Med student meets metaphor: Comics in med school
In medical school, there are few opportunities for students to stop, pause and reflect on where they ’ve been, who they’ve become and where they are going. At Penn State College of Medicine, one physician professor is using comics to teach medical students how to creatively reflect on their experiences as they form their professional and personal identity.
For seven years, Michael Green, MD, an internist and bioethicist at Penn State where he is vice chair of the department of humanities and director of the program in bioethics, has taught a class called “Comics in Medicine.”“The purpose of art is washing the du...
Source: AMA Wire - August 28, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Donate to the AMA Foundation: International Medical Graduates Honor Fund
The AMA Foundation supports the efforts of physicians and other volunteers working at free clinics to provide quality, affordable health care. The program awards $10,000 grants to physician-led free clinics. To date, over $1.6 million has been awarded to 81 free clinics across the country.
IMG physicians – members are invited to support the physician-led free clinics in the United States through the AMA Foundation ' s Healthy Communities/Healthy America program. Many IMG physicians have donated to kick-off this funding initiative. The IMG Section goal is to raise $250,000, at which point investment income from this e...
Source: AMA Wire - August 26, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Death by ZIP code: When address matters more than genetics
Health inequity has left many communities around the nation with health disparities that are out of their control. Understanding the concept of how socioeconomic and environmental factors play a major role in population health is the most effective way to reshape our traditional health narrative.
Anthony Iton, MD, senior vice president of healthy communities at the California Endowment, recently spoke to medical students at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine during the AMA ’sAccelerating Change in Medical Education consortium meeting on health equity and community-based learning.
When Dr. Iton lef...
Source: AMA Wire - August 25, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Register for 19th Interim Meeting of AMA-IMG Section
The AMA Interim Meeting will take place Nov. 11-14 in Orlando. The AMA International Medical Graduates section will host several events for its members.Planned events include:AMA 13th Research Symposium and Reception: 1 – 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11
Come to hear educational sessions, oral research presentations and view abstracts by our IMG ECFMG-certified candidates who are waiting residency. The medical students and residents are also a part of this AMA Research Symposium.AMA-IMG Section reception and Congress: 5:30 –7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12
Come network with colleagues, participate in a meditation exer...
Source: AMA Wire - August 25, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Surgeon General mails letters to America ’s physicians
Check your mailbox over the next two weeks —there should be a letter from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, calling on all physicians throughout the nation to raise awareness and further efforts to end the opioid overdose epidemic.
Physicians are in a unique position of leadership when it comes to this epidemic —they are on the front lines witnessing the impact every day from emergency department overdoses to substance use disorder treatment. The letter asks directly for physicians’ help to solve and bring an end to the opioid overdose epidemic.“We will educate ourselves to treat pain safely and effectivel...
Source: AMA Wire - August 25, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
This year ’s most influential people in health care
Among the attorneys general, administrators, justices, senators and representatives, many physicians madeModern Healthcare ’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. This year, 17 AMA members were honored.
AMA President Andrew W. Gurman, MD, made the list at No. 27 just two months after hisinauguration. Dr. Gurman recently spoke out against themergers of four major health insurers and will lead AMA efforts as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act begins next year.
Robert Wachter, MD, made the list at No. 58. Dr. Wachter is an associate chairman of the department of medicine at the Unive...
Source: AMA Wire - August 24, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Using neurosurgical solutions to manage chronic pain
Back pain is one of the most common ailments chronic pain patients face. For some, a neurosurgical approach can offer much relief and may be an alternative to long-term opioid therapy. Here ’s what one neurosurgeon and member of the AMA Task Force to Reduce Prescription Opioid Abuse had to say about treating patients with chronic pain and the Task Force’s efforts to end the opioid overdose epidemic.Treating chronic back pain in neurosurgery
Jennifer Sweet, MD, is a neurosurgeon at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland and the physician representative for the American Association of Neurological Surgeon...
Source: AMA Wire - August 23, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
What it ’s like to be in sleep medicine: Shadowing Dr. Chervin
As a medical student, do you ever wonder what it ’s like to be a sleep specialist? Here’s your chance to find out.
Meet Ron Chervin, MD, a sleep specialist and featured physician inAMA Wire ’s®“Shadow Me” Specialty Series, which offers advice directly from physicians about life in their specialties.
