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February 2005 News

  Medical Winter Clinics

This year the Ada County Medical Societies Winter Clinic will be held February 18-21 in Sun Valley. Winter Clinics is one of the longest running medical meetings in Idaho with a primary care focus. The meeting offers something of interest to any practitioner.

Faculty includes national thought leaders in rheumatology, infectious disease, and nutrition as well as a group of regional and local experts. This year the Idaho Chapter of the American College of Physicians will join Winter Clinics for their annual meeting.

The Winter Clinic offers a family friendly conference with 12 Category I CME hours spread over a 2.5 day weekend. A special presentation by Rob Hilvers, M.D. on his medical experience in Antarctica will highlight this years dinner.

We hope you'll plan to join physicians from across southwest Idaho at this years meeting. We encourage you to register early. There is no fee for residents, retired physicians, and physician spouse/guest. You can't beat the price. Early registration at $175.00 is good to 2/5/05. Please contact Don at 336-2930 to register.

*****

Congratulations on the VA Medical Center Winter Retreat with a successful return to McCall.

  Presenters Wanted

With the availability of unrestricted industry dollars drying up, ACMEC would like to develop a resource list of local physician expertise and topics you may wish to present. We have long tried to find a 50/50 balance between visiting lecturers and local expertise. Now that unrestricted funding is continually more difficult to come by, we intend to network with the University of Washington, Utah and OHSU and are particularly interested in physicians that do not require industry support.

To compliment our efforts; if you'd like to present let us know your interest by dropping us an e-mail at acmec@acmec.org.

 

  Anderson Center - Wednesday, 8:00 a.m.

 2 Edward La Cava, MD, Endocrinologist, Kirkland, Washington.
23 Christopher Benz, MD, Professor and Director, Program on Cancer and Developmental Therapeutics, Buck Breast Cancer Care Center, Buck Institute, Novato, California.

  Mercy Medical Center - Wednesday, 12:30 p.m. - Winter Room

 2 Edward La Cava, MD, Endocrinologist, Kirkland, Washington.

  Centennial Room - Friday, 8:00 a.m.

18 M. Eric Gershwin, MD, Chief, Division of Rheumatology/Allergy and Immunology; Professor of Medicine, University of California - Davis.


  Tumor Boards

Mercy Medical Center - Tuesday, 12:00 noon
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center - Thursday, 12:00 noon
Breast Care Panel-Saint Alphonsus RMC - Tuesday, 7:00 a.m.
St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center - Tuesday, 12:00 noon
Breast Tumor Board-St. Luke’s RMC - Thursday, 7:00 a.m.
MSTI Pediatric Tumor Board - 2nd & 4th Wednesday, 12:00 noon
Meridian Tumor Board - 1st & 3rd Thursday, 12:00 noon

  CHEERS (Children's Hospital Education Enrichment Review)

1st, 2nd, 4th, Thursday, 8 a.m., Anderson Center - Ada -2
 

  The following physicians were elected as ACMS Provisional Members:

Jean Bender, M.D.; Matthew Bender, M.D; Jack Chaffin, M.D.; Nichole Menegakis, M.D.; Naya Juul-Dam, M.D.; Deric Patterson, M.D.; David Johnson, M.D.; Christopher Partridge, M.D.

  Upcoming Events:

Winter Clinics, February 18-21 at the Sun Valley Inn.

Membership Quarterly Meeting, March 16, Red Lion Downtowner. The evening topic is "Surviving the Stress of Being Sued and Minimizing the Risk That It Will Happen Again"

Contact the ACMS office at 336-2930 to register for these events.


 

Prize Winning Puns
  1. A vulture boards an airplane carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."
  2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"
  3. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked as they moved off. "Because", he said. "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."
  4. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small forest shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good friars to close down but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.
  5. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him, (Oh, man, this is so bad its good)…. A super calloused, fragile mystic, hexed by halitosis.


