Category Archives: Medical School

The University of Auckland is investigating how a man who was denied a place at its medical school was able to attend classes.

The man is alleged to have dissected cadavers, donated for medical research, among other assignments.

A medical school spokesman said the man participated in the second and third year of the six-year medical course.

Over the two-year period he evaded lecturers by not putting his name to anything, he said. An anonymous person reportedly emailed 3News claiming the student was to work in a hospital environment as a third-year student.

That would allow him to work with patients and confidential information, the person said.

The university is believed to have issued a trespass notice against the man.

Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences Professor John Fraser said, in a statement, the university was "extremely concerned to discover that a person who applied for entry into the medical programme in 2010 and was unsuccessful has since been attending classes".

"Because of the size of the medical class, and by not submitting assessments or sitting tests, the individual was able to deceive classmates and teachers.

"Ultimately the presence of this person was detected when an assignment was submitted that did not match any name on the class list.

"This individual is not a student and is not on any class list. This person has not been given any confidential or restricted training material, and has not, to our knowledge, ever been able to examine any patients or received confidential patient information."

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University investigates fake medical student

The number of students applying to study medicine at the country's universities plunged 14.2% for the 2011-2012 academic year from a year earlier, leading a trend of falling university enrollments, according to figures from the Higher Education Council.

Statistics released Wednesday said the number of people applying for places at the universities dropped 2.5% for the current year, while there was a 1.1% drop in the number who were accepted.

The drop in medical school applicants was so large that for the first time in years, the rate of acceptance was not the lowest among all areas of study. That honor went to architecture programs, where the rate of acceptance was 25%, versus 27.5% for medical school.

The higher rate of acceptance for medicine partly reflects the opening of a new medical school in Safed, the council said. But the major factor was that only 1,600 people applied for places, compared with 1,865 last year. Of those, 440 were admitted, down from 455 last year.

But Eran Leitersdorf, dean of the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine and chairman of the medical faculty deans' forums, said the council's figures didn't reflect actual interest in medical studies. Medical programs used a weighted index of matriculation (bagrut ) and psychometric exam scores to consider applicants, and fewer potential applicants meet the standard to apply, he said.

Other academic programs also suffered declining demand. For social work, the number of applicants dropped 15.5% for the current academic year from 2010-2011. About 55% of all applicants to social worker programs at the universities were accepted, the council said.

Both declines, which were the sharpest among academic programs, appear to have been linked to labor disputes occurring at the time applicants were considering programs.

According to an analysis conducted by TheMarker, the number of students in bachelor's programs at academic colleges soared from 2008 to 2011, while university enrollments held steady and even declined at the biggest institutions.

The decline in university applications was nearly across the board, the exceptions being electrical and electronics engineering (which was unchanged ), and computer science (which rose 2% ). For those programs, the acceptance rate in bachelor's programs was 53% and 54%, respectively.

Applications for humanities programs were unchanged at 1,980, with three-quarters of all applicants getting accepted, the council said. Accounting programs saw applications drop 7% and economics programs fell by 3.3%. Psychology applications were off 2% from last year. Only one out of every 1.6 applicants gets into a psychology program and only one out of every 1.7 gets into accounting or economics.

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Medical schools lead decline in applications to universities

Raising the stakes on a proposed property tax increase, the University of Texas has declared that its approval next month by Travis County voters is essential for establishing a medical school in Austin.

For us, this is a yes or no proposition, said Steven Leslie, UTs executive vice president and provost, in a memo to faculty and staff members that was obtained by the American-Statesman. Without a complete and reliable source of new funding, we will not be able to start a medical school.

Taxpayers in other Texas communities have helped finance medical schools and teaching hospitals through various means, but the proposal by Central Health, Travis Countys hospital district, differs in two important ways.

One, voters must first approve a 63 percent increase in their property taxes for health care, going from 7.89 cents to 12.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. No other medical school in Texas has hinged on raising local property taxes.

Two, a specific amount of the estimated $54 million a year in new tax revenue $35 million would be permanently earmarked for services provided to needy patients by the medical schools faculty and residents, who are physicians in training.

The tax is the final piece of a plan that has been under discussion for several years but that has not coalesced until recent months.

Building and operating the medical school for the first 12 years would cost $4.1 billion, according to UT-Austins cost estimates. The UT System Board of Regents has committed at least $25 million a year in endowment proceeds, plus $5 million a year for eight years to buy equipment. The nonprofit Seton Healthcare Family, which already spends $45 million to sponsor an academic education program, has tentatively committed $250 million to build a new teaching hospital to replace University Medical Center Brackenridge, which Central Health owns and Seton operates.

If Proposition 1 passes, the average Travis County homeowner would pay an extra $107.40 in 2014, for an average health care tax bill of $276.79. That prospect has aroused opposition from those who say UT should pay the full cost of its medical school.

Saying you have to pay a property tax for us to build a medical school is unprecedented in Texas history, said Don Zimmerman, campaign treasurer of the Travis County Taxpayers Union political action committee, which formed to fight the ballot proposition.

