The Pulse @ AUSOM September 2015

Volume 4; Issue 9 September 2015

The Pulse

Atlantic University School of Medicine

Welcome Future Physicians

In This Issue: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
 Welcome whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if
 Tips For New Med
there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of
Students praise, think about these things.”
 ECFMG News
 Confidence As you embark on your journey as a student of the health
 Active Learning sciences, we are very proud to welcome you to
 ECG Challenge
 EBM Tutorial Atlantic University & the School of Medicine
 Student Groups
www.ausom.edu.lc The quotation above is an excerpt which gives us cause for
thought, to wonder how AUSOM will create within each of
you honor, justice a desire for purity, thankfulness for the
opportunity and the pride which comes from living a life

devoted to humanity.

Page 2 The Pulse

10 TIPS FOR NEW MED STUDENTS

1) “You are not going to understand anything about anything for the
first three months. That’s okay.” This is OK, ask questions of instructors and
upper classmen. Seek guidance and do not be afraid.

2) This is going to be tough Medicine and the study of m edicine w ill
challenge you on many levels, academically, personally and spiritually. Be open to
the opportunities presented.

3) Forget personal boundaries and prejudices. Var ious cultur es, dis-
cussions of sexuality, the human person and body ideologies and values may be
challenged. Learn, understand and accept. Never judge nor condemn.

4) Do things your own way.

Be yourself and respect others.

5) Medicine is awesome. Rew ar ds!

6) Travel. See the Island, countr ies

and other cultures. Grow and learn.

7) Make friends for a life time.

8) Take it seriously and study!

9) Be humble at what you do not know.

10) It’s not all about medicine.

While the classroom and labs will be challenging, the education you will receive
from classmates and faculty, citizens of Saint Lucia, USA, UK or other countries will
be equally rewarding. Embrace the opportunities.

~ The Lancet Student Edition
http://www.thelancetstudent.com/blog/my-top-10-tips-new-medical-students

Volume 4; Issue 9

ECFMG UPDATES

Availability of 2016 Information Booklet and Application Materials

The ECFMG 2016 Information Booklet and the 2016 exam application materials are expected to
be available on the ECFMG website in mid-September 2015.

For Step 1/Step 2 CK, you will be able to use the 2016 materials to apply for:

available Step 1/Step 2 CK eligibility periods ending in 2015 (September 2015-November 2015
and October 2015-December 2015) and

all Step 1/Step 2 CK eligibility periods ending in 2016, beginning with the November 2015-
January 2016 eligibility period.

For Step 2 CS, you can use the 2016 materials to obtain a 12-month eligibility period that begins
on the date that the processing of your application is completed.

Please monitor the ECFMG website for updates on the availability of the ECFMG
2016 Information Booklet and application materials.

Computer-based Case Simulations (CCS) Field Trial

The National Board of Medical Examiners® (NBME®) has developed new software to deliver
the Primum® Computer-based Case Simulations (CCS) component of Step 3 of the United
States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE®), which is jointly owned by the NBME and
the Federation of State Medical Boards. The new software incorporates user-adjustable display
features, specifically text magnification and reverse color (color inversion).

NBME is planning a field trial of the software from November 16, 2015 through February 29,
2016 at select Prometric test centers in the United States. NBME is seeking medical students
and graduates with varying levels of visual ability (with or without visual impairments) to par-
ticipate in the field trial.

Interested individuals should read the full announcement on the USMLE website.

Volume 4; Issue 9

ECFMG UPDATES

ECFMG’s Interactive Web Applications (IWA) Unavailable
September 8-9

Due to required maintenance, ECFMG’s Interactive Web Applications (IWA) will be unavailable
for up to 24 hours, beginning at approximately 6:00 p.m., Eastern Time in the United States, on
September 8, 2015.

During this maintenance period, you will be unable to perform any IWA transactions, including
working on or submitting an Application for ECFMG Certification or USMLE® exam applica-
tion; accessing a USMLE scheduling permit; or requesting an extension of a USMLE Step 1 or
Step 2 CK eligibility period.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to maintain high-quality on-line ser-
vices.

