Viewpoint
Perspectives
A Word From the President
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
High quality, affordable health care is the right of every American
by Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC President and CEO
As the number of uninsured Americans rises, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, urges policymakers to push forward.
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.
Viewpoints
Tuesday, April 02, 2019
“What’s wrong with me? I don’t belong here.”
by Will Bynum, MD
Almost 30% of new doctors are consumed by a secret worry that they are fakes and failures. How one doctor broke the silence around his own feelings of inadequacy and shame — and is now helping others understand imposter syndrome.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
The painful truth about maternal deaths
by Lisa M. Hollier, MD
When patients with chronic pain visit Erica Kumala, MD, at the Family Medicine Clinic at Alvernon, they likely won’t leave with an opioid prescription. Rather, the second-year resident in the University of Arizona—Tucson Alvernon Family Medicine Residency program may recommend they try a supplement like magnesium or refer them to a local yoga class as part of their treatment plan.
Kumala is part of a group of medical residents who are receiving specialized training through the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, which involves instruction in how to care for patients suffering from chronic pain with reductions in or without the use of opioids.
The training can’t come soon enough. As opioid misuse, addiction, and overdose reach historic proportions, medical schools across the country are incorporating training in nonpharmacological treatment options into their curriculums. Major research laboratories are also devoting time and resources to exploring the efficacy of integrative therapies.
“[There is] very broad agreement at this moment in time to address the crisis we face in our country,” says Victoria Maizes, MD, executive director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and chief of the University of Arizona Division of Integrative Medicine. To do that, “we have to train health professionals about all the other ways in which their patients might manage pain differently.”
Academic Medicine in the News
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Fighting the opioid epidemic with data
A collaborative project in Connecticut, designed to track and analyze crucial data about local opioid overdoses, will allow health officials and care providers to alert the public to overdose spikes and practice targeted and effective prevention techniques. The program is a partnership between the Connecticut Poison Control Center, the UConn John Dempsey Hospital, and the state’s Department of Public Health Office of Emergency Medical Services, and it has expanded to include 37 towns statewide.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Hockey FIT program shows improvements for men’s health
An innovative program based at the Western University Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry helps motivate Canadian men to live healthier lifestyles using their passion for hockey. Early results show that the eighty men who participated in the first twelve weeks were ten times more likely to lose weight and maintain the weight loss than men who were not in the program.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Medical campus students perform Shrek the Musical
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis medical students, along with other health professions students at the university, produced and performed Shrek the Musical in the school’s 14th annual musical theater production. The unique production allows students the opportunity to exercise their creativity while establishing friendships across the health professions spectrum.
