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April 7, 2008 |
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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 |
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Click Here To Contact Us
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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
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