Wilderness Workshop

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Family Medicine Interest Group
invites you to attend a
Wilderness Workshop

January 3, 2012
5:00pm
Room L-203
A delicious Thai dinner will be provided!

Dr. Raj Woolever and Dr. Deborah Taylor will be discussing Wilderness Medicine and demonstrating Field Triage. This workshop will include hands-on activities like learning proper evacuation and carrying techniques, bandaging, splinting, and scene assessment and de-crumpling. This will be a great opportunity to learn about the practical skills of Family Physicians and gain valuable medical skills!

Dr. Raj Woolever and Dr. Deborah Taylor are the Program Directors of the Central Maine Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. There will be opportunities to discuss doing away clerkships in Central Main at CMMC.

Happy New Year!

FMIG Leaders,

Daniel Hwang, Annie Jack, Laura Wong, Owen Kendall, Anais Parker, & Gayatri Boddupalli

FMIG Summer Planning Event for 1st Year Students

FMIG hosted a well attended (70 + students!) informal lunch for 1st years to hear from 2nd year students about their experiences last summer. 1st year students broke into groups and 2nd year students rotated to present and answer questions on the following topics:

- Family Medicine Externship Program

- Family Medicine Scholar Program

- Research (at BMC and elsewhere)

- Global Health

- The Other Side of the Bed

Thank you to everyone that participated!

A Follow-Up Visit with a Country Doctor

Speaker: Dr. David Loxterkamp

Family Physician and Author

6-7:30pm, L109

Students and physicians are invited to kickoff Primary Care Week with our special keynote speaker!

Dr. David Loxtercamp is a rural family physician from Belfast, Maine. He is the author of the book, "A Measure of My Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor," which chronicles his life as a family medicine doctor and his interactions with his patients. Dr. Loxtercamp will speak about the significance of being a primary care physician in a rural area, the importance of listening to and telling patient stories, and the role of writing in his career as a physician.

NPR did an interview with Dr. Loxtercamp earlier this year. You can find the interview and transcript here.

FMIG to Co-Host BUSM Primary Care Week

AMSA | FMIG | IMIG | PEDS | CHP
Boston University School of Medicine

are proud to invite you to

PRIMARY CARE WEEK

Monday, October 17th 12:00pm-1:00pm, R103
Med-Peds - A Lunchtime Discussion

Speaker: Dr. Jennifer McEntee

National Meds-Peds Residents' Association Immediate Past President

Tuesday, October 18th 11:30am-12:20pm, L109
“Advocating for Patients—Medical Legal Partnerships”
Speaker: Dr. Megan Sandel

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Tuesday, October 18th 6:00pm-7:30pm, L109
“A Follow Up Visit with a Country Doctor”
Speaker: Dr. David Loxterkamp

Family Practicioner/Author

Wednesday, October 19th 11:30am-12:30pm, L209
“Primary Care in Your Community”
Speaker from the MA League of Community Health Centers

Wednesday, October 19th 6:00pm-7:00pm, L110
Pathways in Primary Care Panel Doctors from Family, Ob/Gyn, Pediatrics, and Internal Medicine

Thursday, October 20th 12:30pm-1:30pm, L201/203
“Health Reform & Primary Care”
Speaker: Dr. Alan Sager
Professor of Health Policy and Management at BUSPH

"What is Family Medicine"

Thank you to our panel of physicians for attending the event and for your continued support of FMIG!

Panel included:

Dr. Nanette Harvey, Director of Predoctoral Education

Dr. Joanne Wilkinson, Associate Director of Predoctoral Education

Dr. Brian Penti, Attending, Family Medicine

Dr. Jennifer Pfau, Attending, Family Medicine

"What is Family Medicine?"

Greetings First and Second Years!

Have you heard of Family Medicine, but don't really know much about it? Are you curious how you can practice Peds, OB/Gyn and Medicine all under ONE speciality? Then, come check out the Family Medicine Interest Group's (FMIG) "What is Family Medicine" lunch talk.

We have a panel of wonderful BMC Family Medicine doctors ready to share with you the details of their speciality, as well as a few stories and experiences from their careers. Bring your questions and your appetites! Delicious NON-PIZZA LUNCH will be served.

When: Wednesday August 31, 11:30

Where: R-115

Cheers!

Your FMIG Co-chairs

Family Medicine Residency Match Lunch

FMIG hosted a well attended event last spring to celebrate the 4th year students who matched in Family Medicine and to help 1st and 2nd year students gain insight into the opportunities available in Family Medicine and the process behind applying for residency.

Topics included:

How did you pick which residency programs to apply to?

Were you restricted by geography or specific program needs?

