NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2005
BULLETIN
In this issue:
Aretz
named honorary citizen of longtime university partner in Munich
- LMU
establishes consulting entity to help other institutions
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- Women’s
health is focus of specialty CME program to be held in Dubai
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- TMDU
drives clinical clerkship reform initiative
-
- Workshop
with Nice faculty concentrates on curriculum planning and assessment
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- New
HMI partnership to focus on UK-based projects
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Aretz named honorary citizen of longtime university partner in Munich
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| Dr. Tom Aretz |
In appreciation of his commitment to Ludwig Maximilian
University (LMU) in Munich, Tom Aretz, MD, vice president for education
at HMI, has been awarded honorary citizenship of LMU. The university
honored Aretz with a ceremony held in Munich in October.
Professor Klaus Peter, medical director of the University Hospital Center,
called Aretz a "creative and inspiring teacher, critical advisor, and
a reliable coach for the medical professionals of LMU."
The honorary citizenship was given to honor Aretz’s contributions to
the close alliance between HMI and LMU. Since partnering with HMI in 1996,
LMU has been working to adapt elements of Harvard Medical School’s New
Pathway curriculum. Over the course of the partnership, LMU has become a national
leader in medical education reform. "The constitution and the successes
of the alliance are closely connected with Tom Aretz. The cooperation is not
conceivable without his commitment," said Professor Bernd Huber, president
of LMU.
LMU
establishes consulting entity to help other institutions
In partnership with HMI, the students, faculty, and administration of Ludwig
Maximilians University (LMU) have led a series of educational reforms in the
school’s curriculum that have spurred similar programs at other schools
in Germany. Now LMU has established a consulting entity to serve institutions
in Europe and beyond that are undertaking health care and education reform
initiatives.
LMU Munich Medical International (LMU-MMI) was established in March 2005 to
respond to the global demand for excellence in health care, clinical services,
medical education, and research projects. Given LMU’s fruitful decade-long
association with HMI, the leadership at LMU-MMI have forged a strategic relationship
with HMI. Together, HMI and LMU-MMI will pursue opportunities in the European
health care community.
Frank Christ, MD, who has been a leading figure in the HMI-LMU alliance, has
been tapped to serve as chief executive officer for the new group.
With a structure similar to that of HMI, LMU-MMI leverages the intellectual
resources of the University of Munich, one of the most highly ranked research
universities in Europe. Its academic medical center, University Hospital Center,
is home to 43 clinics, institutes, and divisions and covers all medical specialties.
Tom Aretz, MD, HMI vice president for education, views the launch of LMU-MMI
as a measure of progress for HMI. “LMU has been at the forefront of leading
change in German medical education, and by taking up the mantle of further
reform for academic institutions in Europe, they are aspiring to our best hope
for HMI’s partners.”
Plans are underway for a joint executive workshop in the spring of 2006 that
would bring HMI and LMU-MMI together to discuss strategy, with an emphasis
on risk management. To learn more about LMU-MMI, visit the organization’s website.
Women’s health is focus of specialty CME program to be held in Dubai
The Harvard Medical School Dubai Center (HMSDC) will present Specialty Practi-Med: Women’s Health Throughout the Life Cycle, a continuing medical education course focused on the major areas of obstetrics and gynecology, with an emphasis on screening and prevention. The two-day program will take place December 7-8 at the Emirates Towers in Dubai.
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The program will be led by Ben Sachs, DPH, MB, BS,
professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and chief of obstetrics
and gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He
will be joined by HMS faculty Annekathryn Goodman, MD and Nada Samaha,
MD. A cohort of faculty from the United Arab Emirates will also be on
hand to deliver lectures, lead interactive case discussions, and discuss
issues of local relevance. Gynecologists, obstetricians, nurses, and
internists and general practitioners who care for women are encouraged
to attend.
“This continuing medical program will present up-to-date information on
the full range of medical issues related to the health of women, from major medical
problems like breast cancer and osteoporosis to issues related to reproductive
health and menopause,” said Robert L. Thurer, MD, chief academic officer
of HMSDC. “We have assembled leading experts in the fields of obstetrics
and gynecology and collaborated with local medical authorities to ensure that
the program’s curriculum addresses the particular needs of Gulf Region
practitioners.”
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| Dr. Ben Sachs |
Continuing medical education programs like this one
are a vital resource for health care providers working to keep up with
the latest advances in health care. Since its inception in 2004, HMSDC
has offered programs in a range of medical specialties, including musculoskeletal
health and sports medicine, respiratory medicine, and diabetes. HMSDC
was established as part of the strategic collaboration between Dubai
Healthcare City and Harvard Medical International. Its mission is to
help make Dubai a center of excellence for medical education by creating
opportunities for health care professionals in the region to participate
in continuing medical education and postgraduate medical training.
In collaboration with HMSDC, HMI has worked with the Department of Continuing
Education at HMS to establish a CME accreditation program that meets international
standards and awards internationally recognized CME credits. This Specialty
Practi-Med program will be the first program to award these credits. Additional
information about CME credits can be found on the program website.
TMDU
drives clinical clerkship reform initiative
Four HMI faculty members joined faculty from Tokyo Medical and Dental University
(TMDU) in September for a series of workshops attended by about 80 faculty
members. The program is part of an ongoing effort to reform the school’s
curriculum and thereby create a more active learning experience for its students,
and provide faculty with opportunities to develop their skills in areas such
as communication, leadership, and medical ethics. This visit concentrated on
enhancing TMDU’s clinical clerkship system—including the incorporation
of students into clinical work—and helping the faculty build their clinical
and teaching skills in a variety of rounds formats.
