|
April 7, 2008
|
|
IN
THIS ISSUE
Editor's
Column: The Genome Revolution
Match
Day Predicts Future For WSU Students
Acting
WCMSSM President Receives MSMS Award
Children's Hospital
Launches National Collaborative
AMA
Pushes Congress To Restrict Tobacco Use
Health
Futures Conference May 1
|
|
Click
Here To Contact Us
|
Editor's
Column: The Genome Revolution
By
JOSEPH WEISS, MD
We
are on the edge of revolution in the practice of medicine.
You can compare this change to the effect of the discovery
that microbes caused infectious disease.
The
revolution is genomics – the application of genetic information
into clinical practice. The change is closer than we might
imagine. The March 19 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA) demonstrates how near medical
technology is to practical application. Likely, in the
working lifetime of many of the DMN readers, obtaining
a patient’s genetic profile will be as much a part of the
initial evaluation as is a CBC today.
We
can expect that the patient’s genetic profile will allow:
- Drugs
prescribed because they fit both the patient’s ability
to respond and to escape unwanted side effects.
- Recommendations
to patients on ways to manage their lives based on conditions
and cancers that individuals are at risk to develop.
- Preventive
measures to stop the onset of diabetes, obesity, and
heart disease in patients whose genetic profiles reveal
a propensity for these conditions.
Genomics
will begin the era of true preventive medicine. The profession
will have the means to minimize harm to individuals with
flawed mutations.
Obstacles
to the introduction of genomics include: the high price
of a genomic profile, the problem of quality in the results,
identifying false positive and false negatives and organizing
disease management based on genomic findings. In time,
these problems will resolve, particularly as the cost of
a genomic profile decreases.
The
bigger problem is finding answers to where genomics will
fit into American society. The potential disruption of
our relationship with others and conflict with our sense
of privacy is profound. The medical community will need
guidance if physicians are to understand what genetic information
the profession can share with patient, family, fiancé,
employer, insurance company and government. Until the medical
community develops such direction, we cannot become part
of the genomics revolution.
What
we need now is not more sophisticated processing of strands
of DNA. The time is apt for cooperation between government,
the medical profession, the health care industry and medical
ethicists. The medical profession needs them to work out
the social and philosophical problems that are as much
a part of genomics as the genes themselves.
Share
Your Thoughts on this Article
Back
to top
|
Match
Day Predicts Future For WSU Students
The
tension was palpable as 300 fourth-year School of Medicine
students crowded the Scott Hall cafeteria on Match Day
2008.
The students, along with family and friends, waited anxiously as
the clock ticked toward noon, when they could open the letters that
would tell them where they will practice medicine in the coming years.
This
year’s match saw the continued success of the School of
Medicine’s graduating classes. Ninety-two percent of the
students secured one of their top three residency choices.
More than two-thirds of School of Medicine graduates will
begin practicing their specialties in the state, further
cementing the fact that WSU trains a substantial number
of the physicians serving Michigan residents.
Graduating medical students throughout the United States participate
in this annual ritual, according to the National Resident Matching
Program. On Match Day, fourth-year medical students at American medical
schools across the nation learn simultaneously where they will begin
residency training.
Fourth-year student Nicholas Trakul will begin his residency at the
University of Hawaii. “This whole match day process can certainly
add a little stress,” he said.
Trakul, the recipient of the Gordon B. Meyers Memorial Award in Internal
Medicine, will complete a preliminary year in internal medicine at
the University of Hawaii before beginning his residency in radiation
oncology at Stanford University. “I look forward to finally doing
what I want to do,” he said.
The envelope-opening ceremony followed the presentation of department
awards for the Class of 2008. In addition, the students selected
Academic Counselor Kathleen Connors as Class of 2008 marshal. She
will lead the class procession at commencement, an honor reserved
for a faculty member whom the students believe contributed greatly
to their education.
Share
Your Thoughts on this Article
Back
to top
|
Acting
WCMSSM President Receives MSMS Award
E.
Chris Bush, MD,
a Wayne County family physician, received
an MSMS Community Service Award for his leadership in
the establishment of the Wyandotte Clinic for the Working
Uninsured, launched in September 2005. Located at the
Center for Health Services in Brownstown, the clinic
serves working adults who don’t have health insurance,
with an emphasis on prevention and treatment of diabetes,
high blood pressure, asthma, and obesity. In its first
three years, the clinic has seen more than 2,500 patients.
Share
Your Thoughts on this Article
Back
to top
|
Children's
Hospital Launches National Collaborative
Patient
and family-centered care models are fast gaining recognition
for their role in improving patient safety and quality
of care. While most children’s hospitals make efforts toward
patient and family-centered care, practices widely vary.
DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan is leading a national
effort to advance the implementation of evidence-based
patient and family centered care in pediatric hospitals.