How many applications did you send out?

Pros and cons of Family Medicine compared to Internal Medicine.

What criteria do you look for in a residency program? How do you get involved in obstetics through a family medicine residency program?

Are you worried about not being able to pay back your loans because of the salary for Family Medicine doctors?

Why family medicine and not Med-Peds?

What are the family med-friendly areas of the country and what are the family med-unfriendly areas?

Experiences (research, volunteer, etc) that strengthened their application

Our panel included:

Ashley Wilson BUSM '11

Trina Huffman BUSM '11

Dr. Joanne Wilkinson FMIG faculty advisor

Thank you to our panel and to everyone that came out!

2011-2012 FMIG Leadership Team

Introducing a great group of second year medical students to lead FMIG and bring lots of exciting events to BUSM this year!

Leadership Team (left to right):

Anais Parker, Annie Jack, Owen Kendall, Gayatri Boddupalli, Laura Wong, and Daniel Hwang

Faculty Advisor:

Dr. Joanne Wilkinson

Opening Primary Care Week With a Bang -

- FMIG's first event was held on Monday!

"Can I Afford to Do Primary Care: A Workshop on the Economics of a Career in this Specialty"
with Dr. John Wiecha, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs

Students were able to see just how well a new family med doc could live after graduation. Cost of living (food, even alcohol), housing prices (in Boston or Denver), compensation (residency and beyond), loan repayments (10 or 25-year plans), spousal income, retirement savings and children were all included in the calculations.

Perhaps more importantly, a few options for debt repayment/forgiveness were outlined including the National Health Service Corps and the newer Non-Profit Loan Forgiveness (NPLF) plan.

Thank you to all the first and second-year BUSM students who came out to this important info session - watch for more sessions hosted by Dr. Wiecha in the future.

National Primary Care Week at BUSM

All at BUSM are invited to attend National Primary Care Week events November 1st - November 5th.

FREE FOOD WILL BE PROVIDED AT ALL EVENTS

RSVP (http://tiny.cc/4378w)

The events include:

Monday November 1st: 11:30-12:30 *L109

"The Economics of Primary Care" A lunch talk with Dr. Wiecha and Dr. Kelly

* PLEASE RSVP to this event as space is limited (http://tiny.cc/4378w)

Tuesday November 2nd 5:00-7:00 pm

Primary Care Mixer - bring your questions for a casual, candid conversations and networking with primary care physicians. The physicians attending are from a variety of different primary care specialties and various years in practice.

* This Event is at JJFoley's 117 East Berkeley Street Boston, MA 02118

* A group will be leaving at 4:45 from the medical school lobby

Wednesday November 3rd 11:30-12:30 *L206/209

Pediatrics Residency lunch Talk and Panel

Thursday November 4th 6:00-7:30 *Heibert

"Primary Care Pathways" Come listen and ask questions to a panel of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatric, and OB/GYN primary care physicians. The panel will discuss what drew them to primary care in general and to their field in particular, and about what their current practice is like (patient population, types of work, lifestyle, advantages/disadvantages).

Friday November 5th 11:30-12:30 *L109

"How Health Reform will Affect Primary Care" Hear from Dr. Alan Sager as he discusses the recent health reform law and how it will change the face of primary care health care.

Please RSVP to the above events at http://tiny.cc/4378w

Please also complete the following survey to assist our groups in funding these events: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3F69QQR

We look forward to seeing you next week!

AMSA, FMIG, IMIG, and PEDS

*Room Change*

Our "What is Family Medicine" event on Tuesday, September 14th (11 am) will be held in R-103, not R-115 as originally posted.
See you there!

-BUSM FMIG

"What is Family Medicine?"

Good question. Come out to FMIG's next event September 14th to find out!

We'll have our speakers and panelists address this and other important issues such as:
-"what is this FMIG you speak of?"
-"how do CCHERS, FaMeS, and Family Med Scholars differ?"
-"can I get some free pizza for lunch?" (yes!)

When: Tuesday September 14th, 11 am - 12 pm
Where: R-115
What: presentation/panel discusssion/Q+A/lunch

Family Medicine Residency Panel + Dinner

Our first event was a great success - thank you to all the hungry first-years who came to get in on our exceptional thai food, and of course, to ask all the important questions of our family medicine panelists.

Our panelists graciously explained how family medicine differs from other specialties (such as internal medicine), what kinds of experiences prepared them for a career in the field, relevant financial considerations and why they ultimately chose family medicine. Thank you to:

Dr. Tom Hines, Residency Director at BMC Family Medicine Residency
Dr. Caitlin Day, PGY3 at BMC Family Medicine Residency
Dr. Anthony Lim, BUSM '10 and resident at
Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency
Dr. Angelica Salazar, BUSM '10 and resident at
UCSF-Natividad/Monterey Bay

2010-2011 FMIG Gets Rolling

Stay tuned for the inaugral event organized by our incoming 2010-2011 FMIG leaders!