A highlight of the program was the introduction of an innovative new exercise,
created at TMDU’s suggestion and designed to demonstrate the structure
and design of clinical rounds in the American health care system. During a
visit to TMDU’s 800-bed University Hospital, the HMI faculty role-played
and videotaped scripted scenarios for three different types of rounds: work
rounds, attending rounds, and chief resident rounds. The video clips were edited
in the afternoon, and used the following morning and during subsequent days
to allow the TMDU faculty to review and analyze the Harvard Medical School
(HMS) system and discuss how it could be applied at TMDU.
In addition to examining clinical rounds procedures, small group activities
during each workshop focused on teaching tips for bedside teaching, learning
and teaching new clinical skills, and preparing students to present patient
cases. The HMI faculty encouraged leaders at TMDU to further integrate exchange
students who have participated in HMS clerkship programs into their curriculum
reform efforts, and to grant faculty who have completed leadership courses
within their system with special responsibilities for teaching and planning.
TMDU is also working on implementing research semesters into its curriculum. “Including
time in the curriculum that permits students to conduct their own research
is clearly a very positive trend in many medical schools in the U.S. and Europe,” said
Elizabeth Armstrong, PhD, director of education programs at HMI. “We
are delighted that TMDU has incorporated this into their new curriculum blueprint.”
In addition, TMDU has added the position of chief resident, who will fill the
role of clinical educator of students and the entire clinical team. Clifford
Lo, MD, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics, will serve as visiting professor
at TMDU next year. His visit will help define the role and job description
of the chief resident and further the reform of the clinical clerkship system
as a whole.
The HMI faculty, in addition to Aretz and Armstrong, included two other members
of the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Sue Farrell, MD, assistant professor
of medicine, directs the elective clerkship in emergency medicine at Brigham
and Women’s Hospital. Laurie Fishman, MD, is an instructor of medicine
at Children’s Hospital.
Workshop
with Nice faculty concentrates on curriculum planning and assessment
Faculty from HMI joined around 30 members of the medical faculty at the University
of Nice Sophia-Antipolis for an interactive two-and-a-half day program. The
course was the first in a series designed to invigorate medical education at
the university.
“One of the major goals of this workshop was to reinforce the importance
of educational assessment, and help the medical faculty at Nice look at how they
are performing this function, and how their current approach might be altered
to better align with the school’s educational objectives,” said Tom
Aretz, MD, HMI vice president for education. Aretz co-directed the course with
Gary Cole, PhD, who is senior research associate and manager for the Educational
Research and Development Unit of the Royal College of Physicians in Canada.
On the first day of the workshop, Aretz, Cole, and the participants examined
the school’s existing curriculum, with the goal of defining the objectives
for each course and beginning to write teaching cases to meet those goals.
The second day, then, moved to assessment techniques—how to evaluate
students’ progress in achieving the educational goals of the courses.
During the final day of the workshop, the participants rewrote the questions
for the national examination that French medical graduates must take. At the
conclusion of the program, a group of students were presented with both the
old and new versions of the examination—and were unanimous in their assessment
of the new questions’ clarity and close connection to the curricular
goals.
New
HMI partnership to focus on UK-based projects
The Centres of Clinical Excellence (CCE), a large clinician-investor model
partnership in the south of England, has partnered with HMI with the aim of
conceptualizing clinical programs, providing clinical leadership training,
assisting with systems and facilities design, and participating in consulting
activities in the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere in Europe.
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| Robert K. Crone, MD, HMI president and chief executive officer, leads a discussion during a strategic planning workshop involving HMI and CCE. |
The new partnership was formed against the backdrop
of significant shifts in the way that health care is delivered and paid
for in the UK, where health care spending is increasing, the role of
independent providers is growing, and National Health Service (NHS) primary
care trusts are preparing to commission clinical services to the private
sector. Many private health care organizations, including CCE, expect
the NHS to become the purchaser, rather than provider, of health care
services, utilizing a bidding process. The private sector share of health
care in the United Kingdom has grown significantly and is expected to
increase further as the NHS plans to outsource diagnostic services to
the private sector in 2006. Beginning in 2008, private health care organizations
will also be invited to provide elective procedures.
CCE’s objective is to procure NHS contracts on the way to becoming a
clinical provider of choice in the UK. They are currently working to grow their
clinical partnerships, develop specialized clinical facilities, and seek collaborations
with global partners to enhance their competitive position.
HMI’s role extends across a range of strategic advisory and education
services. HMI will collaborate with CCE on the creation of models of excellence
for diagnostic and clinical services, develop workshops to build the leadership
of CCE’s clinicians, offer ongoing continuing medical education courses,
assist CCE’s hospital team with the translation of clinical concepts
into facility design, and serve as a clinical advisor to CCE in its bids for
NHS contracts.
As part of this last function, HMI will participate in a CCE-led consortium
of national and international partners (including the Massachusetts General
Hospital Department of Radiology), formed for the purpose of submitting bids
for contracts under the UK Government’s initial procurement opportunity
for diagnostic services.
In October, members of CCE’s clinical and management leadership joined
HMI for a two-day strategic planning workshop.
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Copyright 2006 Harvard Medical International