible to have a third-party turn your international marks into a GPA equivalentsome medical schools will require it.

In addition, you are likely to have to do additional coursework in the U.S. to get your prerequisites out of the way.

Luke Burns, now a second-year ob-gyn resident at Michigan Health, attended university in the U.K., but hoped to attend medical school in the U.S. and had to go this route.

I had to get the pre-requisites out of the way, so I went to a premedical post-baccalaureate program at Mills College in Oakland to do two years of premed sciences. he said. That gave me some knowledge of how American education works in the first place and it started me off with a GPA.

If youre an international student who doesnt have many connections in the U.S., it can be challenging to find the types of volunteer and shadowing opportunities medical schools value among applicants.

Dr. Burns noted that he didnt have any relatives who were doctors or physicians who had cared for me. ... Coming to a brand-new place, I had to find ways to get medical experience on my own.

The post-baccalaureate program Dr. Burns attended provided a few opportunities, such as a bulletin board where you could sign up for things, he said. Most of it was cold calling. I ended up doing research with a local pediatrician who was in private practice by finding him on my own.

Dr. Burns did spend some time in the U.S. growing uphe holds a green cardbut he was born abroad and spent much of his life away from the country. That, he believes, may have separated him from other applicants.

Many of my classmates spent their whole lives within the same 100 square miles, said Dr. Burns, who ended up earning his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego. I come from somewhere else. And its not just me. Many of my [international] classmates had really interesting things happen in their lives that informed why they wanted to become doctors.

More here:
Earned bachelor's abroad? Key facts on U.S. med school admissions - American Medical Association

Texas Tech Medical School, Under Pressure From Education Dept …

Posted on by

Soon after, the Health Sciences Center School of Medicine and Texas Tech University, the undergraduate campus in the Texas Tech system, announced that they would begin considering race in admissions. Mr. Clegg challenged the decision on the ground that race should be used only as a last resort.

But for the fall 2014 class, the undergraduate campus removed any consideration of race in admissions. As a result, the Education Department dismissed the case.

The department continued to investigate the Health Sciences Center, and found that the medical school was continuing to use race-conscious admissions, according to documents in the case.

The policies had a significant effect on the makeup of the medical school. Enrollment went from 9 percent Hispanic in the class that entered in 2004 to 16 percent in the class that entered in 2018. The university said that it was trying to recruit more Hispanic students in part to send more people to practice medicine in underserved communities in West Texas, according to documents in the case.

Mr. Clegg said the investigation, which had begun during the George W. Bush administration, had lasted through the Obama years, which suggests that even under a liberal Democratic administration, there were problems with admissions practices.

The medical school defended race-conscious admissions by saying it needed to recruit students who showed the cultural sensitivity that would allow them to serve racially diverse patients, according to a letter from the Education Departments civil rights office. Federal officials were concerned that the medical schools admissions process violated civil rights law.

Eric D. Bentley, vice chancellor and general counsel of the Texas Tech University System, said in a letter to the civil rights office that while the medical school believed it was in compliance with the law, it was agreeing to stop using race in admissions in an effort to resolve this matter and focus on educating future health care providers.

The decision was effective March 1, according to the agreement, and set a deadline of Sept. 1 to revise all admissions and recruitment materials to reflect the changes. It did not, the agreement said, constitute an admission that the university had run afoul of civil rights law.

Originally posted here:
Texas Tech Medical School, Under Pressure From Education Dept ...

Medical Evacuees From The California Fires: The New Refugees Of Climate Change – Forbes

Posted on by

SANTA ROSA, CA - OCTOBER 26: A caravan of ambulances arrive at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital ... [+] which began an orderly evacuation of patients in Santa Rosa Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. The hospital is in a mandatory evacuations area due to the Kincade Fire. (Photo by Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

A recent New York Times Op-Ed (When Do No Harm Means Evacuating Hospitals In California) by Dr. Stephen Parodi, Associate Executive Director of The Permanente Group, describing the devastating effects of the recent California fires, truly brings climate change one step closer to all patients, hospitals and healthcare providers.

Parodi, responsible for emergency management of 21 hospitals, is now performing duties that he never typically did in the past: evacuating patients from hospitals that are threatened by the flames and torrential winds driving them.

His thesis, that medical evacuees are the new refugees of climate change, has a powerful impact and provides an ongoing wake-up call that we must act now to institute measures to reduce our carbon footprint in order to save our planet and future generations.

Patients requiring evacuation for devastating fires are now a primary concern for at-risk hospitals in California. Planning for such an evacuation and the important steps in the process is now a critical aspect of emergency disaster preparedness planning, as Parodi vividly describes in his piece.

Throughout the night, critically ill babies were bundled up, placed in incubators and then put in ambulances, writes Parodi. Laboring mothers and their families were presented with unimaginable choices: Should we wait for the baby to be born while fires rage outside? Should we move now and risk delivery in the ambulance? Surgeries underway in the operating room required battlefield-like urgency. Close the patient. Stabilize. Get everyone out.

Parodi raises an important point for future planning for such natural disasters: Should this be part of our new normaladding training for such evacuations to the curriculum of medical schools and making them part of residency training?

Unless we can reduce the effects of climate change, it certainly looks like we wont be removing this curriculum addition anytime soon, argues Dr. Paul Biddinger, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Chief, Division of Emergency Preparedness, Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Disaster Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Were facing changes that we just aren't prepared for, he cautions.

We are talking about climate change in the [residency and fellowship training curriculum] on two fronts, says Biddinger. These include the health effects of climate change leading to adverse health effects, and extreme climate events such as severe heat waves or superstorms, creating immediate threats to health leading to spikes in asthma, heart failure and coronary heart disease.

Biddinger has been on the front lines of multiple natural disasters, including Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and the Nepal Earthquake in 2015. His hands-on experience allows him to reflect on the effects of climate change, with a reminder that unlesswe update our infrastructure, we must be prepared for the deadly consequences associated with climate change.

I think that these recent fires have taught us that the infrastructure around us is more vulnerable than we ever thought it was, offers Biddinger. I dont think we had ever thought we would intentionally be turning off the power to hospitals and communities to try and protect them from the effects of climate changebut thats what we need to do in certain circumstances.

Many of us in hospital emergency preparedness are worried that the grid and other utilities are less reliable than we had thought they were because of climate change, and therefore weve had to really reassess our plans for when and how we need to try for independence and/or we need to improve our evacuation plans and systems, adds Biddinger.

But its not only wildfires we need to be concerned about, Biddinger explains. I think it's not just wildfiresincreasingly both at the coasts for flooding, as well as inland, we are seeing flooding forcing the evacuation of more and more hospitals, the result of more powerful superstorms and hurricanes over the past decade.

Biddinger adds that we are seeing this pattern with these storms with predictability and recurrence, either because of hurricanes and storms that come off the sea or due to greater amounts of precipitation over longer periods of time.

These are several reasons, likely directly related to climate change, that we can expect to see both hospital and patient populations displaced, he offers.

Beyond winds and torrential rains associated with such powerful storms, the ability to sustain power in the midst of such natural disasters is a key challenge.

It was definitely floods, but also power loss emphasizes Biddinger, who worked in a shelter in Queens during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Part of it was flooding, but also electricity failures that we confronted in a medical shelter.

Biddinger also cites the voluminous amounts of rainfall and duration of Hurricane Harvey in Houston in 2017 as evidence that you dont have to live on the coast to be at risk for severe effects of such powerful storms.

We saw this around Houston, that you don't necessarily just have to be coastala lot of the flooding is coming from the severity of precipitation and the length of the storms, lasting longer and moving more slowly so they dump a greater volume of rain, he explains.

Parodis warnings that we must enact change now to combat climate change, and improve upon existing hospital protocols for such disasters is a reminder of the key role that health care institutions serve as climate change continues to affect our lives.

He also describes the sheer devastation from the recent fires and their impact on normal hospital operations, requiring a large scale effort to transfer all types of patients and illustrating how fragile life can truly be. It shows how natural disasters, including hurricanes and tornadoes, can interrupt scheduling of planned or elective surgeries and medical care we typically take for granted.

Its an incredibly complicated calculation of risk when you know a threat is coming, explains Biddinger. You want to pare down your hospital operations to the absolute minimum so that you don't have people in the operating room or intensive care unit (ICU) who will be at risk if you have to evacuate.

But its not an interruption of elective care or even scheduled care, Biddinger argues-its the continuum of all patient care. These are important and life-sustaining elements of patient care, whether its a cancer-related surgery or even a scheduled cardiac bypass surgery.

That necessary calculation that Biddinger eloquently describes-not to do scheduled procedures and surgeries as a natural disaster approaches due to a greater riskultimately has downstream consequences impacting patient care and outcomes. This disruptive aspect to patient care is the new normal that we must contain in the throes of climate change. Its akin to choosing between the lesser of 2 significant evils, he warns.

Biddinger also stresses that all physicians, not just emergency and disaster physicians, should be well aware of the effects of climate change on health care delivery and patient outcomes.

Because we know it adversely affects the health of our patients, as well as undermines the ability of the medical system to deliver care, we really all have to pay attention and advocate for change.