Mark your calendars for May 11, 5-6 pm.

Cheers,

2010-2011 FMIG
Ammarah Iqbal
Emily Kidd
Laura Moreno
Lauren Scott
Megan Waterman

Global Health in Family Medicine

I have attached below a post on the Student Leaders listserve regarding Global Health Opportunities in Family Medicine. Feel free to contact either of the national student reps: Andy (alutzkanin@hmc.psu.edu) or Kevin (kmb64@drexel.edu) for more information

A variety of AAFP Commissions met this past week in Kansas City, including your appointed resident and student leaders. The Subcommittee on International Family Medicine was one of these, and I wanted to provide you a few updates about what we talked about. Some things were new business, and some were finding ways to respond to student and resident resolutions from National Conference. Take a look at the notes below, and feel free to contact any one of us if you want more information!


• Global Health Networking: The Subcommittee discussed the resolution from NCFMR/S on creating a Global Health Networking Link. There is currently a discussion board and listserv for this purpose, but it is not utilized. As a start, we decided to create a Facebook page modeled after the National Conference example, but using the Family Medicine Global Health Workshop as the focus of the page. This would allow the opportunity for postings about people's experiences in international activities. The AAFP will also provide content on the page with references to available resources for Global Health, including links to a database (more info below). It will also allow the AAFP to publicize the Global Health Conference and link attendees together for productive conversation and networking.

• We discussed and updated the Global health Curriculum Guidelines. The students and residents will also be updating the presenting for National Conference on preparing for an international experience. If you have tips to share, please let us know.

• Student International Scholarships: A fund is going to be established within the AAFP Foundation to support students in international experiences. While there is not enough money to guarantee scholarships at this time, the fund will be a way to start the process for when funds become available. People can donate to this fund, with the idea that it will eventually have enough money to fund students for experiences. So if you know any rich benefactors, point them here!

• Global Health Link off homepage: It was discussed that finding global health resources takes multiple clicks off the homepage. Many discussed how global health is a big draw for students to go into Family Medicine, and suggested we make it more prominent. It also fits with the goal of trying to emphasize Family Medicine’s essential role in global health, especially given the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative.

• Global Health Contact Database: Working from the resolution from National Conference, we agreed with setting up a database of members who have participated in global health programs and will work with staff to set it up. Staff had already been working on this through the Global Health Workshop.

• AAFP Statement on Global Health: The Obama administration’s recently announced Global Health Initiative, as well as a new Institute of Medicine report on Global Health look at improving health care systems in developing nations. Some other organizations have issued statements reviewing these documents and made recommendations. The subcommittee decided that we should also review this and create a statement that shows how FM is positioned to meet the goals outlined in these reports. So stay tuned for the statement!

• Student with Physicians with Heart: A resolution from NCFMRS requested a dedicated student position within Physicians with Heart, a group that travels on medical trips abroad. As of 2009, the AAFP is no longer a partner with Physicians with Heart, so it cannot make this happen. However, there is a rumor that Physicians with Heart is trying to make this happen anyway.

• Haiti earthquake relief: The AAFP Foundation is organizing disaster relief, both in resources and working with its partners the International Medical Corps and Heart to Heart International for volunteering.

• FM Global Health Workshop: For those interested in global health, the Family Medicine Global Health Workshop will be held in Coral Gables, FL on September 9-11, 2010. As of now, keynote speakers will include Donna Shalala, PhD, President of the University of Miami and Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, Dean of GWU Medical School. http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/aboutus/specialty/international/pgms.html

• Newsletter: Check out the International newsletter if you want more updates. http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/aboutus/specialty/international/internationalupdate.html

More questions? Get in touch with your subcommittee student/resident representatives
Andy Lutzkanin, MS3, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA
Kevin Bernstein, MS3, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Lindsay Botsford, PGY-3, Baylor/Kelsey-Seybold FMRP, Houston, TX

AAFP Congress of Delegates Experience

The AAFP Congress of Delegates is the academy's policy-making body. It is being held in Boston this year (as I write) and I thought I would share some of my experiences attending one day of the Congress.

The Congress consists of 2 delegates from each state, 2 resident delegates and 2 med student delegates. All AAFP members are allowed to attend (may I add at this point that medical student membership to the AAFP is free). During the Congress, the Executive and Board positions are elected. Also, various policies, which are introduced by the state delegates, are discussed and voted upon.