Incomplete IWA Exam Applications Will Be Deleted on September 8

As part of the transition (see first announcement) to the ECFMG 2016 Information Booklet and
exam application materials, any USMLE exam applications that have been saved but not sub-
mitted via ECFMG’s Interactive Web Applications (IWA) will be deleted. If you have a saved ex-
am application in IWA, you must complete and submit the application, including payment, by
5:00 p.m., Eastern Time in the United States, on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. If, when IWA be-
comes unavailable on this date (see previous announcement), you have begun but not yet sub-
mitted the on-line part of an exam application, your incomplete application will be deleted. If
your application is deleted, you will be required to begin a new application in order to apply for
examination.

Page 5 The Pulse

Teaching med students about health disparities builds their confidence

An innovative three-month elective course has helped make some first-year medical stu-
dents at Albert Einstein College of Medicine more confident about dealing with health dis-

parities they'll likely encounter as physicians, according to a follow-up study published
online today in the journal Academic Medicine.

Health disparities--gaps in health and healthcare that mirror differences in socioeconomic
status, race, ethnicity and education--remain pervasive in the United States. They are espe-
cially pronounced in the Bronx, a racially and ethnically diverse borough with high rates of

poverty and disease.

Professional organizations emphasize that learning about health disparities is essential to
physician training, but few medical school curricula cover the topic. "We designed an elec-
tive course that makes medical students aware of how they may inadvertently contribute to

health disparities and of systemic causes of health disparities, and offers them skills for
working to reduce them," said Cristina Gonzalez, M.D., M.Ed., Einstein class of 2004, as-
sociate professor of clinical medicine at Einstein and attending physician, internal medi-

cine at Montefiore Health System.

Dr. Gonzalez's work as a hospitalist in the division of hospital medicine has made her
aware of the need to uncover the social determinants of health and for doctors to become
aware of and manage their subconscious biases and advocate for their patients on a regular
basis. "Our positive experience with this elective makes it a potential candidate for the re-

quired curriculum," added Dr. Gonzalez.

A key element early in the 13-session course was a role-playing vignette of a patient
with AIDS and end-stage renal disease who was refusing hemodialysis. "Role playing
helped the students recognize their own biases and develop strategies to manage them,"
said Dr. Gonzalez. Students were later offered instruction in skills such as strategic plan-
ning, grass-roots organizing, meeting with legislators and media communications.
Dr. Gonzalez and her team tested 48 students before and after the course. The researchers

found that:
Mean self-reported confidence scores increased significantly between the course's start

and its conclusion, from 10.7 to 14.4 on a scale of 16.
Student knowledge about disparities increased significantly, from an average of 63.6 to 76.4

on a scale of 100.
As their next step, Dr. Gonzalez and her team will assess how their curriculum affects stu-
dent behaviors in standardized patient encounters. Later they hope to see how students
who took the course retain and apply the knowledge during clinical rotations and other pa-
tient interactions. ~http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/297552.php

Volume 4; Issue 9 Page 6

SUCCESSFUL STUDY STRATEGIES AS A
MEDICAL STUDENT

Four active processes will be used in Actively memorizing the charts, etc.,

the steps of any active study pattern as they are created, then incorporat-

and any study time that ing quick and frequent review during

does not involve one or more of these later study to nail the information

steps is almost certainly passive and down – you'll still need the funda-

inefficient! mentals after finals are over.

Identifying the important infor- Practicing application using practice
mation – answering the eternal or quiz questions during the study
question of “what’s important here?” process – and not to test yourself just

before the exam.
Organizing the information – start
with the “big picture” to create a ~ UC San Diego School of Medicine
framework that facilitates memori-
zation and access appropriate for
differential diagnosis.

Memorizing the information – this
requires frequent review to keep it
available for use!

Applying the information to more
complex situations – practice ques-
tions, quiz questions, clinical applica-
tions, etc.

Everyone will develop their own
“high volume” study methods eventu-
ally, but the majority of medical stu-
dents benefit from a starting strategy
– and one generally successful start-
ing point uses five basic steps:

Finding the "big picture" by skim-
ming the information before lecture
– identifying and memorizing the
four or five major topics will keep
you on track during lecture.

Creating a complete rough draft of
the material by annotating the lec-
turer's slides – notes emphasizing
the lecturer's context are supple-
mented as needed from other reading
materials. Don't rewrite this!

