TEDMED 2013 and the Idea of Idea Overload

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

By David Katz

Originally posted April 22, 2013

As I began writing this column, the TEDMED conference—my inspiration for it—was ongoing in Washington, D.C. I wasn’t there. I was in Boston, writing in the lobby of the Westin hotel, watching police patrol the pavilion between the hotel and the Boston Convention Center, where I was scheduled to give a talk, and which, like the rest of Boston, was on lockdown. My session wound up being canceled. Sometimes, a good idea just doesn’t work out as hoped.

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Medical Schools’ Efforts to Address Primary Care Needs

Posted on May 2, 2013 by

By Casey Tilton

According to the results of the AAMC’s Center for Workforce Studies 2012 Medical School Enrollment Survey, the nation is on track for a 30 percent increase in medical school enrollment by 2017. This increase is due in part to the 16 new medical schools granted full, provisional, or preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) since 2002.

Several of the new medical schools have programs specifically focused around training primary care physicians. Many are in states or regions with particularly strong needs for an increased health care workforce, and the schools have made efforts to entice the students to stay in the area after graduation. In addition, many established schools have created programs designed to attract students interested in a career in primary care or in practicing in underserved rural or urban areas. Below are a few examples of new schools that have taken measures to address the nation’s critical need for primary care physicians. Continue reading →

Posted in Future of AMCs, Medical Education, Newsroom, Primary Care | 2 Comments

Wing of Zock “Chart Review” Blog Carnival May 2013 Edition

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

chart_review (2)Compiled by Jennifer Salopek and Sarah Sonies

Welcome to the May edition of Chart Review. This month’s series has a great collection of posts covering health IT, #hcsm, and reflections on electives and residencies as this school year comes to a close. Read on as we highlight our favorite April blog posts from and about academic medicine. Like what you read? Please feel free to cross-post Chart Review on your blog!

Science Roll

Starting off this month’s Chart Review is this post on disruptive technologies in education on Science Roll. Bertalan Meskó MD is using virtual learning to teach students—with the help of Facebook and E-Patient Dave—about health and science IT. In a fashion similar to that of massive open online courses (MOOCs), Meskó created a digital format for the course, so the materials can be accessed by both learners and educators universally.

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Posted in Chart Review, Health Care Innovation, Medical Education | 1 Comment

Faculty and Students: Let’s Change the Mindset of Fourth Year

Posted on April 30, 2013 by

By Brittany Chan

At the end of my third year of medical school, an attending told me, “You’re about at the pinnacle of your medical knowledge. Fourth year all the knowledge just disappears. Enjoy it.” I heard the same message from med students gone before me. “You have so much free time fourth year. You can totally slack off.” Having almost finished my senior year, I’m calling for students and faculty alike to fight the lazy culture of fourth year. Your mindset makes all the difference.

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Posted in Commentary, Medical Education | 2 Comments

Graduate Medical Education Funding

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

Originally posted on March 4, 2013

Exploring new questions and ideas today will help reinvent the proposals of the past and ensure stability for the future

By David Reid, MSII
Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences

In 1965, Congress recognized the necessary public good that physician training provided by funding graduate medical education (GME) through the newly enacted Medicare program. This new program – created to help finance medical care for the elderly – was only to function as a support system for GME until society was able to “bear such education costs in some other way.”1 To this day, however, Medicare remains the primary source of funding for GME by a large margin, and through this avenue the federal government pays out nearly $10 billion to teaching hospitals every year to train new physicians.

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The Inspiration Behind this Disturbing Picture of Black American Health Insurance

Posted on April 26, 2013 by

By Alex Hillsberg

infographic-health-insurance-of-african-americansInfographic authored by Alex Hillsberg and Julia Trello

This infographic is a confluence of earlier projects done on African Americans. Black History month, celebrated in February of each year, was the catalyst that brought this all together. A single “Eureka moment.” Although in reality it wasn’t a moment of crystal-clear realization but rather one of irony.

I was debating with my peers the propriety of the term “Black Americans” and passionately passionate argument was made that the term “African American” was worse. Because, he said, Blacks don’t feel the connection anymore. They’re many generations removed from their ancestors who came over to America as slaves. Additionally, the adjective “African” will always be a reminder of that origin. Not a reminder of geography but of status. A permanent brand: “descended from slaves.”

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!” One of us vehemently responded. “That’s the truth, it should be embraced, and Blacks should be proud that they survived the journey and thrived when they reached their destination.”

And then someone replied, “What destination?” In the land that their ancestors left there was widespread hunger, and obesity was a clear sign of affluence. In the new territories they landed in, after centuries of toiling, after bleeding and dying to be free, African Americans are now the most obese of all ethnic groups. And this, he said, is a clear sign of poverty. Because in this land of plenty the only food that African Americans have plenty of or have access to is cheap and unhealthy highly-processed fast food.

That was our “Eureka moment.” We still couldn’t agree on “African American” vs. “Black American,” but we had a story!

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How to Deliver Patient-Centered Care: Learn from Service Industries

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

Originally posted on April 19, 2013

By Brian Powers, Amol S. Navathe, and Sachin H. Jain

Over the past decade, patient-centered care has become a mantra for high-quality health care. Policymakers, researchers, physician-leaders, and patients have all cited the need for care to be tailored to patients’ unique needs and preferences. And there is solid evidence that patient-centered care can help improve care quality and reduce costs. However, in the rush to become more patient-centered, the health care system has misplaced its focus.

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Health Care Social Media Review #HCSM

Posted on April 24, 2013 by

Compiled By Sarah Sonies

Welcome to the latest edition of Health Care Social Media Review, where we highlight blog posts from health care thought leaders on social media best practices, resources, narrative experiences, case studies, and new communications tools. This week’s review focuses on the communities and dialogues that health care social media helps cultivate: creative thinking, engaging patients, and information-sharing.

Last Friday, most of the nation was glued simultaneously to their televisions and their Twitter feeds as Boston shut down while authorities launched a manhunt for the suspects in the Boston Marathon attack, sending residents into widespread lockdown and stopping day-to-day life completely. Ted Eytan, MD, was scheduled to attend Health Foo 2013 – a health “unconference” sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). While the event was rightfully cancelled due to the gravity of Friday’s situation, Ted and his peers – many of them already in transit – decided to meet on their own and explored the collaborative thinking (and tweeting) that happens when a conference goes “DIY”. Continue reading →

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What is a Medical School?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by

pattern_anlysisBy James E. Lewis, PhD 

What is a medical school?

If that is a dumb question, why is it that the current websites for five major allopathic medical schools (of the 141 total) offer neither a statement of “vision” or “mission” as suggested in the LCME requirements for accreditation? Ten do not offer a mission statement; 54 percent do not describe a “vision” for the school; and 70 percent do not state the values or “guiding principles” for the institution.

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Posted in Leadership, Medical Education, Pattern Analysis | 1 Comment

Boston Teaching Hospitals: A Model of Preparation in Marathon Bombings

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

By Joanne Conroy, MD

After the investigation, pursuit, and capture of those responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings, there was incredible elation across Boston and across the United States. I saw people glued to TVs in airports and workplaces. It is great when good triumphs over evil and the good guys win!

The bombing affected so many permanently. Some lost loved ones. For others, their lives were irreparably changed simply because they stood in the wrong place at the wrong time. The wounds are almost unthinkable.

But there are things to be thankful for. The most important is that the injured were in Boston.

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Posted in Commentary, Future of AMCs, Medical Education | Leave a comment