Read his insights to help determine whether a career in sleep medicine might be a good fit for you.“Shadowing” Dr. ChervinSpecialty: Sleep medicinePractice setting: Academic medical centerYears in practice: 22A typical day in my practice:
I usually arrive at my office by about 8:20 a.m., after I drop my kids o...
Source: AMA Wire - August 23, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Lean strategies help a Boston practice improve patient care
A clinician ’s highest priority is caring for patients, not running an office. But what if inefficiencies in a practice’s operations get in the way of patient care? For Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, the solution was Lean health care.
At Harvard Vanguard ’s Boston office, the room where the weekly clinical operations meeting is held is aptly named Mission Control. It serves as the hub of Harvard Vanguard’s implementation of Lean health care, which was developed to improve efficiency and give physicians more time with patients.
This is where improvement specialists, physicians and nurses together tackle thei...
Source: AMA Wire - August 23, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Prepping for USMLE Step 2? Here ’s a commonly missed question
The United States Medical Licensing Examination ® (USMLE®) Step 2 is a formidable test, soAMA Wire® is providing frequent expert insights to help you prepare for it. Take a few minutes here to work through another of the most-missed USMLE Step 2 test prep questions and view an expert video explanation of the answer from Kaplan Medical.
Once you ’ve got this question under your belt, be sure to test your knowledge with other posts in this series.
Ready. Set. Go.This month ’s question that stumped most students:
A 27-year-old immigrant from El Salvador has a 14 x 12 x 9-cm mass in her left breast. It has been pres...
Source: AMA Wire - August 20, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Liability suit seeks change to informed consent
A case before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania could have major implications on how physicians obtain informed consent prior to a surgery.
At stake inShinal v. Toms, is whether a patient ’s informed consent to surgery can be predicated on information provided in part by a physician’s assistant, as opposed to just the physician. Both the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act (MCARE) and common law have made it the physician’s duty to see that the proper informati on is conveyed, but the question is whether delegating tasks to qualified professionals is also within the bounds of the law and common medi...
Source: AMA Wire - August 20, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Students deliver care in homes, communities
Serving patients with unmet health needs is taking on a new meaning for medical students as they provide care for urban and rural patients both in patients ’ homes and in their communities. The experiences also are providing clarity about the social determinants of health and the importance of continuity of care as students become more attuned to their patients’ needs.
The immersions into the clinics and greater community are part of the schools ’ work with the AMA’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium. The consortium, working to modernize and reshape the way physicians are trained, brings leaders...
Source: AMA Wire - August 18, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Treating substance use disorder as a family physician
Patients with substance use disorders may experience stigma that can interfere with treatment options. But when substance use disorders are recognized and treated as a chronic disease, that stigma can be reduced.
Treating patients with substance use disorders in a family medicine setting can be a unique situation because physicians are often treating other members of the patient ’s family as well. At first, patients may be reluctant to discuss substance use but once the condition is out in the open, having the family involved can be beneficial.“I really think it’s an advantage,” said Sarah Fessler, MD, a family...
Source: AMA Wire - August 18, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
USMLE Step 1 stumper: Can you answer it correctly?
The United States Medical Licensing Examination ® (USMLE®) Step 1 exam is notorious for pushing the limits of medical students’ knowledge, so you might like to know which test prep questions are commonly missed. Check out this month’s question that Kaplan Medical says stumps most students, and view an expert video explanation of the answer.
Welcome to this month ’s installment of the AMA Wire® series, Tutor talk: Tips from Kaplan Medical on the most missed USMLE test prep questions from Kaplan’s Qbank: Step 1. Each month, we’re revealing the top questions physicians in training miss on the USMLE, a helpful a...
Source: AMA Wire - August 18, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
Masks, comics and the art of med school: Part one
Medicine is both science and art, yet the fast-paced and information-packed years of medical school often don ’t allow students to explore the value the arts and humanities can add to their personal and professional lives. At a military medical school in Maryland, one physician professor is injecting the arts into the curriculum to give students time for self-exploration so they are better prepared to not only help their patients, but also help themselves avoid burnout. And he does it through the making of masks.Students explore the ultimate question: Who am I?
For three years now at the Uniformed Services University of...
Source: AMA Wire - August 17, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Troy Parks Source Type: news
