Media monitor
Reality works great for TV but not always for training doctors. According to a story in the San Jose Mercury News, simulated patients are becoming commonplace in medical centers nationwide, appearing on computer screens as well as in operating and emergency rooms. The story zeroed in on a simulation developed by David Gaba, MD, associate dean for immersive and simulation-based learning, and Phillip Harter, MD, assistant professor of surgery, in collaboration with others. Also quoted is Thomas Krummel, MD, chair of surgery, who envisions surgeons practicing operations on patient-specific holograms.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/10659068.htm (registration required)
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Feel the burn while you till the berm. That’s the advice from William Haskell, PhD, professor of medicine, emeritus, who was quoted in an Associated Press Weekly Features article on gardening as aerobic exercise. Haskell said that simultaneously tending to tendons and tendrils can burn three times more energy than stretching out in your barcalounger to watch “Grow It!” on HGTV.
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsliving/311ldgar.htm
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Keeping things simple can cut down on paperwork. After the 29 members of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine filed thier financial disclosure statements, several newspapers reported on the more lengthy documents. But the San Francisco Chronicle also noted that one of the shortest came from Dean Philip Pizzo, MD, who listed his home as his only holding. Pizzo noted that there is no prohibition against his having other investments, but added, “I believe that I can best represent Stanford, and now, of course, the citizens of California, by avoiding any outside financial interests.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/01/19/BAG7AASHB81.DTL
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In other news:
- Messing with minds: In the Jan. 18 Independent, Jerome Yesavage, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Judy Illes, PhD, a senior research scholar with the Center for Biomedical Ethics, comment on the use of brain-boosting medications such as Modafinil.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=601878
- Digitizing medicine: Laurence Baker, PhD, associate professor of health research and policy, was cited in a Jan. 19 New York Times story about an effort to encourage doctors, hospitals and insurers to invest in modern information technology.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/19/technology/19health.html?ex=1106802000&en=e511138e8aaf5ed0&ei=5070&oref=login
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