Go here to see the original:
Medical Evacuees From The California Fires: The New Refugees Of Climate Change - Forbes

Dell Med Joins Efforts With The Refuge For DMST To Care For Recovering Survivors Of Child Sex Trafficking At The Refuge Ranch – inForney.com

Posted on by

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Refuge for DMST (Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking) is collaborating with the Department of Psychiatry at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin to help improve the lives of young people recovering from sex trafficking by providing care at The Refuge Ranch -- the largest long-term, live-in rehabilitation facility for child survivors of sex trafficking in the United States.

As part of this collaboration, two senior Department of Psychiatry faculty members, Jeffrey Newport, MD and Valerie Rosen, MD oversee psychopharmacological and evidence-based psychotherapeutic treatment, respectfully, and a senior psychiatry resident provides weekly psychiatric services. Together, the team conducts diagnostic assessment and psychiatric treatment planning for child survivors currently living at The Refuge Ranch.

The Dell Med team, led by Charles B. Nemeroff, MD, PhD, professor and acting chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Institute for Early Life Adversity Research, also plans to conduct research with The Refuge Ranch therapeutic and medical staff to better understand the specific needs of young people who have experienced sex trafficking.

The research component would involve following the child survivors at The Refuge Ranch for the next 1.5 to 2 years, from when they were first admitted, to their discharge, then during their transition from The Refuge Ranch to a new living environment. During that time, data could be collected to determine the effectiveness of various trauma-focused therapies and identify the best predictors of treatment response.

"The Refuge is an extraordinary resource, a one-of-a-kind facility for treating those who have experienced trafficking and is unique in the nation for its current level of care," said Dr. Nemeroff. "This is an extremely vulnerable group of young people who have significant health needs stemming from trauma. Understanding those particular needs requires research that's carefully conducted with appropriate safeguards in place to protect these young women during their recovery," he said.

"Our goal is to provide the very best care available for child survivors of sex trafficking," said Brooke Crowder, CEO and Founder of The Refuge for DMST. "With faculty from Dell Med rounding out our psychiatric care, The Refuge Circle of Care that wraps around each girl is complete. Through research collaboration, we also see the potential to gather empirical data about a population that has been hard to study. Trafficked children frequently run away as a self-defense mechanism and it's hard to turn off, even when they feel safe. The Refuge Ranch is a place where the girls can finally turn off that hyper-aware state of fight-flight-or-freeze and be a kid again. In this safe environment, psychiatrists can help us to assess what treatments work best. This ground-breaking data could help other facilities work with their state legislatures to inform policy decisions. With empirical data in front of them, it should be easier for states to help the most vulnerable children in the child welfare system."

The Refuge Circle of Care provides comprehensive treatment for young survivors, with trauma-focused programs addressing their unique psychological, physical, educational, social, spiritual needs, while improving community connections with relatives, and teaching independent living and job skills.

These new psychiatric services will add to current services provided by The Refuge Ranch staff, which already include weekly one-on-one therapy sessions with in-house licensed therapists specializing in Developmentally adaptive Cognitive Processing Therapy (D-CPT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), plus Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, sand tray therapy, experiential therapy, equine therapy, and more, based on their individual needs. The girls also have the opportunity to participate in group therapy with other survivors. To round out the holistic approach, The Refuge Ranch provides art, farming/agricultural activities, gardening, yoga, dance, self-defense, music, etc., plus daily enrichment options for self-regulation and body awareness.

All of the The Refuge for DMST staff, not just the therapeutic staff at the ranch, are trained in Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), and they receive other on-going professional training specific to the care of child survivors of sex trafficking.

The Institute for Early Life Adversity Research is within the Department of Psychiatry and a component of the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences.

About The Refuge for DMSTThe Refuge for DMST (Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has developed The Refuge Ranch, a long-term, residential, therapeutic community for 48 girls, minors through age 19, who have been rescued out of sex trafficking. Built from the ground up on 50 acres in a beautiful and restorative setting outside of Austin, TX, The Refuge Ranch provides trauma-informed, holistic care for the girls on site, including: psychiatric services provided by Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin's Department of Psychiatry and the Institute for Early Life Adversity Research; education provided by the University of Texas-University Charter School (UT-UCS); medical services by community partners; and various therapeutic programs uniquely designed for the development of a child survivor. The Refuge Ranch is the largest long-term, live-in rehabilitation facility for child survivors of sex trafficking in the United States. For more information, go to http://www.therefugedmst.org.

For B-roll, photographs, logos, relevant statistics and recommended reading, visit The Refuge Press Page at https://therefugeaustin.org/press-kit.

The rest is here:
Dell Med Joins Efforts With The Refuge For DMST To Care For Recovering Survivors Of Child Sex Trafficking At The Refuge Ranch - inForney.com

SIU med school administrator to expand diversity promotion efforts – The State Journal-Register

Posted on by

Dean Olsen Staff Writer @deanolsenSJR

Expanding a program that cultivates high school students interest in the medical profession and helping future doctors avoid unconscious bias are among the goals of a new associate dean at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

This job will give me the opportunity to be a collaborator, a change agent, Dr. Wendi Wills El-Amin said.

Wills El-Amin, 46, a family medicine physician, began her new role Aug. 1 as associate dean for equity, diversity and inclusion. She previously was an academic strategist in SIUs department of medical education and treated patients through the department of family medicine.

The Springfield resident succeeded Dr. Wesley Robinson McNeese, who helped launch SIUs office of diversity, multicultural and minority affairs in 2001.

McNeese, 69, who is African-American, is a Christian minister who pastors a Springfield church. He has been hired to work part-time on diversity initiatives throughout the SIU system, including the campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville.

Wills El-Amin, who also is African American, was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Houston, Texas. She said she will take on McNeeses role of mentoring minority medical students. Among other duties, she also will oversee the Physician Pipeline Preparatory Program, or P4, which McNeese founded in 2009.

The P4 program enrolls Springfield-area high school students interested in potential careers as doctors. The after-school program provides mentors and exposure to the medical field.

Wills El-Amin said she would like to expand the program so parts of it reach students in the elementary and middle-school grades. Many of these young people would benefit from learning that a career as a doctor is a possibility, she said.

Wills El-Amin said her most influential teacher was in third grade a woman she knows today as Mrs. Creole.

She was the teacher who really made me believe I had a lot of potential, El-Amin said.

McNeese and Wills El-Amin come from different backgrounds.

McNeese said he grew up very poor in East St. Louis. He was salutatorian of his high school class and served in the Air Force in Vietnam before working as a journalist in East St. Louis and a paramedic.

He enrolled at Illinois State University at age 30 and later took part in SIUs Medical/Dental Education Preparatory Program (MEDPREP) before earning his medical degree at SIU and working a decade as an emergency room doctor. He now is a father of four. His new title with SIU will be system executive director for diversity initiatives.

Since McNeese began his work on diversity at SIU, the school has definitely made strides in the percentage of minority students enrolling and graduating as doctors, he said.

SIU currently ranks in the top 3 percent to 4 percent of medical schools nationwide when it comes to the percentage of black students graduating, he said, though the share of doctors who are black nationwide 4 percent remains low.

The P4 program, which has served many students who are minorities since its inception, could produce medical students for SIU eventually, McNeese said.

Its a grow-your-own type of idea, he said.

Wills El-Amin, the mother of three girls, grew up the daughter of an internal-medicine physician, but like McNeese, she said she experienced racism as she grew up and as a professional.

She earned a bachelors degree from Hampton University in Virginia and a medical degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., before completing a family medicine residency at the University of Texas at Houston.

She joined SIU in 2013 and before that was director of the University of Virginias cancer center disparity initiative and the outreach center on health disparities. She is chairwoman of the womens health section for the National Medical Association, an organization of African American doctors.

Wills El-Amin said she will work to help all SIU medical students, minority and non-minority, understand how the health of their patients can be influenced by factors outside the exam room. Those factors, known as the social determinants of health, can include poverty, education and crime.

She said she also wants to equip medical students with tools to avoid burnout a common problem among the ranks of physicians. Im very invested in cultivating resiliency, she said.

Unconscious biases can shape the way doctors interact with patients, Wills El-Amin said. She said she plans to use data on those biases to shape the curriculum for medical students and create a different approach when theyre dealing with their patients.

The medical schools staff already has received some training on eliminating institutional racism. That training will continue and will promote equitable treatment regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation, Wills El-Amin said.

My approach is more of how to teach people cultural humility, she said.

Dr. Jerry Kruse, dean and provost of the medical school, said McNeese has done an excellent job for the school. Kruse said Wills El-Amin is an accomplished medical educator. She has a focus in her heart on the students.

Wills El-Amins annual salary as associate dean will be $210,000. The salary for McNeeses salary for his new job was unavailable. His salary as a medical school associate dean was $210,000, according to SIU officials.

Contact Dean Olsen: dean.olsen@sj-r.com, 788-1543, twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.

