Breakthrough medical gadgets: The future of healthcare hardware
In today’s society, our technological abilities advance on a daily basis and health technology is no exception. A group of developers gathered for a meeting to present some of the new innovative gadgets and healthcare hardware. The gadgets have potential to changemedical training and improve health with a simple click of a button. Some of the gadgets described in the article include the Xiaflex Injection Trainer-rubber dummy models that assist in training physicians with procedures such as injecting enzymes into diseased tendons, the AccuVien AV 300 which scans for thick blood vessels and projects them onto a patient’s skin allowing professionals to easily locate vessels, the EarlySense Monitoring system which is a bed that monitors your vital signs and alert nurses when someone who is not allowed up has gotten out of bed, and many others
Many of these items are already present in hospitals and have begun to assist health professionals. It is interesting to watch the progression of these gadgets as well as the production of new ones and how they will change our healthcare system.
More on humanities & medical education
In a nice follow-up to the post last week about integrating arts and humanities into medical school curricula, here is a story about the collaboration between Yale University School of Medicine and University College London Medical School to hold a poetry contest for medical students. The winner received $1500, which was donated by an anonymous patient who wanted the money to go to an initiative involving health care and literature. The contest received 160 poems for consideration, a fact that indicates the current generation of physician trainees are very interested in forms of artistic expression regarding their work.
Creative writing isn't necessarily something most people associate with their doctors, but there are a number of physicians who are also wonderful writers: Michael Crichton, Atul Gawande, William Carlos Williams and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are just a few.
There was such a flood of interest (and quality poetry) in response to the contest, that it is being planned again next year, with another $1500 top prize being donated by the same patient. I hope it becomes an annual event for Yale and University College London, and that other medical schools and academic health centers consider art and writing events as well.
The winners of the poetry contest, along with another excellent example of medical poetry entitled "Cancer Winter" by Marilyn Hacker, can be read here.
New social media tool for students and surgeons
Surgery Theater is the first online social media educational portal for all surgical procedures. The site can be used to watch live surgical procedures and conferences, medical document sharing, exploring new surgical techniques, and receiving information on the most up-to-date surgical innovations. This is a great medical education resource for students but can also be used for patients looking to get more information on upcoming surgical procedure. This is a great new educational tool for surgeons, students, and patients.
Integrating the humanities into medical education
Hand and Leaf Vasculature, by Ryan James Bender
At the AAMC annual meeting this year, I attended a session put on by two faculty members from the Anschutz School of Medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver. They were discussing the integration of humanities education into their med school curiculum: the required and elective courses, sample lesson plans, and examples of the students' writings and projects. My interest in this topic was twofold: first, I have a personal love for the arts and humanities; and second, I had never heard of a med student who would gladly and gratefully take a required art, film or creative writing course. But they convinced me that such students exist, and that they are both talented and prolific!
Many of the lesson plans discussed had only peripherally to do with medicine; but instead focused on teaching the students how to deal with difficult emotions, how to craft quality narration and self expression, how to continue to develop their imaginations well into adulthood, and how to craft a set of core values based in humanism and compassion. When framed in that way, how could anyone doubt that the humanities have a place in health care? At its core, medicine is the interaction of two or more humans, with the goal of health or healing. A more human experience can scarcely be imagined, and the in-depth exploration of the intellectual, emotional and creative facets of that experience should not be ignored.
You can read a summary of the Anschutz Humanities program here. Some other links worth checking out:
- Some examples of stories written by Anschutz med students, based on their Anatomy course cadaver as "first teacher"
- An open lecture series involving the arts in medicine
- The school publishes a journal entitled the Journal of Medical Humanities, which you can read online
- They publish an annual curated anthology of medicine-related art and writing
- The medical school library includes a collection of medical humanities books and film
- Lists of the elective and required humanities courses
As a patient, I would be pleased to find a doctor who had studied this kind of curriculum in medical school, and if I knew there were a number of humanities-oriented doctors out there, I may even seek them out. I can imagine that a physician who thinks about patients and medicine in this way would be an innovative, creative and thoughtful provider.
New approach to medical school education
Western Michigan University is seeking to carry out a new approach to medical school education. The dean suggests that the traditional two year classroom and two year clinical training is no longer the appropriate path to take in terms of educating the best physicians. The dean suggested that more hands-on clinical experience, starting with the first year of medical school, will give future physicians a better medical education than spending half of their education in a lecture hall. The plan is to receive their accreditation from the LCME and then begin the application process for the class of 2013. While this approach seems logical in terms of the hands-on experience medical students will be receiving, the assessment of such a program is vital to test whether this is in fact a better approach to medical education.
