Year 2: Empathy 201

You are invited to attend Empathy 201 sessions.  These sessions will meet monthly from 12:00-1:00 in the Stevenson Conference Room (in the medical library).   Just as in Y1 these sessions are optional and reservations are required. Each of the sessions involves Dr. Dorsey and a clinical faculty member from one of the departments here at the school. 

This year’s schedule will consist of discussions regarding the interrelationship and balance between students' professional and personal lives, using readings from current journals to stimulate discussion.  The schedule for the year follows:

September 11, 2007	Neurology:  Hossam AbdelSalam, MD	Communicating when language is not the only barrier How do you communicate with people whose basic beliefs are vastly different from yours? How do you overcome fear of physicians? How do you provide competent care for a patient whose parents are non-compliant and appear to be endangering a child? What do you do when medical interventions could cause more harm than good? (Excerpt from The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down from A Life in Medicine pp 286-295)
October 15, 2007	Obstetrics and Gynecology:  Erica Nelson, MD	Going beyond the presenting situation and first impressions How do you avoid generalizations when you see a typical presentation? How far is a physician expected to go in helping patients recognize/deal with potentially harmful lifestyle issues? “The Intervention.”  JAMA 280(17): 1477 http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/280/17/1477
November 13, 2007	Pediatrics:  Tracy Lower, MD	To Feel or Not To Feel Should physicians show their feelings to patients and families? How do you deal with families when things are going wrong? Where is the line between being a compassionate physician and being “too involved”? “The Cross-Cover Resident.”  JAMA 290(8): 956 http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/289/8/956 “Cord.” JAMA 287(14): 1773-1774 http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/287/14/1773
December 4, 2007	Psychiatry:  Robert Pary, MD	Why Do Good Doctors Go Bad? Prevalence of mental illness, etc., in the physician population Dealing with a colleague with a problem Punishment vs behavior modification (Diagnosis and Treatment) Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on An Imperfect Science pp 88-106 (Chapter 5: When Good Doctors Go Bad)
January 15, 2008	Internal Medicine:  Gina Kovach, MD	Prejudice and Patient Confidentiality How do you respond to patients whose lifestyles you do not condone and may not understand? How do you deal with colleagues who do not respect patient confidentiality? How do you deal with friends, colleagues and family who are display prejudice toward certain patient populations? My Own Country (pp 299-310 and 332-342)
February 12, 2008	Family and Community Medicine:  Caryenna Brenham, MD	Recognizing and Managing Medical Student Stress and Burn-out How do you make “Life as it should be in addition to life as it is”? How do you respond to situations that seem inhumane to a patient? How do you recognize and deal with “burn-out?” Have you seen/experienced burn-out in residents and physicians with whom you have worked? How do you deal with stress? “Fiction as Resistance.”  Annals of Internal Medicine 137(11): 934-937. http://www.annals.org/issues/v137n11/full/200212030-00022.html
March 18, 2008	Surgery:  David Rogers, MD	Learning by Doing How do novices learn? How do you deal with the statement “There should be no learning curve where patient safety is involved?” Practice vs Talent Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on An Imperfect Science (Chapter 1:  Education of a Knife)
April 24, 2008