Read more from the original source:
SIU med school administrator to expand diversity promotion efforts - The State Journal-Register

Dr. Jaffar A Raza – Secaucus NJ, Interventional Cardiology

Posted on by

Interventional Cardiology in Secaucus, New Jersey

Dr. Jaffar A Raza, MD, is an Interventional Cardiology specialist in Secaucus, New Jersey. He attended and graduated from medical school in 1993, having over 24 years of diverse experience, especially in Interventional Cardiology. He is affiliated with many hospitals including Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Lenox Hill Hospital, North Shore University Hospital. Dr. Jaffar A Raza accepts Medicare-approved amount as payment in full. Call (551) 257-7038 to request Dr. Jaffar A Raza the information (Medicare information, advice, payment, ...) or simply to book an appointment.

Medical Doctor

Doctor of Medicine (MD or DM), or in Latin: Medicinae Doctor, meaning "Teacher of Medicine", is a terminal degree for physicians and surgeons. In countries that follow the tradition of the United States, it is a first professional graduate degree awarded upon graduation from medical school.

Dr. Jaffar A Raza has been primarily specialized in Cardiovascular Disease for over 24 years of experience.

Cardiovascular Disease

An internist who specializes in diseases of the heart and blood vessels and manages complex cardiac conditions such as heart attacks and life-threatening, abnormal heartbeat rhythms.

Family Medicine

Family Medicine is the medical specialty which is concerned with the total health care of the individual and the family. It is the specialty in breadth which integrates the biological, clinical, and behavioral sciences. The scope of family medicine is not limited by age, sex, organ system, or disease entity.

Internal Medicine

A physician who provides long-term, comprehensive care in the office and the hospital, managing both common and complex illness of adolescents, adults and the elderly. Internists are trained in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, infections and diseases affecting the heart, blood, kidneys, joints and digestive, respiratory and vascular systems. They are also trained in the essentials of primary care internal medicine, which incorporates an understanding of disease prevention, wellness, substance abuse, mental health and effective treatment of common problems of the eyes, ears, skin, nervous system and reproductive organs.

Cardiovascular Disease

An internist who specializes in diseases of the heart and blood vessels and manages complex cardiac conditions such as heart attacks and life-threatening, abnormal heartbeat rhythms.

Interventional Cardiology

An area of medicine within the subspecialty of cardiology, which uses specialized imaging and other diagnostic techniques to evaluate blood flow and pressure in the coronary arteries and chambers of the heart and uses technical procedures and medications to treat abnormalities that impair the function of the cardiovascular system.

Contact Dr. Jaffar A Raza by phone: (551) 257-7038 for verification, detailed information, or booking an appointment before going to.

Follow this link:
Dr. Jaffar A Raza - Secaucus NJ, Interventional Cardiology

A Day in the Life: Harvard Medical School Student

Posted on by

Julia Pian is a third year medical school student at Harvard Medical School, the #1 ranked medical school in the world. If you want to study at Harvard, apply for a free education assessment here: https://community.crimsoneducation.or... Crimson Education is the world leader in global admissions consulting.

Julia enrolled in Harvard Medical School soon after graduating from Harvard College, and she plans on becoming a pediatrician after medical school. Learn about a day in the life of a Harvard med student, the difference in schedules from first through fourth year of medical school, and Harvard's unique "pathways" approach to medicine. And hear about Julia's inspiring story, why she decided to pursue medicine and pediatrics, and what stellar admissions advice she would give to aspiring medical students!

Subscribe To "Crimson Education" Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/2ha5MAAFor more content from current "Harvard Med" Students, click HERE: http://bit.ly/2hXNy20To "Ask" other Harvard Med Students a Question, click HERE: http://bit.ly/2hoXssF Like "Crimson Hub" on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/2hSv4muFollow "Crimson Hub" on Instagram HERE: http://bit.ly/2hXKZgv

Interested in getting into an Ivy League visit "Crimson Education" for a FREE consultation, HERE: http://bit.ly/2iBB0RD

We'll be releasing more brilliant content fortnightly.

Watch thousands of free videos anytime, anywhere at Crimson Hub. Try it now! http://bit.ly/2hXNy20

Crimson Hub aims at reducing the informational barriers present around degrees, universities, and careers. We have filmed current and past students at some of the world's best education havens such as Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and much more. Whether you're wanting to learn about the secret societies at Yale, the party life at Harvard, the academics at Oxford, or the university classes at Stanford, we have it all. Oh, and best of all - it's free.

Disclosure: We are in no way affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

Read the rest here:
A Day in the Life: Harvard Medical School Student

Shelley Berkley: UNR’s Med School Should Close Its Doors – KNPR

Posted on by

Former Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley says Nevada can't afford two publicmedical schools. And with UNLV's new school starting this year, UNR's school should be shut down.

"We spend $60 milliona biennium to keep UNR's medical school going," Berkley told Nevada Public Radio. She is the CEO and senior provost at Touro University/Western Division, an osteopathic medical school in Henderson. "I dont think this state will want to sustain two medical schools.

Berkley joined Barbara Atkinson, dean of UNLV's new medical school, and Renee Coffman, co-founder and president of Roseman University of Health Sciences, to talk about the health care needs in Southern Nevada.

All three schools expect to churn out more doctors but that won't necessarily mean Nevada will get those doctors. Often graduating physicians stay in the cities where they do their residencies, which comes after medical school.

The number of residencies at different hospitals in southern Nevada is still relatively small, so many of the medical school students here will move to other states after graduation.

"Without any local residencies for these medical school graduates to go to basically what we would be doing is just exporting our graduates to other states to do their residencies," Heidi Kyser, staff writer for Desert Companion said.

Kyser interviewed the three women for an article in the August issue of the magazine. She said part of the problem is that residency programs are expensive. They are often funded by federal grants.

"The process for getting that funding is really complicated," Kyser explained, "And most of Nevada's hospitals have already hit the limit of that funding and the number of physicians they can get."

In Las Vegas, University Medical Center, Sunrise Hospital, and the VA hospital have had the bulk of the residency programs but more private hospitals are opening residencies.

As for the idea of closing the medical school at UNR, Kyser talked to Thomas Schwenk, the dean of that medical school, he told her he believes all the citizens of the state of Nevada deserve access to all the benefits that public medical school brings to a community not just those in the southern part of the state.

According to the three women interviewed, one of the biggest benefits would be employment and not just for new doctors trained at their facilities.

"We focus on health professions, like Shelley does at Touro, they have jobs when they get out," said Renee Coffman with Roseman University of Health Services, "So, as a prospective student that's a tremendous return on investment for your educational dollars."

Berkley added that for the 10 to 20 years health care will be where all the jobs are.

Continued here:
Shelley Berkley: UNR's Med School Should Close Its Doors - KNPR

Media Advisory: White coat ceremony for UB’s largest-ever medical school class marks institutional milestone – UB News Center

Posted on by

BUFFALO, N.Y. They volunteer at food pantries andsuicide hotlines, work with the homeless and refugees, and assistat hospice and Meals on Wheels. Theyve done research oncancer, diabetes and geriatrics, and worked on medical missions allover the globe.

They are the 180 students of the Class of 2021 at the JacobsSchool of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University atBuffalo. Today, Aug. 11, at 3 p.m., they will receive their whitecoats at a ceremony in the Mainstage theater in the Center for theArts on the UB North Campus.

Best time for photos: Students will begin to becoated at approximately 3:30 p.m. For pressarrangements, contact Ellen Goldbaum in the UB Office of UniversityCommunications at 716-645-4605 or 716-771-9255 and on-site.

For each student who will be coated, the ceremony is apersonal milestone, said Michael E. Cain, MD, vice presidentfor health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine andBiomedical Sciences.

But this years white coat ceremony is also aninstitutional milestone, Cain added. Today, weofficially welcome to UB its largest-ever medical school class, 180students, up from 144.

That expansion, which he called a necessity to help fill thephysician shortage in the region and in the nation, was only madepossible by the construction of the new downtown home of the JacobsSchool of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on the Buffalo NiagaraMedical Campus. Students will begin classes in the new building inJanuary after spending their first semester on the SouthCampus.

Of the 180 students, 152 are from New York State, 78 are fromWestern New York and 40 earned their undergraduate degrees fromUB.

At the ceremony, all 180 medical students will take the Oath ofMedicine. During the "calling of the class," students will becalled to the stage individually to be presented with their coatwhile their undergraduate institution and hometown is identified byCharles M. Severin, MD, PhD, UB associate dean for medicaleducation and admissions.

The keynote address will be given by Robert H. Ablove, MD,clinical associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedics. TheLeonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award will be presented to LynnSteinbrenner, MD, clinical assistant professor in the Department ofMedicine and chief of the Oncology Section at the VeteransAdministration WNY Healthcare System.

The white coat ceremony is a symbolic rite of passage shared bymedical students across the U.S. to establish a psychologicalcontract for professionalism and empathy in the practice ofmedicine.

More here:
Media Advisory: White coat ceremony for UB's largest-ever medical school class marks institutional milestone - UB News Center

Teaching Hospitals and Teaching Teachers – The Practice

Posted on by

Law school clinics are perhaps bigger and more diverse today than they have ever been. As the lead article to this issue of The Practice lays out, clinics now span topics as diverse as housing, entrepreneurship, and immigration. Moreover, according to recent data from the Center for the Study of Applied Legal Education, nearly half of all law students participate in a clinic during their three years at law school. Clinical faculty numbers have also grown, as has their prestige. However, despite all the gains in clinical legal education, the fact remains that clinics continue to exist withinor perhaps alongsidethe more traditional law school curriculum and faculty. Put differently, clinics are often treated as bolt-ons to a more traditional legal education, where courses like contracts, torts, civil procedure, criminal law, property, and constitutional law, taught by podium professors often using the traditional Langdellian case method, occupy the core of a law school curriculum.