Creating summary charts, lists or
diagrams that organize
the needed material to emphasize
patterns that facilitate memoriza-
tion.

Volume 4; Issue 9 Page 7

ECG Challenge: Dilated Cardiomyopathy

A 69-year-old man with a history of a dilated cardiomyopathy presents with several
hours of palpitations and sudden onset of shortness of breath which prompted a visit
to the emergency room. On physical examination his blood pressure is 90/60 mm Hg

and his heart rate is 100 bpm. Review the ECG tracing and make your diagnosis.

What is your diagnosis?

 Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
 Ventricular tachycardia
 Sinus tachycardia with right bundle

branch block
 Junctional tachycardia with right bundle

branch block

Volume 4; Issue 9 Page 8

Evidence-Based Medicine Tutorial

Evidence based medicine (EBM) was originally defined as the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best
evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence based medicine means
integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.
he revised and improved definition of evidence-based medicine is a systematic approach to clinical problem solving
which allows the integration of the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values.
(Sackett DL, Strauss SE, Richardson WS,et al. Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM. London:
Churchill-Livingstone,2000)
Evidence-Based Practice is defined as, "Making a conscientious effort to base clinical decisions on research that is
most likely to be free from bias, and using interventions most likely to improve how long or well patients live."
(Mark H. Ebell, MD, MS, Professor, University of Georgia, Editor-in-Chief, Essential Evidence Plus)

 Find the best evidence for every day practice (Information mastery)

 Assess relevance before rigor. Is the evidence patient oriented?

 Evaluate information about therapies, diagnostic tests, and clinical decision rules. Is it true?

 Understand basic statistics.

 Have at fingertips "just in time" information at the point of care using web based and/or handheld comput-
er based information and tools for clinical decision making

 Evaluate expert-based information, including colleagues, CME, presentations, reviews and guidelines.

 Critically evaluate information from pharmaceutical representatives.
What Skills does the MD require?

 Critical Appraisal and Interpretation of Research on: Rep-

 Therapies
 Diagnostic Tests
 Prognosis


 Critical Evaluation and Interpretation of:

 Systematic Reviews, Including Meta-analysis
 Decision Analysis
 Practice Guidelines
 Pharmaceutical Advertising, Including Pharmaceutical

resentatives


 Assigning Levels of Evidence to Research Findings to:
 Teaching Level 1 Skills

 Written Communication of Research Findings

 Physicians
 Patients

Volume 4; Issue Page 9

Student Organizations and Activities at AUSOM

 The Student Government Association
 Christian Students Association
 Pediatric Club
 American Medical Student Association @ AUSOM
 Muslim Students Association
 Canadian Students Association
 Journal Club
 Emergency Medicine and Disaster Response Society
 AUSOM Soccer / Football Club
We invite all new students to explore the opportunities available to make
the most of your education, time and training while living in Saint Lucia.
With the most active Student Government, devoted Administration and
Faculty, your time spent with AUSOM can be the most rewarding you will

ex-

perience.

Atlantic
University
School of

Medicine

Atlantic University Admissions
PO Box 456
Island Park, New York 11558
Phone: (516) 368-1700
Fax: 888-639-0512
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.ausom.edu.lc

You’ve spent months—even years— didate that day or you may be one in
preparing your applications to U.S. a group as large as 30. Many programs
residency programs… researching pro- will inform you in advance how the
grams, gathering supporting docu- interview day will be conducted, so
ments, requesting letters of recom- you have an idea of what to expect
mendation, compiling a CV, crafting when you arrive.
the perfect personal statement, ensur-
ing everything was submitted on time. Some of the best advice provided by
You sent your applications and waited experienced participants is wow your
patiently for interview invitations. But interviewers. Communicate effective-
what happens when you get that long- ly, talk about yourself, yet remain
awaited invitation for an interview? humble, know the program to which
The structure of the residency inter- you are seeking admission extremely
view process varies from program to well, demonstrate that you’re a team
program. You may be invited to an player, exemplify your clinical
informal dinner with program resi- knowledge and skill, be inquisitive
dents the night before your interview. and always have fun throughout the
Your day may start with a presentation process.
on the program or it may start with a A happy and confident applicant is a
hospital tour where you are introduced successful resident.
to the staff. You may be the only can-