Perspectives
A Word From the President
Friday, February 22, 2019
Addressing racism and mistreatment in academic medicine
by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC President and CEO
Leaders in academic medicine must confront racism and inequity and work together to create a culture that exemplifies our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity.
10 wishes for the new year
by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC President and CEO
From more affordable health care to greater humanism in medical education, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, outlines his aspirations for 2019.
Viewpoints
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Keeping our promise to LGBTQ+ patients
by Carl G. Streed Jr., MD, MPH, Jenny Siegel, MD, and John A. Davis, MD, PhD
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people suffer huge health disparities. Sometimes, they also face discrimination from providers. Here's how academic medicine can — and must — step up.
Tuesday, February 05, 2019
Rooting out implicit bias in admissions
by Quinn Capers IV, MD
At one medical school, admissions committee members didn't even know they harbored hidden biases. But some simple training opened their eyes — and the school's doors — to a more diverse body of students.
The parents were understandably worried. Their 5-year-old needed a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, but they didn’t have health insurance. Whatever the cost, they were going to have to pay out of pocket. But when they began calling children’s hospitals to request an estimate, they couldn’t always get it.
“They were put on hold,” says Charlene Wong, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine and member of the The Robert J. Margolis, MD, Center for Health Policy at Duke University. “They were transferred from one place to another because many hospital staff didn’t know how to get them an estimate.” Sometimes, it took a couple of days to get a number.
But in reality, the “parents” were researchers conducting a study on price transparency among pediatric hospitals that Wong and her colleagues published in 2017. In the “secret shopper” segment, only 30 out of 45 hospitals the team contacted provided price estimates. Only 12 of those hospitals offered online price calculators — and because of their different approaches to calculation, those tools yielded prices ranging from $1,200 to $15,360, making it difficult for consumers to compare estimates. “Frankly, the landscape for price transparency was pretty bleak,” says Wong.
Academic Medicine in the News
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Researchers develop new tool to track injuries in older adults
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California developed a tool to help document injuries in older adults and possibly provide better evidence for elder abuse cases. The inspiration for the Geriatric Injury Documentation Tool came from a study that noted improved documentation of the injuries experienced by older adults was needed and could help identify elder abuse.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Art Exhibit shines a light on rare diseases
Twenty-five portraits of children with rare diseases hung in the hallway of a building at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine from Feb. 28 to March 15. The exhibit, called Beyond the Diagnosis, was timed to coincide with International Rare Disease Day, and provided a powerful look at the faces and spirits of children who live with rare diseases and hope for advances in treatments.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Medical students facilitate local high school health fair
High school seniors at Travis Early College High School in Austin, Texas – in conjunction with medical students from The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School -- organized a health fair to educate each other in important aspects of health. The medical students acted as facilitators and mentors to the high school seniors and will continue that mentorship throughout the high schoolers’ academic careers.