In medicine, the term clinic (from the Greek klin, meaning bed) often takes a more literal form with doctors visiting the bedsides of patients.

Other professions, however, treat clinical education in different ways. In this article, we move away from the law school campus in the hopes of learning from some outside perspectives, observing how other professions approach experiential learning as they endeavor to produce practice ready professionals in their fields. First, we look to medicine, where the term clinic (from the Greek klin, meaning bed) often takes a more literal form with doctors visiting the bedsides of patients. Using Harvard Medical Schools curriculum as an example, we speak with Jane M. Neill, associate dean for medical education planning and administration, about how clinical experiences factor into medical students educations. We then turn to education itself, namely teacher training, to learn how theory and practice are mixed to prepare new teachers to take on all the responsibilities of maintaining a classroom from day one. We speak with Jesse Solomon, executive director and founder of the Boston Teacher Residency program, about how teacher education uses a clinical model to train future practitioners in real-world settings.

The cases of Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR) program challenge the legal profession to consider: How might we approach clinical legal education differently?

Unlike law school, medical education has traditionally had a strong clinical component. Indeed, with the publication of the Flexner Report in the early 20th century, medical school typically involved two years of classroom learning followed by two years of clinical education, most often in a teaching hospital where physicians-in-training would go through a largely standard set of rotations (including surgery, OB-GYN, pediatrics, neurology, radiology, psychiatry, and medicine). These mandated clinical experiences were core to the medical curriculum, involving real patients under the supervision of practicing doctors-come-teachers. The current curriculum at HMS is both a reflection of this long history and an innovation from traditional structures. Like many other medical schools, we were organized in a two-plus-two curricular structure, explains Neill. Students would spend most of the first two years in the classroom followed by two years in the clinical settingtheory first, practice second. Now, HMS has moved to integrate the two, with clinical experiences starting in the first year and classroom experiences available in the final year (although, for the purposes of comparison, it is worth stressing that even traditional medical education includes two years in a clinical setting).

HMSs doctor of medicine (M.D.) degree program, which typically graduates classes of fewer than 200 students, is divided into three phases: the pre-clerkship phase, the principal clinical phase, and the post-clerkship phase. As Neill points out, M.D. students clinical experiences are far from limited to the principal clinical phase of their program and instead are infused through the entire experience. The initial phase used to be called the preclinical phase, but we have largely stopped calling it that because there is actually significant clinical education taking place in that foundational period, says Neill. (Note: References in this article to HMSs M.D. program and students primarily refer to its more traditional track rather than its Health Sciences and Technology track, which is geared toward students preparing for careers as physician scientists. For clarification, both programs lead to M.D. degrees at HMS.)

The centrality of the clinical component underscores the importance of the teaching hospital as an institution in medical training.

During the initial 14-month phase, M.D. students take courses like Immunity in Defense and Disease and Mind, Brain, and Behavior, as well as a longitudinal course called Practice of Medicine. As Neill describes, this longitudinal course is an M.D. students first introduction to clinical practice. Students are paired with practicing primary care physicians whom they shadow one day a week for a full year. During this course, students are learning a lot of the basics of patient care, Neill notes. On a regular basis they are in the office of their preceptorthat is, the primary care doctorseeing patients, building relationships with mentors, and learning about the practice of medicine from very early on in medical school.

Once they get past that initial phasewhich Neill stresses is 14 consecutive monthsstudents move on to the principal clinical phase that constitutes a full year at one of the major teaching hospitals affiliated with HMS. In that time, students are completing eight required clerkships, or rotations, in which they apply the knowledge gained through the first phase of their medical education. Seven of those required clerkshipssurgery, OBGYN, pediatrics, neurology, radiology, psychiatry, and medicineare consecutive, each ranging from four to 12 weeks. One clerkship, primary care, extends longitudinally throughout the year. M.D. students go to class in hospitals, operating rooms, and doctors offices. Real patients are their primary textbooks, and practicing doctors are HMS faculty. During that year, students also engage in longitudinal modules, from case conferences to seminars and discussions. As Ed Hundert, the dean for Medical Education at HMS put it in a curricular video, The PCE year is one of the most memorable of medical school, and its a time when students develop increasing competence and confidence in their clinical skills and begin to explore different types of medicine that might attract their passion and interest.

The centrality of this clinical component also underscores the importance of the teaching hospital as an institution in medical training. From the beginning of their trainingindeed, at HMS, in the very first year of medical schoolM.D. students are members of teams of medical professionals designed to train them in real practice settings. Teaching hospitals provide these training sites that cultivate the future of the medical profession while at the same time caring for patients. And, far from serving as second-rate institutions from a patient-care perspective, a recent study has shown that on average teaching hospitals outperform nonteaching hospitals on crucial metrics like mortality rates. Among the teaching hospitals to which HMS sends its M.D. students are Mass General and Brigham and Womens, two of the top hospitals in the countryteaching or otherwise. The training does not diminish care but is baked into the system that simultaneously treats patients and trains M.D.s.

Physician training is not complete when they graduate medical schoolindeed, they are only then just entering the postgraduate training phase of their careers.

In the third and final phase, M.D. students at HMS are doing a mix of clinical and other coursework and scholarship (including a required scholarly project). The clinical aspect is often done through advanced clinical electives, which are intended to build on M.D. students experiences during their principal clinical phase. As electives, students use them to explore a specialty they have in mind for their career and may also approach these clinical opportunities as chances to temporarily step outside their preferred area of clinical interest. However, because M.D. students all have a common core of clinical experiences under their belt, these electives function as just that: electives.

Neill is careful to note that while each medical school approaches its curriculum in its own way, all emphasize the importance of firsthand clinical experience as critical to understanding how to be a doctor. That message is then reinforced when graduates enter the tiered structure of the larger medical profession. After all, physician training is not complete when they graduate medical schoolindeed, they are only then just entering the postgraduate training phase of their medical careers.

New M.D.s begin their careers and continue their training in hospitals on teams that commonly include M.D. students, interns, residents, fellows, and attending physicians. When M.D. students graduate, they continue with three or more years of postgraduate training in residency programs in their chosen specialty. Throughout the progression, those with more seniority will supervise and guide those with less seniority, with each members responsibilities and capabilities growing over time. After these phasesnoting, however, that states vary regarding many years of postgraduate training are required for initial medical licensureindividuals can get their full medical license pending exams and other requirements. Attending physicians may also go on to pursue further training and certification in a subspecialty and board certification, which is optional, as a means of demonstrating mastery of their field.

More changes are under consideration for HMSs M.D. curriculum. In The Practices conversation with Neill, a word that kept coming up was longitudinal, which could be the way of the future for clinical medical education. While there is already a heavy dose of clinical work in the current setup, Neill notes that most clinical experiences are in inpatient settings, where patients are acutely ill, and not over the life cycle of their care, which could ultimately limit the pedagogical value of those experiences. Were going to be working on an initiative to build more opportunities for students to see patients longitudinally, affirms Neill. She explains:

A lot more of medicine now, especially patients who arent acutely seriously ill, is being practiced in the outpatient setting, which provides students a lot of opportunities. First, they might be able to see a patient in the outpatient setting before the patients diagnosis has been made so they can participate in the process of developing a differential diagnosis and figuring out whats wrong with the patient. They can see the disease unfold over time in the outpatient setting as opposed to seeing a patient whos been admitted to the hospital for a couple of days to take care of something thats happened to them acutely. Forty years ago, patients were admitted to the hospital and they might be there for a couple of weeks. That doesnt happen very much anymore, and that is why medical education has to continually be evolving.

HMS has already implemented this approach with its Cambridge Hospital longitudinal integrated clerkship, where M.D. students experience their clerkships contemporaneously over the course of a year rather than one at a time. Currently, cohorts for this longitudinal clerkship model at Cambridge Hospital are small (about a dozen students) and determined by an opt-in lottery, but consideration is being given to longitudinal experiences more widely in the principal clinical year. This, Neill suggests, is part of the process of ensuring that students are being prepared for the profession that awaits them. The field of medicine, as Im sure is true for law, has some foundational content that doesnt change, she says. But discovery and treatment are in a continuous state of evolution, so the curriculum needs to evolve, too.

Like law and medicine, teaching brings with it a significant degree of responsibility. Teachers are charged with not just the care of several or dozens or even hundreds of individuals (often children) but also with designing and executing curricula that will prepare those individuals for their futures. And, like law and medicine, how teachers are trained to take on that responsibility presents ethical challenges, not least of which is ensuring that new teachers are prepared to fill the role as soon as they take charge of their first classroom. That is why many teacher education programswhich are often required for licensure and which themselves often require clinical experience in the classroominclude what is called a practicum, or a component that puts aspiring teachers in real classrooms as part of their training. The BTR program is both a reflection of the rich tradition of the practical training in teacher education as well as an innovative extension of that model in a way that emphases the importance of practice from day one.