I attended three of the reference committee hearings: Committee on Education, Committee on Advocacy and Committee on Health of the Public. At a reference commitee hearing, resolutions created by states are introduced and any AAFP can provide testimony for or against the resolution. The reference committee then makes a recommendation for or against the resolution and this is then voted on in the large Congress.

Committee on Education highlights:

- a resolution was introduced to eliminate Step 2 CS based on the fact that it does not in fact evaluate clinical skills, is a financial burden on students and is of no use in differentiating between students for residency programs. Of note, not a single residency director or educator stood up and defended the usefulness of Step 2 CS! One of the delegates said: "A pre-med student with no clinical experience could read FirstAid for Step 2 CS and pass it."

- proposals to advocate for increase in funding for primary care residency programs

- a resolution supporting expanding student and residency leadership positions within the AAFP

Committee on Advocacy highlights:

- a huge debate about single payer health care system. It seemed like many of the members who testified supported the single payer system but did not think it is the right time to implement it

Committee on Health of the Public:

- advocating for banning cell phone usage while driving

- advocating for increased social determinants of health education in medical schools

- advocating for mandatory influenza vaccinations of health care workers

... to mention a few. Click here for more details about the congress.

Some Recent News from AAFP

• AAFP Leaders Attend Presidential Speech on Health Care Reform, Private Meeting With President Reinforces Importance of Primary Care
  


• AAFP Statement: Family Physicians Call on Senate to Confirm Regina Benjamin, MD, as Surgeon General

Upcoming Events!

The semester is well underway now, as you can probably guess by the recent dearth of blog posts. FMIG is still alive and kicking though! Don't pronounce us just yet.



We have super exciting events lined up for the next few weeks, especially as we partner with other student organizations to host National Primary Care Week together. This year's theme is:

Primary Care is Everybody Care:
The Future of Medicine is Now
October 19-23, 2009

To kick off NPCW, we will have a talk in Hiebert at 6pm on Friday, October 16, with none other than Dr. Ted Epperly, President of the American Academy of Family Physicians!

Dr. Epperly will begin the evening as the keynote speaker. He will be addressing the key role of family medicine and primary care in serving the future of health care in America, with a focus on minority health issues. He will also be discussing current health care reform efforts.

His keynote will be followed by dinner, small group discussions on advocacy, and networking opportunities. We hope everyone will be able to make this talk-- it is certainly not often that BUSM gets a visit from the president of a national professional academy, and even rarer to have that guest be so well-versed in and intimately connected to the current healthcare reform debate with a powerful voice for primary care and for family medicine.

Sports Medicine Workshop: On Field Emergencies

Hope you had a good weekend! You are invited to our first Sports Medicine Workshop of the year -- limited to the first 20 RSVPs. Look out for the sign up email in your inbox soon.

• Who: Everyone!
• What: What is Sports Medicine? Introduction to On Field Emergencies! Dr. Alysia Green will be discussing the field of Sports Medicine. She will also be teaching us how to handle on field emergencies and how to spine board an athlete/patient!
• When: Thursday (8/27) 5:30pm (will end no later than 7:30pm)
• Where: L-301
• Why: Learn about sports medicine, practice spine boarding on each other, meet first and second years, and eat snacks!

We will be having plenty more workshops in the future! Check out the Events Calendar at the top of our blog.

Contact Info from the Lunch Panel

Thanks so much for coming to FMIG's "What is Family Medicine Panel?" this past Tuesday! We had a great turnout and were really happy to see a mix of both years. To those of you who weren't able to make it but wanted to, please keep your eyes open for upcoming FMIG events.

Also, we received some great questions about Family Medicine from your feedback evaluations. We will write a whole separate post to answer as many as we can, so keep visiting the blog!

Here are the email addresses of our panelists from Tuesday who all agreed that they would be happy to respond to questions you might have:

• Dr. Markuns (International Health interests)- Jeffrey.Markuns@bmc.org
• Dr. Green (Sports Medicine interests)- Alysia.Green@bmc.org
• Dr. O'Brien (Ob-Gyn/Rural health interests)- michlynn@bu.edu or Michelle.OBrien@bmc.org
• Anthony Lim (BUSM IV) - alim@bu.edu
• Christopher Simons (BUSM IV)- simonsch@bu.edu

Finally, for those of you who approached Dr. Markuns after the panel and were interested in possible international health opportunities, he has kindly provided the following contact:

LeBoHA program
Libby Cunningham is the Program Coordinator (ecunning@bu.edu)
Dr.Markuns also mentioned that students should feel free to contact him directly with further questions.