Nationally-recognized researchers, patient and family advocates,
educators and health care administrators will gather for
a National Summit at Children’s Hospital on April 14 and
15 to launch the collaborative.
“Patient and family centered care is at the core of how we care for our patients,
interact with their families and make decisions about hospital protocols,” said
Herman Gray, MD, president, Children’s Hospital of Michigan. “This summit is
the beginning of a coordinated, interdisciplinary national effort to ensure that
all patients and families are partners in health care decisions and delivery,
consistently at children’s hospitals throughout the country.”
According to the Institute for Family-Centered Care, patient and
family centered care (PFCC) is defined as an innovative approach
to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health care that is
grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among health care patients,
families, and providers. PFCC applies to patients of all ages, and
it may be practiced in any health care setting.
At the Summit, national experts will hear keynote addresses from
Tawara Goode, director of the National Center for Cultural Competence
and associate director of the University Center for Excellence in
Developmental Disabilities at Georgetown University and Juliette
Schlucter a senior consultant for family centered care at Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia. Participants will share ideas, practices
and priorities with other leaders in PFCC, evidence-based practices,
health care disparities and cultural competence to develop a national
action plan.
Under the leadership of Summit co-chairs, Herman Gray, MD, Linda
Lewandowski, PhD, RN, professor of nursing and assistant dean, family,
community and mental health at Wayne State University College of
Nursing, and Beverly Crider, director, Patient and Family Centered
Care at Children’s Hospital, the group will spend the next year executing
the action plan. This will result in national research focused on
PFCC with attention to disparities, at least one evidence-based clinical
and administrative practice guideline for implementation, and core
content to integrate in medical, nursing, and social work training
programs. The National workgroup will then convene in 2009 to share
research findings and further expand the dialogue with more organizations.
Share
Your Thoughts on this Article
Back
to top
|
AMA
Pushes Congress To Restrict Tobacco Use
Upon
the passage of anti-tobacco legislation from a congressional
committee, AMA President and WCMSSM member Ronald Davis,
MD, lauded the panel for its actions.
“The
American Medical Association applauds the U.S. House Energy
and Commerce Committee for passing the “Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.” The AMA urges the
full House to take a critical step to combat smoking-related
diseases by passing the bill this year, giving the FDA
needed regulatory authority over tobacco products.
“Given
what we know about the dangers of smoking, it is astonishing
that tobacco products are one of the least regulated products
in our society. The time is now for Congress to pass legislation
to regulate the tobacco industry and protect the health
of Americans, particularly our nation’s youth. The bill
will stop illegal sales of tobacco products to children,
further restrict marketing, especially to kids, and require
more informative package health warnings.
“The
FDA currently serves a vital role in protecting the health
of Americans through the regulation of food and drugs.
This bill ensures that the FDA will have the resources
necessary to regulate the tobacco industry in addition
to its current responsibilities.”
Share
Your Thoughts on this Article
Back
to top
|
Health
Futures Conference May 1
2008
GDAHC Health Futures Conference
Thursday,
May 1, 2008
7:30
a.m. — 2:30 p.m.
Hyatt
Regency Dearborn
600
Town Center Drive
Dearborn,
MI 48126
“Looking
for a Medical Home?
Primary
Care Quality Improvement, Is it the Next Step in
Improving
Health Care Quality and Cost?”
The
conference will explore issues related to: chronic care
management and how it helps to improve quality and save
dollars, electronic medical records, e-prescribing networks
and other health information technology tools, the patient-centered
medical home, organized systems of care, and the doctor-patient
relationship in quality improvement.
SPONSORSHIP
AND EXHIBIT OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE.
Contact
Bridget G. Hurd for additional information — 313-965-4123
or bhurd@gdahc.org.
FEATURED
SPEAKERS
Dr.
Arnold Milstein, Medical Director, Pacific Business Group
on Health, and Chief
Physician,
Mercer Health and Benefits
David
Morin, President and CEO, CieloMedSolutions
Joe
Fortuna, MD, Co-Chair, Health Focus Group, Automotive Industry
Action Group
and
Former Medical Director, Delphi
Steven
Grant, MD – President and CEO, United Physicians
Jack
Billi, MD, Associate Vice President, Medical Affairs, University
of Michigan
John
Coumbe-Lilley, PhD, Principal, Practice Transformation
Institute
Herbert
Smitherman, MD, President and CEO, Health Centers Detroit
Medical Group
Ewa
Matuszewski, CEO, Medical Network One
Conference
Fee:
GDAHC
Members
$150.00
Non-Members
$175.00
To
register, go to
www.gdahc.org.
Group
rates are also available.
Call
313-596-0812 for more
Share
Your Thoughts on this Article
Back
to top
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
This publication brought to you by Natinsky
Publishing Network.
Problems seeing this email? You may view it online at http://www.wcmssm.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter contact info@wcmssm.org
|
|
Wayne County Medical Society
of Southeast Michigan.
All Rights Reserved.
|