The objective was to integrate theory and practice in a way that exposed students to real-world practice earlier in their training.

Historically, BTRs Jesse Solomon notes, this practical component has existed separately from traditional classroom learning within teacher education programs. For a long time, education schools would essentially front-load all the theory before sending someone into a class, he says. And there is often a divide between what a novice is being taught in the university classroom and what that novices mentor teacher says. He explains:

University professors may essentially be saying, Dont pay attention to the practice you see in your host school during your practicumits not good teaching. While the teachers in those schools are saying, Dont listen to your university professors because they havent been in a classroom in 30 years. The key is getting the two to speak to each other, and overall I think the field is moving in a positive direction toward having teacher preparation in general be much more clinical and practical.

To help push the teaching profession in that direction, partnering with Boston Public Schools, Solomon helped found the BTR program in 2002 to provide teacher training that emphasized this merger of theory and practice. Like HMSs recent curriculum changes, the objective was to integrate theory and practice in a way that exposed students to real-world practice earlier in their training to avoid the disjointedness Solomon describes above. At its core, BTR combines a yearlong classroom practicum with masters-level course work that effectively provides teachers with a Massachusetts teaching license, the opportunity for an M.Ed. (as part of the BTR program and awarded through the University of Massachusetts Boston), and the ability to coteach and collaborate with experienced teachers to prepare them for their careers ahead. However, as Solomon notes, because the state ultimately decoupled the masters degree from licensure, there was a lot more room for innovation. Even those who pursue the masters degree need never leave the residency program for a college classroom. BTR hires its own faculty and designs its own full curriculum of courses. To correspond with a traditional school yearwhen the program prefers its participants to be in live classrooms coteachingall course work is done on Fridays, during the summer, or in the evening. Moreover, these courses are taught by experts brought in by BTR with a demonstrated ability to bridge theory and practice.

To illustrate the need to firmly link theory and practice, Solomon uses the example of independent reading, an activity where each child is reading something different depending on his or her interest and reading level while supervised by a teacher. Theres certainly a lot to know about reading development from the research side, he notes. But theres only so much you can do in the college classroom. In practice, you might have 25 kids doing independent reading and youre just one person. The trick is how to get around the room to apply all that theory. Theres an art and science to having those conferences with each student.

Like the medical student working in a team of more-experienced professionals, mentor teachers assessing student teachers performance and progress is a critical component of any practicum. While each teacher will have his or her own distinct style and voice, there are still baseline skills that all student teachers need to take away from their program. Their ability to lesson plan, design and execute learning objectives, facilitate discussion, design assessments, effectively initiate and finish class, and collect and use information from past classes to inform future classesall are necessary skills for a teacher that are honed and assessed in the practicum setting. As Solomon notes, Our program is designed around a set of competencies that they have to demonstrate in order to graduate. If they cant demonstrate them, they dont get licensure.

In both forms of professional training, the application of theory is treated at least as seriously as the theory itself.

Notably, student teachers often need to be eased into a primary teaching rolewhat Solomon calls a release of responsibility. Where the medical curriculum might add clinical experience in chunksa four-week rotation in neurology, an eight-week rotation in surgery, and so onBTR might instead approach its practical elements through a steady, gradual immersion into the practice of teaching. In most any practicum setting, there will be at least one mentor teacher and one student teacher. Over the course of the practicum, the mentor teacher will hand the reins over to the student teacher while offering guidance and feedback. As with the medical profession, a fully licensed professional is present in the clinical setting to support the professional-in-training but also to provide a quality check on behalf of the students for whom they are ultimately responsible. However, far from simply providing a trained professional in the room, having at least two teachersa mentor teacher and a student teacheractually opens up new possibilities for lessons and activities. Thus, owing to this setup, which is in many ways contrived for the purposes of teacher training, classes might be able to alternate nimbly between lectures, guided smaller group discussions, and even more-individualized learning that might not be feasible with only one instructor presiding. The teacher-in-training becomes a strength of the classroom, not a weakness.

Quality metrics in teaching

One challenge in the teaching profession, not unlike the law, is a lack of consensus metrics to measure the quality of teaching in a way that can inform discussions around how to better train teachers for the future. Statistics on teachers are available that might indicate a positive or negative impact on students learning environment, such as teacher retention, but measuring the effectiveness of teaching in a way that allows for apples-to-apples comparisons remains somewhat elusive. Id say thats the Holy Grailcertainly for our program and I would think its true for the profession in generalto really get to a point where we measure student outcomes, says Solomon. This is something that the field is still grappling with. Standardized tests are available in different forms depending on the state; however, these measurements are often controversial and infrequent.

In addition, some standardized data on the teachers themselves might be available at the state level, but Solomon cautions that the takeaways here are limited, too. Here every first-year teacher gets evaluated using the same rubric in the state, which is actually quite helpful for our program, he says. This allows us to know that our teachers are represented in the highly qualified category at twice the rate of the average of people in the rest of the state, but of course that doesnt really tell us anything about student outcomes. In other words, gauging the quality of teaching still relies to some degree on input-based metrics, creating challenges for defining clear strategies to improve teacher training and performance.

Through medical and teacher education, we see two models of clinical training for professionals. With HMS, the clinical component is integrated into the core of the curriculum. With the BTR program, the practicum component is introduced early and responsibility is slowly released to student teachers as they gain competence. In medicine more broadly, the M.D. student is the most junior member of a team of attending physicians, fellows, residents, interns, and others. In teacher training, the practicum is often defined more by one-to-one master-apprentice relationships between the mentor teacher and the student teacher. In both forms of professional training, the application of theory is treated at least as seriously as the theory itself.

Of course, medicine, teaching, and law are all vastly different professions with different sets of responsibilities and different types of clients. But these two examples raise questions worth exploring in a legal profession context: What would a law school curriculum with an integrated clinical core look like? What are the challenges and benefits of slowly but steadily immersing law students into real-world practice? How could the profession build a structured postgraduate training system? What else is possible with clinical legal education?

Continued here:
Teaching Hospitals and Teaching Teachers - The Practice

University of Wisconsin child abuse doctor leaves a trail of accusations of bullying from colleagues, parents – wausaupilotandreview.com

Posted on by

A couple says Dr. Barbara Knox wrongly suspected child abuse. A forensic pathologist testifies Knox pressured him to report an injury he did not see.

By Dee J. Hall

Wisconsin Watch

Brenna Siebold had just returned home from teaching third grade at Mount Horeb Intermediate Center. Her 9-month-old son, home with his sitter, was acting sluggish. She took Leos temperature: 103 degrees.

The fever was only the latest health scare in Leos short life. He was born with heterotaxy syndrome, in which the internal organs are abnormally arranged. He had already endured two surgeries, and doctors instructed the Siebolds, of Mount Horeb, to bring him to the emergency room any time he ran a fever above 100.4 degrees.

That day, Sept. 5, 2018, Brenna dropped off her older children, Jocelyn and Jonah, at her parents house. Her husband, Joel, was at work as a custodian at Glacier Creek Middle School in Cross Plains. Then she drove Leo to a familiar destination: American Family Childrens Hospital in Madison.

The visit was traumatic. Leo thrashed and screamed while ER staff and Siebold struggled to hold him down to insert a needle into his veins and poke a catheter into his groin. There was blood all over the table, Siebold recalled.

The following day, staff confronted the Siebolds about bruises found on Leo bruises that Dr. Barbara Knox, head of the hospitals Child Protection Program, flagged as possible signs of abuse.

The encounter sparked an investigation that threatened to rip apart the Siebold family and ruin their careers. Surgical scars on Leo were listed as bruises. Demonstrably false information was inserted into his medical record. And Knox allegedly misrepresented herself as a specialist in an attempt to convince the family to approve additional medical testing.

Police instantly dismissed the abuse allegation. Child welfare officials would clear the couple after two months. But the episode left Brenna Siebold petrified of seeking emergency medical care for their children, including twins, Hazelle and Hank, born in December.

Now Knox considered a national expert on child abuse who testifies as an expert for prosecutors around the country is under the microscope.

The University of Wisconsin placed her on paid leave in mid-2019 after colleagues inside and outside of the hospital accused her of intimidation or retaliation, an internal letter shows.

Dr. Ellen Wald, chairwoman of the Department of Pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, wrote to Knox on July 5, saying the administrative leave involved concerns about your workplace behavior, including unprofessional acts that may constitute retaliation against and/or intimidation of internal and external colleagues.

The university took three months to produce that two-page letter after Wisconsin Watch filed a November public records request for complaints against Knox in her personnel file.

After the letter was released, a UW-Madison spokeswoman confirmed that Knox voluntarily left her $204,000-a-year position as an instructor and physician at the UW-affiliated childrens hospital in October.

UW Health spokesman Tom Russell said the hospital took appropriate action after investigating the allegations against Knox but declined to specify what that was.

Russell also said UW Health hired a consultant in September to evaluate the Child Protection Program and implemented recommendations for improvement. Among them: a monthly multi-disciplinary conference to review cases.

Knox now works as the medical director of Alaska CARES, a child abuse response and evaluation program based at the Childrens Hospital at Providence in Anchorage. President of the nonprofit Academy on Violence and Abuse, Knox also has worked with the FBI.

