With the arrival of every new residency application season comes a new host of questions and speculation regarding the requirements of residency directors. Obviously every applicant wishes to present themselves in the best light possible, so sifting through the volumes of information out there can be approaching impossible. Perennially, one of the most-discussed topics is when/if a student should sit for Step 2 either prior to interviewing, or prior to program ROL (rank order list) submission dates. In light of this uncertainty, the ERAS subcommittee of the AAMC sought to address the concerns of USMGs via a survey administered to "3793 ERAS-participating residency programs in 45 residency specialties on July 9, 2012." 1263 'core specialties' responded to the survey for a response rate of about 40%. From here the core specialties were objectively divided into three groups based on the average number of applications per residency position: "less competitive, medium competitive, and most competitive." The survey responses produced interesting results. In response to the question, "Do you require USMG applicants to pass USMLE Step 2CK before granting an interview?", the general trend demonstrated that as specialty competitiveness increased, the percentage of programs requiring a passing score prior to interview decreased. In response to the question, "Do you require USMG applicants to pass USMLE Step 2CK before placement on your ROL?", the trend broadly mirrored the responses to the first question although the baseline "yes" percentage was considerably higher across all specialties. Significant variability was present between specialties within the 'medium competitive' category. Click on the VSAS/ERAS link under "Useful Links" for the official document.
HHMI Research Opportunities for Medical Students at U.S. Schools
In order to encourage more medical students to pursue academic and research careers, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) offers outstanding “year-out” and summer research training programs for students enrolled in schools in the U.S. Women and under-represented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Students enrolled in MD/PhD programs are not eligible to apply. For 2nd and 3rd Year Students: 1) HHMI Medical Research Fellows Program enables medical, dental, and veterinary students at schools located in the U.S. to spend a year conducting basic, translational, or applied biomedical research at any school or nonprofit research institution in the United States, except at the NIH in Bethesda, MD. HHMI will award 66 fellowships in 2013. Joint initiatives with outside funders support additional Fellows doing research in specific areas: inherited retinal degenerative disease research (Foundation Fighting Blindness); Duchenne muscular dystrophy research (Duchenne Research Fund); pre-clinical research in interventional radiology (Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation). For the 2013-2014 program year, Fellows will receive a $29,000 stipend, a $5,500 fellow’s allowance for health, dental and vision insurance and some education-related expenses and a $5,500 research allowance for research-related enrichment activities and some research costs. The Competition System is now open and the application deadline is January 11, 2013. 2) The Medical Research Fellows Program at Janelia Farm offers students with an interest in neuronal networking and/or imaging at the cellular and molecular level an intense year-long research training experience, living and working at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus, a world-class research center in Ashburn, Virginia in the Washington, D.C., area. Students must submit a prescreening application by November 1, 2012 and comply with specific eligibility and application requirements. For 1st Year Students: HHMI Summer Medical Fellows Program will support up to 20 students working in HHMI laboratories (with HHMI investigators, early career scientists or at the Janelia Farm Research Campus), for a minimum of 8 consecutive weeks (10 weeks preferred). Students must be in good standing at a medical, dental, or veterinary school located in the U.S. Those who are enrolled in a combined professional degree/Ph.D. program or who have already received a one-year award from any year-out research training program are not eligible to apply. The program is primarily aimed at those students who wish to explore the summer research experience with the intent of applying for the year-long program. For the 2013 summer program, students will receive a stipend of $5,000 for 10 weeks ($500/week for less than 10 weeks) and up to $1,000 for roundtrip relocation costs. The Competition System opens on November 1, 2012 and the application deadline is February 15, 2013. For further information, visit: www.hhmi.org/medfellowships or e-mail [email protected]. Below is a memorandum written by Dr. Darrell Kirsch, President of the AAMC:
For the second time in a decade, the AAMC has joined with a distinguished group of 29 other educational and health professional organizations to reinforce with the Supreme Court the well-established connection between a diverse student body and a health care workforce that is best prepared to reduce health disparities and ensure the health of all. The nexus between diversity in medical education and the advancement of health care equity in the United States has driven the AAMC’s strategic priority of leading efforts to increase diversity in medicine. As explained by Justice Powell in the Supreme Court case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke nearly 34 years ago: On July 24th, 2012 the AAMC hosted a one-day "Fly-in meeting" in Chicago, IL to discuss a variety of urgent topics pertinent to AAMC members. Multiple presentations and discussions occurred during the short visit. Below is the official short summary of the meeting, as well as summary PDF documents finalized following the conclusion of the meeting.