But proponents and others say it reflects changing financial and political realities.

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Health tax increase a ‘yes or no’ vote on medical school, UT says

By Jonnelle Marte

How a spoonful of bullying, plus a heaping pile of debt, helps turn students into doctors.

By the time most medical school students are assisting in hospitals shadowing the doctors they aspire to someday become many are well-accustomed to being pushed around, yelled at, or called derogatory names.Such incidents arent new, but with the med student population only growing (admissions are up 17% since 2002, with schools working to address a projected shortage of 90,000 doctors by 2020), cracking down on the problem has becoming a matter of increasing urgency. Especially in cases of more severe abuse: A survey conducted this year by the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC, 33% of students said they were publicly humiliated at least once during medical school, 15% said they were the object of sexist remarks and 9% said they were required to run errands for doctors.

And a study released this year by the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that despite several efforts by the school to hold bullying awareness workshops for third-year students (who bear the brunt of the mistreatment, because thats when they begin working in hospitals with medical residents and doctors) and to warn residents and teachers about the consequences of such actions, the abuse has persisted, with more than half of students surveyed between 1996 and 2008 reporting some form of mistreatment. Part of the problem, says Joyce Fried, assistant dean at the school of medicine, is that even though the school takes steps, such as waiting until after grades are awarded before launching investigations, to prevent retaliation toward students who come forward, many are still afraid to do so.

What should you look for in picking a primary-care doctor? The industry expects some movement among patients and doctors due to full implementation of the federal health overhaul. Anna Mathews has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images.

For its part, the AAMC is trying to keep an eye out for abuse: When students finally graduate from medical school, the AAMC typically sends them a questionnaire, which it recently updated to ask more specific questions about bullying. Additionally, president Darrell Kirch posted a letter to the AAMC website in September expressing concern that exposure to bullying could negatively impact a doctors future interactions with patients.

Student advocates say they also worry that such treatment often squelches a students desire to enter the field or worse yet instills a sense of fear among young doctors that could prevent them from challenging colleagues when errors are made or from trying new approaches to improve care. Theyre overworked and treated unkindly by people who are supposed to be teaching them, says Diane Pinakiewicz, president of the National Patient Safety Foundation, adding that those doctors often go on to mistreat other students when they begin to teach. Were trying to break the cycle.

Link:
10 things medical schools won’t tell you

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - A groundbreaking ceremony occurred Friday morning for the new Western Michigan University medical school.

The school has been granted preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the national accrediting body for educational programs leading to the MD degree.

"This is an important step because we now have the go-ahead to recruit students for our first class to begin in August 2014," Dr. Hal B. Jenson, MD, MBA, told the ceremony's crowd.

The medical school is a collaboration involving WMU and Kalamazoo's two teaching hospitals -- Borgess Health and Bronson Healthcare. It has been in planning since 2008.

In December 2011, William U. Parfet, chairman and CEO of MPI Research in Mattawan, donated the 320,000 square-foot building to WMU to be used by the new medical school.

In March 2011, WMU received a gift of $100 million for the medical school from anonymous donors.

The seven-story building at 300 Portage St. in Kalamazoo is located at the heart of the new W.E. Upjohn Campus. A $68 million renovation and expansion project is scheduled to be completed by May 2014, with 30,000 more square feet to be added to the building.

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WMU School of Medicine building stat sheet (pdf)

WMU School of Medicine future floor plans (pdf)

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Ground broken for WMU medical school

by Michael Vincent D. Cajulao

ZAMBOANGA CITY Hundreds of residents of Tumalutap Island received medical assistance and school supplies last October 7, during a civic-action outreach program initiated by Task Force Zamboanga (TFZ).

The program was also done in collaboration with Department of Health IX, Zamboanga City government, national line agencies, non-government organizations, and the Joint Special Operation Task Force Philippines.

Colonel Buenaventura Pascual, Task Force Zamboanga chief, said in an activity report that the main objective of the activity is to uphold and promote humanitarian services in areas classified as economically unstable in terms of income generation and capability to pay medical services.

A total of 246 individuals benefitted from the medical checkup and consultation, 70 of whom also availed of the free tooth extraction.

The group also distributed 355 ball pens and pencils and 355 pieces of notebooks for the school children, 150 pairs of new slippers, 130 pieces of toys for the kids, and two bundles of assorted used clothing.

Pascual also turned over boxes of medicines to Brgy. Chairperson Carsoma A. Abunawas for distribution to the residents.

The activity is part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP), which seeks to forge partnership with the residents in maintaining peace and security and help spur development in their area.

Pascual, in a previous interview with PIA, said part of IPSPs strategies are community outreach missions, aid in looking for livelihood opportunities for those in depressed and conflict areas, and implement paradigm shift on the thinking of soldiers.

We are trying to inculcate in the minds of our soldiers that gone are the days when we are only visible during war. We are here also as partners of the communities by delivering basic services and help them look for livelihood opportunities to help them alleviate their living condition. We want our soldiers to also be sensitive to the needs of the communities, Pascual said.

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Underprivileged residents receive medical attention, school supplies