Two email messages with questions about her leave and about the Siebold case were not returned. A voicemail asking Knox to respond to the questions also was not returned.

Knox is a prominent member of the growing field of child abuse pediatrics. Board certification for child abuse pediatrics began in 2009. As of 2018, there were 346 such physicians in the United States, including five in Wisconsin.

As the specialty has grown, so has outside scrutiny of its work. News investigations and advocacy groups are increasingly questioning some of these doctors qualifications to separate the hundreds of thousands of legitimate cases of child abuse from accidents or underlying medical conditions.

In addition to the Siebolds, Wisconsin Watch has heard from two other Madison-area parents who report being cleared of child abuse allegations after American Family Childrens Hospital reported them to authorities.

Russell defended the work of the Child Protection Program. Abuse is a leading cause of death and disability in children, and program staff are dealing with some of the toughest issues imaginable, he said. The programs staff and physicians are committed to approaching each patient and family with empathy, compassion and support during intensely stressful times, Russell added.

Knox pressured colleague to find abuse

Soon after arriving at the childrens hospital in 2006, Knox drove the prosecution of Jennifer Hancock, a Verona day care provider who was convicted of killing an infant in her care. Hancock, now serving a 13-year prison term, is appealing the conviction in Dane County Circuit Court.

Hancocks attorneys, led by the UW Law School-based Wisconsin Innocence Project, presented three medical experts during testimony in late 2019 and early 2020 who say pre-existing medical problems could have contributed to the 2007 death of the 4-month-old. Among the experts: the UW Hospital forensic pathologist who conducted the babys autopsy.

Dr. Michael Stier testified that Knox and others at that hospital pressured him to conclude that the child was abused, possibly coloring his testimony at the 2009 trial.

During a post-conviction motion hearing in November, Stier said he felt peer pressure to conclude that the baby suffered a skull fracture and that it was caused by abuse. Anyone who voiced an objection, he testified, probably wouldve been laughed out of the room and told to go back to medical school.

Its possible, either consciously or subconsciously, the narrative that I provided under oath is partly based on that, Stier testified.

Stier said he has witnessed brain bleeding similar to that child in other people who died from natural causes, accidents or drug overdoses. The baby also had a heart virus that may have contributed, Stier said.

He is sure the infant had no skull fracture.

If I were to testify at trial today, I would not testify that (the babys) death was caused by non-accidental inflicted injury, Stier wrote in a sworn affidavit. Instead, I would testify that there is no definitive cause of death. In other words, the cause of death is undetermined.

In August, Dane County Deputy District Attorney Matthew Moeser sent a letter informing a defense attorney in another case that the UW had placed Knox on administrative leave while it investigated complaints about her behavior.

The move came as Knox was working with Moeser, the prosecutor in the Hancock case, and on two FBI cases, according to the UW.

In response to emailed questions, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne did not address the UWs decision to place Knox on leave. In his 10 years as district attorney, Ozanne wrote that he has never had a reason to doubt the diagnoses of the Child Protection Program. He said the program, where necessary or appropriate, consults other specialists at the hospital in reaching its diagnoses.

I have faith that the members of that program have made assessments and offered opinions based on sound medical science, he wrote. The UW Child Protection Program relies upon research that is widely accepted by many entities such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Pediatric Radiology.

My offices goal in any prosecution is to seek the truth and to pursue justice. The UW Child Protection Program has been and remains an invaluable partner in this work.

Parents accused of abuse

On Leo Siebolds second day in American Family Childrens Hospital, three women approached the Siebolds and two of their children, Leo and Jonah, along with Brennas parents, in a playroom. One was Knox, who identified herself as a blood specialist, according to the Siebolds and Brennas parents, Randy and Nancy Gerke.

Brenna Siebold was instantly suspicious. She had talked to Leos hematologist at the hospital earlier that day, and that doctor had not mentioned any problems. UW Health declined to address the allegation that Knox had misrepresented herself, and Knox did not respond to emailed questions about the incident.

Siebold said Knox eventually admitted she was there on behalf of the Child Protection Program. She mentioned the bruises on Leos arms, legs and torso. She wanted the Siebolds to consent to a full body X-ray and additional blood tests. Her suspicion: possible abuse.

The hospitals guidance advised doctors to notify the Child Protection Program of even small bruises found on infants who are not yet cruising, or pulling themselves up on furniture. Such bruises, the guidance warned, are sentinel injuries that can signal possible child abuse. Knox helped to write the policy, basing it on national guidelines and practice, Russell said.

The Siebolds offered several innocent explanations for Leos bruises. Perhaps they came from Leos Army crawling over toys on the wooden floor of the family home or from Leos struggle with Brenna Siebold and ER staff during the examination a day earlier. Knox and physician assistant Amanda Palm rejected those theories. The hospital reported the bruises to authorities as unexplained.

Mount Horeb Police officers Susan Zander and Jenn Schaaf interviewed the Siebolds at the hospital; one officer knew Brenna Siebold personally. They quickly discounted the allegations, writing in a one-paragraph police report that the bruises were caused by medical staff.

After a two-month investigation, the Dane County Department of Human Services also concluded there was no evidence of abuse.

Minor bruises could spark even more investigations under a bill introduced in 2019 by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin. It would create a $10 million demonstration program on how to use sentinel injuries in children 7 months and younger, including minor bruises, to detect and prevent child abuse and fatalities.

Doctor charged with abuse experts disagree

Recently, a Milwaukee hospitals handling of child abuse allegations has attracted national attention. Officials at Childrens Wisconsin hospital say they are investigating their approach to identifying child abuse after NBC News reported on a disputed case involving one of the hospitals own doctors. In late January, Dr. John Cox was criminally charged with abusing a 1-month-old infant whom he and his wife, fellow Childrens Wisconsin physician Dr. Sadie Dobrozsi, were adopting.

The story cited 15 experts, including physicians from Childrens Wisconsin, who identified a series of medical mistakes and misstatements that cast doubt on whether the baby showed signs of abuse. Authorities removed the infant from the couples home last May.

Cox had taken the baby to the hospital after he fell asleep with her in bed and feared he may have rolled onto her. The child later was found to have a broken collarbone.

Unnamed emergency room doctors quoted in the NBC News story described an out of control child abuse team at Childrens Wisconsin that routinely reported minor injuries to authorities. In addition, three doctors at the hospital told NBC News that the child abuse team instructed them to alter medical records labeling children as possible abuse victims even when the doctors did not suspect it.

The story quoted experts who found the babys birthmarks were mistaken for bruises and that a crucial blood test to determine whether the infant had a bleeding disorder that could have caused bruising was misinterpreted.

Kate Judson, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences in Madison, told Wisconsin Watch that a finding of child abuse requires ruling out other causes by taking a thorough history, diagnostic testing and consultations with experts such as hematologists, endocrinologists, neurologists and dermatologists.

But she has seen child abuse pediatricians ignore these important steps, claiming they themselves have the expertise to make these determinations even ignoring contradictory expert opinions and laboratory testing, which she called disconcerting.

Judson said these doctors can wield significant power within a hospital and physicians can run into problems when they get sideways with child abuse pediatricians. She cited cases of doctors who faced discipline or criminal prosecution for contradicting the findings of child abuse pediatricians.

Madison attorney Notesong Thompson, a former member of the Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, believes child advocacy teams at hospitals have way too much power and are running amok.

Child advocacy is the reason I went to law school, she said. It sickens me how its become so twisted.

Thompson was an emergency room nurse for 17 years at Childrens Wisconsin where she worked with Cox. Thompson told Wisconsin Watch she is certain her former colleague is innocent.

If you think about the nicest person in the world being accused of child abuse thats John, she said.

Surgical scars marked as bruises

During a lengthy interview at the dining room table of their home in Mount Horeb a village known for its large carved wooden trolls dotting Main Street the Siebolds documented issues similar to those raised in the Cox case.

The couple showed photos taken of Leo shortly before and after his hospitalization. The bruises on his arms, leg and abdomen were tiny barely visible. Joel Siebold says Leo did have a few bruises that obviously came from being held in the ER. But Amanda Palm reported many more.

She found bruises everywhere things that werent even there, he recalled. His surgical scars he has two scars on each side of his abdomen. She charted those.

Brenna Siebold jumped in. She was charting diaper rash like the tabs from the diaper. You get a little red she was charting those.

UW Health declined to discuss the situation, citing patient confidentiality.

The Siebolds found false information in Leos medical records, including an incorrect reference to the family being covered by BadgerCare, the states health insurance program for low-income residents. That whole entire thing was just made up, Joel Siebold said. Nothing in that is true at all.

Brenna Siebold remains haunted by her familys run-in with Knoxs team at American Family Childrens Hospital. She wonders how less-educated parents or ones without such strong community ties and family support could weather such accusations.

That is why she is speaking out.

I knew there were other people out there like us and who we will never know because of (health care) confidentiality, Siebold said.

I worried about a single mother. I worried about a mother of color. I worried about a family that doesnt speak English. And thats the teacher in me. I was like, If this happens, I want to prevent (it.)

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (wisconsinwatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Like Loading...