Do “nice” doctors make better doctors
Downside of Doctors Who Feel Your Pain
Do "nice" doctors make better doctors
The relationship between a physician and a patient is a crucial factor for health improvement. When physicians possess certain skills, chances are patient will be more inclined to communicate with the doctor and be more involved in their treatment. This article debates whether communication skills can be one of the requirements of medical school entrance and if so, how can it even be measured. Assessing potential medical student’s communication skills is not easy and there is no existing evidence that states that physicians with expert communication skills are better doctors than those lacking the skill. The question is how much of a factor this is and how much emphasis should be placed on communication skills in future physicians.
Friday roundup
A diverse set of interesting articles I've come across recently:
An article describing various viewpoints on taking care of Jehovah's Witnesses in life-threatening situations. I like the idea of talking openly and honestly about sympathy, empathy, and the role of the physician in terms of the patient's personal or religious beliefs. This is a touching and insightful piece that may be a challenging read for some, but highlights the very important topic of cultural sensitivity, and how healthcare professionals can frame religion and culture within the world of medicine.
A thought-provoking piece illustrating some of the thoughts of Seth Godin regarding the future of education. He posits that the "Harvard model" is dead: high-priced institutions that hold classrooms of 15-300 students, being lectured to by professors on the "accumulating credits" system. Instead, he envisions a future of online, collaborative education where students can also be instructors, and physical space is replaced with digital space. He mentions the modern notions of online communities and the free sharing of and expansion upon data and ideas.
The AAMC has released the published responses to their 2011 "Question of the Year": "What improvements in medical education will lead to better health for individuals and populations?" The replies run the gamut from nutrition to financial incentives to competency-based education and beyond. Other topics include diversity, health disparities, leadership, professionalism and global health. Must-reads for anyone interested in medical education, public health, reforming healthcare, professionalism/humanism, patient safety, and pretty much any other healthcare-related topic.
An intriguing summary of the future of computing and IT points out the importance of Natural Language Processing programs, and where they are headed. When thinking about what the next generation of computers and applications will need to do, the ideas of detailed data analytics, human-like "thinking", situation/information comprehension, and insight into users/consumers are top on the list. Sentiment analysis, contextual understanding and those kinds of data manipulation and analysis are already being researched and developed at a frenetic rate (and with astronomical sums of money). Considering the ever-increasing amounts of data being created on a daily basis, it is no surprise that the next wave of computer innovation is going to revolve around making sense of it all.
Increase in medical school applicants
First time applicants to medical school reached an all-time high this year. A 2.6 percent increase was reported by the AAMC. There were also gains across most of the major racial groups. Hopefully, this rise of medical school students will help fill in the gaps in states where there is a shortage of physicians. With this increase in applicants, more positions for residency training must open as well. This is a great time for medical school applicants to increase due to the challenges our health care system faces.
The worsening problem of medical school debt
This article from the New York Times gets at a couple of the most serious issues regarding the increasing amounts of debt med school graduates find themselves in. First is the idea that anyone (this isn't limited to just medical students) should leave graduate or professional school with $150,000 (or more) in loans to pay back. As a society, we seem to have the idea that abstract entities (like a professional school education) have a great deal of value, and therefore are "deserving" of a very high cost. Unfortunately, this notion removes a number of people from the potential workforce, and (as the second serious issue) patients are the ones truly paying for it, as this paragraph from the article points out:
"For others, such large debts mean forgoing a medical career altogether. Cost remains a key deterrent for pre-medical students and is an important reason there aren’t more African-American, Hispanic and Native American doctors. Despite the well-documented benefits of a diverse physician work force,these economic pressures are transforming the socioeconomic makeup of medical school classes; medical students are increasingly from affluent backgrounds. In 1971, almost 30 percent of medical students came from households with incomes in the lowest 40th percentile, but only 10 percent of all medical students now do, and more than half come from families in the top quintile."
I find this fact extremely troubling, and hope that it's not foretelling a time when under-represented in medicine becomes non-represented in medicine. As the US population grows ever more diverse, it is imperative that the diversity of healthcare professionals grows as well.
Curriculum changes for School of Medicine
The University Of South Alabama College Of Medicine is taking a new approach towards medical school education. The education shift will be from lecture based classes to a more hands on approach. Classes will focus on a more system based curriculum, studying each organ individually, and working towards gaining more clinical experience. All students are said to receive instructions in the ACGME six core competencies. Students will receive more learning experiences in their years as a medical student than ever before.
The new approach is said to have many benefits to future patient care and improvement of physician education.