 

Upcoming Calendar

March 2005

 2 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Flu Season, Chris Hahn, MD
 9 Patient Satisfaction, L. Tad Cowley, MD
11 Mengioccocal Disease, Steve Cole, MD
16 Update on HTN, Marc Kozinn, MD
18 Diagnosis and Management, of Fabry's Disease, Nicola Longo, MD

April 2005

 1 Technological Updates in Pap Smears, Jack Chaffin, MD, Mickey Myhre, MD
 6 Borderline Personality Disorders, H. George Nurnberg, MD
 8 Sexual Side Effects of Antidepressants, H. George Nurnberg, MD
20 USDA New Dietary Guidelines, Nancy Weaver, MD
22 IGE and Allergens, Miles Mirhosseini, MD
27 Update on Gallbladder and Biliary Disease, Stephen Schutz, MD


 

Only the Rich Need Apply

Now that I have a daughter setting her sights on medical school, the cost of medical education has piqued my interest. No longer can one work a part-time summer job and pay for most of their education.

The average tuition and fees at public medical schools during the 2003-2004 academic years was $16,000.00 for public schools and $32,000.00 for private schools. Adding $20 to $25,000 for living expenses, books, etc. (which may be low for a married student with family) one easily could spend about $140,000.00 for public school and $225,000.00 for private schools. In Idaho the WAMI students pay about $14,300.00, in addition the legislature budgets about $47,000.00 per seat which total 18 at the University of Washington.

The average debt for students graduating in 2004 was $105,000.00 for public schools and $140,000.00 for private medical schools. Only 20% of graduates incurred no debt. Unlike their counterparts in other fields medical graduates then spend 3-5 years in residency training while interest accumulates and pay back is delayed until the start of their practice. Residents here in Boise start at about $36,000.00 per year in salary.

Medical schools have seen a decrease in applications from about 47,000 applicants in 1996 to 35,700 in 2004. For the past two decades about 60% of medical students have come from families in the top quintile of income. A recent survey of under represented students indicated that cost was the number one reason they didn't apply.

The increasing debt also influences graduates decision on specialty choice. The latest match showed a decrease in the number choosing primary care and increases in radiology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and other higher reimbursed specialties.

Our culture does not encourage delayed gratification but rewards those who look out for number one. When young physicians enter practice with large amounts of debt and then try to emulate other colleagues in their specialty they often over extend their credit and blur the moral discipline required to be the patients fiduciary advocate. It would be unfortunate if the altruism which motivates many to choose medicine as a career where to become an abstraction because of economic concerns. The transcending commitment of a physician must be to put the needs of their patients ahead of their own self interest.

I'm not sure what the answer is to this dilemma. As H.L. Menken once said, "To every problem, no matter how difficult, there is an answer that is simple, direct, and wrong".

John J. Mohr, M.D.


 

February 2005 Conferences

  St. Luke's Regional Medical Center - Wednesday 8am, Anderson Center

 2 Cultural Considerations in Treating Type II Diabetes, Edward La Cava, MD
 9 Sinusitis, W. Davis Merritt, MD
16 Obesity, Olive Oil, and Lipid Management, David Lee, MD
23 Discovery and Development of Novel Therapeutics Targeting Oncogenic Receptors, Christopher Benz, MD

  Mercy Medical Center - Wednesday 12:30pm

 2 Cultural Considerations in Treating Type II Diabetes, Edward La Cava, MD
 9 Sinusitis, W. Davis Merritt, MD
16 Doc 2 ,Documentation for Physicians, Samantha Collier, MD, MBA
23 Legislative Update, Bob Seeheusen, MD

  VA Medical Center - Thursday 8am, AW Horsley Learning Ctr.

 3 Expanding Hepatitis C Care: Managing, Treating Side Effects & Comorbidities, Atif Zaman, MD
10 TBA
17 TBA
24 Topic TBA, Anne Larson, MD

  St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center - Friday 8am, Centennial Room

 4 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Flu Season, Chris Hahn, MD
11 Update in Plastics: Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Mark Wigod, MD
18 Management of Allergic Catastrophes, Eric Gershwin, MD
25 Review of Drug Interactions with Newly Released Medications, Roger Hefflinger, PharmD

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