Related

Here is the original post:
University of Wisconsin child abuse doctor leaves a trail of accusations of bullying from colleagues, parents - wausaupilotandreview.com

Option to Serve – Harvard Medical School

Posted on by

This years graduating Harvard Medical School students will have the option to receive their diplomas early so that, if they choose, they can quickly be deployed into hospitals where regular staff might soon be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Fourth-year HMS students who have completed all their training and degree requirements, as well as graduating MD students from Boston University, Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts, are being given the option to receive their diplomas before their scheduled graduation date in May.

Get more HMS news here

The change comes in response to a request to the schools from Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders, citing an expected escalation in local health care workforce needs.

Approximately 700 medical students in the Boston area are slated to graduate this spring.

Because Harvard University grants HMS MD degrees, there are administrative issues to address before the option becomes official for HMS students, including deliberation and voting over the weekend by the Harvard Corporation and the universitys Board of Overseers. Harvard is expected to agree to the states request.

Students enter our medical schools aspiring to serve and heal. I have never been more proud of our students, many of whom have already expressed their eagerness to graduate early so they can join our hospitals on the frontlines to help treat patients amid this pandemic, said HMS Dean George Q. Daley. We need their skill and compassion now more than ever, and many are ready, willing and able to answer the call.

HMS Dean for Medical Education Edward Hundert told graduating students on a teleconference on March 26 that a number of details must be worked out in the coming weeks. He also emphasized that early graduation will be entirely voluntary and that individual hospital programs where students have matched may or may not build this option into their COVID-19 contingency plans.

This is evolving, Hundert told the students, and it will be entirely optional. We want to make this available for those who would like to respond if asked and give our students the option to serve in this way.

Hundert and HMS Dean for Students Fidencio Saldaa told students that those meeting all degree requirements could be allowed to graduate as early as mid-April, more than a month before regularly scheduled commencement ceremonies and two months before most internships begin.

Any studentcan also choose to wait until May to graduate.

Students considering the early graduation option will have to considerhow losing student status early might affect their health insurance, their housing and visas and their student loan deferral status. Hundert and Saldaa said HMS is working to provide answers to all such questions before mid-April.

This decision is a personal one, and no one should feel pressured by it, said Saldaa.

Graduating HMS student Josephine Fisher, who matched last week to Massachusetts General Hospitals internal medicine/primary care program, said she is excited that HMS will be offering the early graduation option.

One of the hardest parts for me is feeling that, as of right now, we are not able to help on the frontlines as much as we would like, Fisher said. Though I feel nervous about the risks posed to myself, and even more so to my family, who I risk exposing when I return home from work, I feel very lucky that I am on the cusp of completing medical school at this time because it means I have been trained with skills that might allow me to make a meaningful difference providing clinical care during this pandemic.

Hundert said educational leaders at HMS teaching affiliates, such as Mass General, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Cambridge Health Alliance, welcomed the news that they might be able to build the possibility of MD student reinforcements into their COVID-19 contingency plans, particularly if current interns and residents become ill and are unable to care for patients.

They all said this was new information for them as it is for us, and that they would assess how this new possibility could potentially enhance their options as they consider workforce needs, Hundert said, telling the students on the call that it would likely be at least a week before hospitals let HMS know how and when graduating students might be invited to participate as needs evolve over the coming weeks.

Each hospital, and each clinical department, will decide whether and how this would enhance their efforts, Hundert said. The hospitals will let HMS and the students know what their needs are.

For many of the graduating students, the next few weeks will be a time of uncertainty.

I know that some residency programs reached out to their future interns inquiring about their willingness to volunteer and join the intern workforce earlier. I will wait and see if my program has such an offering, said graduating HMS student Ameen Barghi.

According to Sudders, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine is prepared to grant MD students who choose to take the early graduation option a special 90-day limited provisional license to practice, after which they would be able to start in a pre-internship COVID-19 service role, according to Hundert.

Students also have the option of graduating early and not working in the hospitals immediately, Hundert said, and some hospital programs may not issue a call for them.

It is unclear whether the provisional license issued by Massachusetts would be accepted in other states where HMS students have matched. Saldaa and Hundert said medical schools across the U.S. are considering early graduation options, with New York universities leading the way in giving students the choice.

View original post here:
Option to Serve - Harvard Medical School

$5 Million Gift from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas to Fund Scholarships for UH Medical Students; Create Pipeline Program – PRNewswire

Posted on by

HOUSTON, Jan. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --The University of Houston College of Medicine has received a $5 million gift from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX). The gift will provide $3.5 million for scholarships to at least 35 medical students and $1.5 million to create a pipeline program to attract and retain students from diverse backgrounds who have an interest in practicing primary care medicine.

The new medical school aims for at least half of each graduating class to practice primary care to address the significant statewide shortage of physicians in underserved urban and rural communities where health disparities take their heaviest toll. Houston has grown by more than 4 million people since its most recent medical school was founded in 1972, and Texas ranks 47th in primary care physician-to-population ratio.

"The gift to the UH College of Medicine holds true to our focus on lowering health care costs through long-term, sustainable community investments. This investment is about the future of health care. Primary care physicians will be the cornerstones of that future," said Dr. Dan McCoy, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. "Developing and training primary care physicians is a crucial step towards building a system of care that is patient-centric and less complicated, while also improving quality and lowering cost. We believe this investment on the front end will yield great results for health care on the back end."

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Scholarships - $3.5 millionBCBSTX scholarships will provide $100,000 four-year scholarships for at least 35 medical students. The medical school will use a holistic admissions process that not only factors in Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and grade point average, but also carefully considers predictors for those most likely to pursue primary care. Those predictors include:

Blue Cross and Blue Shield College of Medicine Pipeline Program - $1.5 millionTo meet its core mission, the UH College of Medicine will use pipeline programs to target ethnically and socioeconomically diverse K-12 and pre-medicine college students with an interest in primary care. Funding will be used to hire a director of outreach and diversity who will study successful pipeline programs and promote hiring a diverse faculty; and provide initial funding for a Ph.D. faculty member to develop an academic support system that includes peer mentoring/tutoring, test-taking and study skills development, and faculty mentorship training for student academic success.

"With a focus on improving health, we will educate physicians who will be able to provide a path to a productive and more enjoyable life for the residents of our city and state," said Renu Khator, University of Houston president. "Recruiting and retaining the most diverse and academically competitive students, regardless of financial resources, is a top priority for our medical school. I'm extremely thankful to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas for sharing in our vision."

The College of Medicine will admit 30 students in its inaugural class, pending accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, reaching a total of 120 students per class and a total of 480 students at full enrollment. Tuition and fee rates for the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree at UH will begin at $23,755 per year. According to Dr. Stephen Spann, founding dean of the medical school, one effective way to increase the number of graduates who practice primary care is to provide scholarships to students with a stated desire to become a primary care physician.

"Student loan debt is a significant deterrent to pursuing primary care specialties. The result is more physicians in non-primary care specialties, and a marked decline in primary care doctors," said Spann. "This is precisely why training primary care physicians is an urgent need. We're grateful to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas for enabling more students to pursue their medical education at the University of Houston."

With the gift, BCBSTX is welcomed into the UH Vanguard Society, the university's corporate donor recognition circle. The society recognizes corporate benefactors who have given a total of $5 million or more to the university.

The gift is part of the"Here, We Go" Campaign, the University of Houston's first major systemwide fundraising campaign in more than 25 years. The University has raised more than $1 billion to address key priorities, including scholarships, faculty support and strengthening the university's partnership with Houston, and momentum continues as UH moves beyond its original billion dollar goal.

"Through this generous gift, our students will be able to fully immerse themselves in their studies and learn how to deliver value-based, compassionate care," said Eloise Brice, UH vice president for university advancement. "We thank Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas for providing this incredible opportunity."

About University of HoustonThe University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with enrollment of more than 46,000 students.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) the only statewide, customer-owned health insurer in Texas is the largest provider of health benefits in the state, working with nearly 80,000 physicians and healthcare practitioners, and 500 hospitals to serve more than 5 million members in all 254 counties. BCBSTX is a Division of Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) (which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Texas, Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma and New Mexico), the country's largest customer- owned health insurer, and fourth largest health insurer overall. Health Care Service Corporation is a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.BCBSTX.com| Twitter.com/BCBSTX| Facebook.com/BlueCrossBlueShieldOfTexas| YouTube.com/BCBSTX

About the "Here, We Go" CampaignThe "Here, We Go" Campaign is the University of Houston's first major systemwide fundraising campaign in more than 25 years. Gifts made from 2012 to 2020 will contribute toward the University's key priorities, including scholarships, faculty support and strengthening the University's partnership with Houston.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

http://www.bcbstx.com

Excerpt from:
$5 Million Gift from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas to Fund Scholarships for UH Medical Students; Create Pipeline Program - PRNewswire

Meet the NJ siblings conquering the odds and Rutgers med school to chase Olympic fencing gold – NJ.com

Posted on by

New Jerseys most unlikely pair of Olympic dreams started a decade and a half ago with a far more modest goal: A single mom, looking for something -- anything -- as an extracurricular activity for her high school-bound daughter.

That was it. Avis Bishop-Thompson heard a strange clack-clack-clacking noise coming from the ESL center at Teaneck High during an open house for incoming freshmen. She peeked in, saw several young athletes demonstrating an unfamiliar sport, and struck up a conversation with the team's head coach.