Dear AAMC Group of Student Affairs Representatives:
You are cordially invited to encourage your fellow medical students interested in pursuing a surgical specialty to participate in a special program at the Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. We ask that you please pass along the link below and the attached brochure regarding this program to all students, including those in first and second year. American College of Surgeons Medical Student Program September 30 - October 2, 2012 McCormick Place, Chicago, IL http://www.facs.org/clincon2012/special/medicalstudent.html The Medical Student Program, offered by the ACS Division of Education, is designed to assist medical students with: • choosing a career in surgery • preparing for the residency selection process • making the transition from medical school to resident training in surgery The students attend lectures, panel discussions, and various activities conducted by prominent Fellows of the College committed to surgery education. In addition to participating in these special activities, students are encouraged to attend the other sessions of the Clinical Congress including panel presentations, scientific paper sessions, video-based education sessions, poster sessions, and technical exhibits. The registration deadline is Friday, September 21, 2012, and early registration is encouraged. The Medical Student Program is free for all medical students, but registration at Clinical Congress (free for ACS student members and a nominal cost for nonmembers) is required. Students, their schools, or departments are responsible for all travel and lodging expenses. With any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Krashina Hudson at (312) 202-5335 or [email protected]. The Medical Student Program is an exceptional educational opportunity for students who may be interested in surgery. We encourage students to attend this interactive and comprehensive course designed just for them. Presidential Memo: FROM: Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., President and CEO SUBJECT: Cultural Competence Education for Students in Medicine and Public Health I am pleased to share the Cultural Competence Education for Students in Medicine and Public Health report, the result of an expert panel of physician and public health educators, jointly convened by the AAMC and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). The report is designed to offer foundational guidance and includes embedded links to background materials, supporting resources, and examples that can be adapted for instructional use. Recognizing the interdependence of medicine and public health is vital to addressing health management and improvement at the individual, community, and population levels. Though it may be intuitive to some, explicit partnering helps align the common purpose of ensuring the health of the public, particularly in serving health needs through community health centers and neighborhood clinics, and increased activity in community-based participatory research collaboration. Toward that end, graduating culturally competent practitioners will prepare our workforce to address health in the context in which it is experienced by the patient and their families. For general purposes, the competencies/learning objectives are organized by knowledge, skill, and attitude categories. Included as an appendix item, the medicine and public health cultural competencies are mapped to the six general domains adopted by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Though content proposed in this report can be found in both the accreditation language and educational literature of medicine and public health, the competencies articulated are meant to offer emphasis to the nexus shared by the two disciplines. The AAMC will be issuing a joint press release with ASPH, and distributing the report to a targeted group of health equity stakeholders to underscore the importance of improving cultural competencies in medical and public health education. This most recent report with our colleagues at ASPH represents the third such collaboration with health profession partners to identify common educational goals and outcomes. The first collaborative report is Contemporary Issues in Medicine: Oral Health Education for Medical and Dental Students, produced in conjunction with the American Dental Education Association. A second report, Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, is the combined effort of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative, a partnership of the AAMC and five other education associations representing the disciplines of medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and public health. Please direct comments or questions about the report to Alexis L. Ruffin, director, Medical Education, at [email protected] or 202-828-0439.
The AAMC Readiness for Reform (R4R) Initiative assists AAMC members in assessing their organizational readiness for responding to key elements of reform and provides resources and activities to assist with implementation of these programs, including care delivery redesign and new payment models. The AAMC has launched the second R4R Innovation Challenge to recognize transformational care delivery programs that leverage the uniqueness of academic medicine by integrating innovations in research and education. Submissions are sought in four topic areas around care delivery redesign and innovations in training. Three institutional winners will receive $5,000 each and be announced at the 2012 AAMC Annual Meeting. Submissions are due Friday, September 7, 2012. For more details and to submit a proposal, visit: www.aamc.org/initiatives/r4r/challenge. Attached is a flyer that can be forwarded along with this email as a takeaway for member institutions.
View submissions from the 2011 Innovation Challenge in the AAMC iCollaborative: www.mededportal.org/icollaborative/about/initiatives/r4r/ Hear more from the 2011 Innovation Challenge winners: www.wingofzock.org Any questions can be directed to Sarah Sonies at [email protected]. Thank you. (from Anita M. Navarro, AAMC)
In January 2012, the AAMC and 110 medical schools announced their participation in the Joining Forces initiative, a White House program for improving the lives of military service members, veterans and their families. Each of the 110 participating schools pledged several commitments, including participating in a survey to understand their educational efforts related to the initiative. We are grateful for the 104 schools that completed the survey. The recently completed report is now available: https://members.aamc.org/eweb/upload/ServingThoseWhoServeAmerica.pdf We found that many schools provide training to medical students and residents; many of these programs are described in the report. I hope that you will take a few minutes to review the report. Based on these survey results, the AAMC is initiating new activities to support and enhance our institutions’ work in this area. Specifically, we have begun new collaborations with key experts to identify best practices that will focus on diagnosing and treating PTSD and TBI and new ways to work with family members dealing with these tragic illnesses. The AAMC is planning a week-long effort called Joining Forces Wellness Week (JFWW) to coincide with Veterans Day that includes a Patient Simulation Day, a webinar series and other educational activities. We want to make you aware of the release of this report and encourage you to share it with individual students at your school who are currently in the military and/or with the student organization for military students if your school has one. Sincerely, Anita M. Navarro, M.Ed. Research Analyst, Careers in Medicine Association of American Medical Colleges Following the Supreme Court ruling on the ACA, Dr. Kirch, President of the AAMC, issued this press release regarding the AAMC's support of the ruling, as well as a short "FAQ" section that addresses several of the key overarching aspects of the ruling. All portions of the ACA were upheld except for the mandated expansion of Medicare coverage by states. Dr. Kirch explains this portion of the ruling below, but read the attached PDF for his full memorandum. Q: Are the Act’s Medicaid expansion provisions constitutional? A: Under the ACA, States were given generous Federal subsidies and required to accept an expansion in Medicaid recipient eligibility (to cover all individuals under age 65 with incomes below 133% of federal poverty) and a minimum benefits package or lose all of its existing Medicaid funding. The Court ruled that Congress can offer States the option to accept expansion under the ACA but cannot put their existing Medicaid funding at risk. Congress’ extension of Medicaid remains available to any State that chooses to participate. The AAMC also put out an official press release to address the Supreme Court ACA ruling. AAMC Applauds Supreme Court Ruling on ACA
As many of you have probably already heard, the Supreme Court has just upheld the ACA in a landmark ruling. Attached below is the official press release from the AAMC, as well as a list of "key points" regarding what this ruling means. Stay
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