January 2013
- Medical Student Perspectives: Self-expression in Medicine
- My Kind of Medicine: Dr. Gary Dorshimer
- IMIG Update: Penn State College of Medicine
- Advocacy Update: New Health Policy Interns Chosen for Washington Internship
- Winning Abstracts: The Study of Neuronal Sensitivity to Ischemic Damage in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease
- Subspecialty Careers: Geriatric Medicine
- In the Clinic: Hip Fracture
- Virtual Dx - Interpretive Challenges from ACP
- Highlights from ACP Internist庐 & ACP Hospitalist庐
Medical Student Perspectives: Self-expression in Medicine
Throughout my medical education, I have often asked myself, where are the creative students and physicians? I hear of the senior attendings who perform in a rock band or paint on the side, but rarely do I see these physicians presented to students as role models or mentors. My hope is to never lose my artistic side and to one day serve as a mentor to students like myself who believe that balancing the responsibilities of being a medical doctor with the need to express oneself artistically is an essential component of being not only a physician, but a person. While often the emphasis in "medical humanities" is on the medical component of this phrase, the arts and creative passions that contribute to humanism cannot be ignored, no matter how rigorous or time-consuming a medical education may be.
MoreMy Kind of Medicine: Real Lives of Practicing Internists: Dr. Gary Dorshimer
Dr. Dorshimer is in his 29th year as the team physician for the Philadelphia Flyers and has finished his 15th season as the team physician for the Philadelphia Eagles. As the Eagles' primary care physician, Dr. Dorshimer attends every football game, both home and away, whereas for the Philadelphia Flyers, he attends the regular season home games as well as home and away games during the playoffs. Although he treats a variety of injuries and illnesses for players of both teams, concussions are one of the most common injuries that he sees. "People are surprised to learn that it's the internists and primary care physicians, not neurologists, that treat the players' concussions."
MoreIMIG Update: Penn State College of Medicine
At Penn State College of Medicine, our Internal Medicine Interest Group (IMIG) strives to learn both the science and the art of medicine and healing. We take pride in the patient-centered model of care and are instructed in the importance of the medical home model; the need for longitudinal continuity of care for our patients; and the values of integrity, compassion, and determination. Under the Hippocratic Oath, we have vowed to remember that there is "an art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug."
MoreAdvocacy Update: New Health Policy Interns Chosen for Washington Internship
Tracey L. Henry, MD, MPH, MS and Eugene Shenderov, PhD have been chosen as the 2013 ACP Health Policy Interns.
MoreWinning Abstracts from the 2012 Medical Student Abstract Competition: The Study of Neuronal Sensitivity to Ischemic Damage in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease
Accumulating evidence has linked stroke and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and shown that each exacerbates the severity of the other. Recent studies suggest that vascular effects (such as vascular reactivity and inflammation) may play an important role in AD pathophysiological progression. The original concept that AD is a purely neurologically driven disorder has been questioned based on this strong connection between AD and stroke. It is challenging to completely separate the vascular and neurological system and independently to investigate the importance of each system in the AD pathology.
MoreSubspecialty Careers: Geriatric Medicine
From the Greek word geron, "an old man," and iatreia, "the treatment of disease." Geriatric medicine involves the recognition of differences in presentation of disease and the importance of maintaining functional independence in elderly patients. Geriatrics is a primary care discipline oriented toward preventive, routine, acute, and chronic medical care of elderly patients.
MoreIn the Clinic: Hip Fracture
Hip fracture is the most serious consequence of osteoporosis. About 1% of all falls in the elderly residing in the community result in hip fracture, often with life-changing consequences. Acute mortality from hip fracture is 3%-5%; the lifetime risk for death from hip fracture is similar to that from breast cancer. Far fewer than half of patients with hip fracture fully recover their ability to perform all of their basic activities of daily living. Outcomes are even more grim for those who have postoperative complications. Timely diagnosis and highly attentive perioperative care of the complex patient with a hip fracture aim to reduce the risk for such complications and to facilitate rapid transition to rehabilitation in the hopes of improving functional recovery.
In the Clinic is a monthly feature in Annals of Internal Medicine that focuses on practical management of patients with common clinical conditions. It offers evidence-based answers to frequently asked questions about screening, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, and patient education and provides physicians with tools to improve the quality of care. Many internal medicine clerkship directors recommend this series of articles for students on the internal medicine ambulatory rotation.
Highlights from ACP Internist庐 & ACP Hospitalist庐
A resident reflects on the importance of his peers to the learning
process-guiding, helping and supporting one another.
A 67-year-old man is evaluated for a 3-year
history of low back pain, which is of moderate intensity and
worsens during activities, and a 10-year history of neck pain
accompanied by 20 minutes of morning stiffness. Following a
physical and neurological exam, and a radiograph of the spine, what
is the most likely diagnosis?