Fencing, she was told, would be perfect for her daughter given her childhood training as a ballet dancer. But what about her younger son? Well, he always did complain that she wouldn't let him play with toy swords.

She would give him a choice: Take up fencing with your sister on the weekends, or sit in the stands with her and watch. That was an easy sell.

And so it began. Kamali and Khalil Thompson, two kids from Teaneck, were fencers. People around town would look at them -- and, their mother knew, at their skin color -- before asking a predictable question. Really? Howd they get into that?

Bishop-Thompson loved the strange looks. She had accomplished her goal and found something to keep her kids active. How could she possibly know what would come next?

That her daughter and son would embrace the sport in a way that no one -- including the two of them -- would expect?

That Kamali would continue to pursue her dream of reaching the Olympics even as she enrolled in med school at Rutgers, putting down her stethoscope in the afternoon and picking up a saber every night?

That Khalil would consider giving up fencing entirely during a crippling battle with depression and anxiety, only to discover that the sport became the perfect outlet to help his recovery?

That the Thompson siblings, based on the points standings that determine the U.S. fencing team, would be in prime position to qualify for the Tokyo Games this summer and bring their unlikely family story to the international stage?

"My heart overflows as I watch them or listen to the livestream and I can hear one cheering for the other," Bishop-Thompson said. "Once they said they wanted to do this, I knew no matter what the outcome was, they would give it their all.

"And here they are."

Here, in the case of Kamali Thompson, is a moving target.

Her schedule over much of the past few years has felt like a different Olympic event -- the marathon -- every single day. During her first two years of med school, the Temple grad had 18-hour days shuttling between classes at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and training at the Peter Westbrook Foundation in Manhattan.

And in the third year? That's where things got really interesting. This was the average day for Thompson in 2017 -- although, to be clear, the word "average" certainly is not appropriate in any way:

5 a.m. -- Alarm.

6-7 a.m. -- Receive updates on patients.

7-10 a.m. -- See patients and update the residents.

10 a.m.-12 p.m. -- Lecture.

12-1 p.m. -- Lunch.

1-4 p.m. -- Time in the operating room with doctors.

5 p.m. -- Board NJ Transit to the Peter Westbrook Foundation.

6-9 p.m. -- Fencing practice.

9 p.m. -- Take the train home (with store-bought dinner on the trip).

10 p.m. -- Arrive home. Study. Sleep. And repeat.

The grueling days and nights, of course, beg the question: Why not put off med school until her fencing career was over? She didn't underestimate the challenge. The 27-year-old was just a late bloomer in her sport.

Kamali Thompson juggled a full course load at RWJ Barnabas Rutgers Medical School while training to competing in the Olympics.

"I've wanted to be a doctor since I was 3 or 4 years old, but I wanted to see what else I could do in fencing," she said. "But because I didn't have that much experience, I didn't feel like it made sense not to go to med school. I thought, 'If it works out, that's great. If it doesn't, then I tried and I didn't put my life on hold.'"

Her fencing performances got stronger and stronger -- so strong, in fact, that she narrowly missed making the U.S. team for the Rio Games in 2016. She took some time off to train during that Olympic cycle, but used most of her free time to get an MBA at Rutgers Business School.

Thats right. Business school. If they handed out gold medals for having a Type-A personality, shed have a sock-drawer filled with them.

"I've never seen somebody who could come four days a week to train and still handle an academic workload like that," said Westbrook, the five-time Olympian whose foundation has become the nation's most prominent fencing academy. "I don't know how she did it."

She took more time off from med school this year to -- finally -- dedicate herself full time to training and competing. Gone are the days of running out of the hospital, in her scrubs, to race to a flight for an international competition in Poland. But the greeting when she arrives has not changed.

Through social media and word of mouth, all the (athletes from) other countries found out what I was doing, she said. So a lot of them call me the doctor now -- and in whatever language they speak. Sometimes, well be fencing and somebody will get hurt, and theyll joke, Hey. Get out there. Go fix them. Its kind of cool.

She plans to go back to med school in August, just weeks after the Tokyo Games close, and finish in February. No matter what happens in her fencing career, she expects to apply for an orthopedic residency and graduate in 2021.

Her dream scenario? Walk off the Olympic stage in mid-August after competing at the highest level of her sport, then walk back into that hospital in Central Jersey a few weeks later with a story to tell for the rest of her life.

Only one thing could make that better: Having her brother at her side in Tokyo. Especially given his difficult journey this far.

Westbrook has a tradition of asking the experienced fencers in his Manhattan training center to talk to newcomers. But he wants them to focus on more than the sport. To talk about life.

To get personal.

So one day in 2017, with the eyes of 200 people on him, Khalil Thompson stood in front of an audience expecting to hear about his promising athletic career and said this: "I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety."

Westbrook listened with a combination of pride and wonder. He knew the story already. He had seen the young fencer during his darkest days when the idea of leaving his house, much less coming into Manhattan to fence, was too overwhelming to consider.

The fencing pioneer made his student a promise: He wasnt alone. Come be around people who loved him, Westbrook said, and hear their stories of overcoming similar challenges. Khalil listened, and soon, he was on the road to recovery.

But to open up like that? In front of strangers?

It was amazing. Not everyone is willing to share that level of pain in front of people, Westbrook said. If I see him make the Olympic team -- and I think I will -- that will be one of the most incredible stories Ive seen in fencing.

Sharing his story with others, it turns out, came easy for Khalil Thompson. Reaching his life-changing diagnosis did not.

Thompson had followed his sister into the sport when he was 9 years old, a Star Wars fan whose mother wouldnt buy him a toy lightsaber who was giddy at the opportunity to opportunity bang on other kids with a real sword.

"I realized, 'Oh. I don't get in trouble for hitting somebody. I can do that,'" Khalil, now 22, said.

He was a quick learner. He went from Teaneck High to Penn State, a dominant program with 12 NCAA team championships since 1990. But something didn't feel right.

When he described how he was feeling to his sister during phone calls from State College -- always tired, always sleeping in, always sad -- Kamali Thompson made the connection with what she was learning in med school. Her brother was suffering from depression and anxiety. He needed help.

He left Penn State, moved back home and sought professional help. "I didn't leave the house for a month," he said, and he soon faced a decision about his sport. He could walk away from fencing, but the sport was more important to him than winning medals. If he gave it up, what would spur him to get out of bed in the morning?

His mother laid it out for him: "If that's your decision," she said, "you need to walk away with no regrets, with a clear head and a clear heart."

He stuck with it, and with a renewed focus, rattled off a string of victories. When won the Junior Olympics in 2017 in Riverside, Calif., with a dramatic victory over fellow American Andrew Sun, he flipped off his helmet and let loose with three loud primal screams to fill the arena.

"I found my love for the sport again," he said.

Khalil Thompson battled through severe anxiety and depression to become one of America's top saber fencers.

He enrolled in NJIT, where he is studying communications while training and competing. The commute to the city is a challenge -- "NJ Transit and I, we have a love-hate relationship," he said with a laugh -- but he manages.

Thats how he approaches depression, too. I manage, he said, and part of that is taking an open approach with it. When he was done talking about his struggles in that speech to the 200 newcomers at Westbrooks school, several people in the audience sought him ought to offer encouragement.

Many delivered this message: I went through the same thing.

"I am so proud of him on many levels," his mother said. "Most black men don't talk about (depression). He came out with it, he talked about it, he made the decision that he needed to stay home and get healthy."

Being home also had another benefit. He was closer to his sounding board, occasional trainer partner and inspiration. His sister.

"I'm willing to put so much energy into fencing because it means the world to me, and I'm glad I can share that with (my sister)," he said. "It really brought us together. I'm thankful for that."

The road to the Olympics is a meandering one for fencers. Unlike high-profile sports such as swimming and track, there is no qualifying tournament to determine which athletes will represent Team USA.

Instead, the brother and sister will crisscross the globe over the next three months, accumulating points based on their performances. Both are currently third in the standings, respectively, for mens and womens saber. That means, if the four-athlete teams were selected tomorrow, theyd be Tokyo bound.

It would not be unprecedented in U.S. fencing history. In 2008, another brother-sister tandem from Westbrook's club, Keeth and Erinn Smart, won silver medals in Beijing. But that doesn't make it any less unusual.

Its difficult for one (fencer) to reach the Olympics, Westbrook said. To have two from the same family? Thats amazing.

Theyll have to keep fencing at a high level to guarantee that trip this summer. No matter where they are and no matter what time they are competing, their mother will find the live feed on her iPad and watch from her home in Teaneck.

"No matter the outcome, I couldn't be happier," Bishop-Thompson said. "Watching this whole thing has been priceless."

A journey that started as something to kill time after school in Teaneck might end half a world away on the biggest stage in sports. Even the proud mother has a hard time believing it's true.

This is the first installment in an occasional series profiling New Jerseys Olympic hopefuls for the 2020 Tokyo Games. Click here for a full roster of potential Olympians with ties to the state.

To help support Kamali Thompsons Olympic quest, visit her website for more information.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

See the original post:
Meet the NJ siblings conquering the odds and Rutgers med school to chase Olympic fencing gold - NJ.com