June 2014

Medical Student Perspectives: Medical School Survival: Replace Cut Throat Competition with Mutual Inspiration & Support

Before medical school, I had never known the meaning of the word "gunner." The term refers to a student who will sabotage his peers in effort to be number one. Though gunners have been haunting medical school classes for years, generations of students have yet to coin a term for the opposite of a gunner. So what I would like to propose is the word "Petra." No, not the ancient city of stone. It refers to one of my peers, my mentor, who has impacted my medical career more positively than the best grades ever could.

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Feature: ACP Smart Medicine^®: A Medical Student's Resource

How have you used ACP Smart Medicine? Share your experience and be eligible to win a free subscription of MKSAP for Students Digital.

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My Kind of Medicine: Real Lives of Practicing Internists: Officer Profiles: David A. Fleming, MD, MA, FACP & Robert M. Centor, MD, FACP

Profiles on the ACP President and ACP Chair of the Board of Regents.

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IMIG Update: Apply Today! Deadline June 1

The ACP IMIG Sponsorship Program provides funding and resources to internal medicine interest groups in U.S. medical schools. The application for 2014-2015 is now available! The deadline to apply is June 1, 2014.

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Analyzing Annals: Low-Dose Aspirin for Prevention of Morbidity and Mortality From Preeclampsia: A Systematic Evidence Review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

This systematic review analyzed studies of aspirin to reduce adverse outcomes for preeclampsia.

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Advocacy Update: New 'Toolkit' Aims to Ease and Improve Care Coordination

In an effort to improve communication about specific patients between doctors, subspecialists and hospitals, the American College of Physicians has created a new "toolkit" to help coordinate care.

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Winning Abstracts from the 2014 Medical Student Abstract Competition: Influenza vaccine induced CNS demyelination in a fifty year old male

A fifty year-old, Caucasian male, presented with a course of progressive, focal, left-sided neurologic deficits within twenty-four hours after influenza vaccination.

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Subspecialty Careers: Hematology

The discipline of hematology relates to the care of patients with disorders of the blood, bone marrow, and lymphatic systems, including the anemias, hematological malignancies and other clonal processes, and congenital and acquired disorders of hemostasis, coagulation, and thrombosis.

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In the Clinic: Hepatitis C

The predominant risk factor for hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission is percutaneous exposure to infected blood, which most commonly takes place through remote or long-term injection drug use. Transmission has historically occurred with trans-fusion of blood products before screening of the blood supply in the United States beginning in 1992. There seems to be no increased risk for HCV transmission through cosmetic procedures, such as tattooing or piercing, unless infection control measures are not followed (6). In the general population, persons born between 1945 and 1965 have the highest prevalence of hepatitis C, at 4.3% (4).

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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.

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What's the diagnosis?

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Highlights from ACP Internist® & ACP Hospitalist®

Portable ultrasound scopes out a new role
Enthusiasts argue that point-of-care ultrasonography extends the scope of the physical exam far beyond what can be auscultated through a stethoscope. Detractors worry about overdiagnosis and a loss of medical skills that have intrinsic value. Both sides seek balance when considering how to use this new technology.

Cognitive strategies take good physicians to greatness
On-the-job learning, feedback, simulation, and deliberate practice can take a good clinician to the next level.

Put a dermatologist in your pocket: Study uses smartphones for inpatient teledermatology consults
Remote triage and in-person consults yielded similar diagnoses and care plans.

Vital signs are vital: The history of pulse oximetry
It will likely surprise younger physicians to know that the modern pulse oximeter was not invented until the early 1970s and did not become commercially available until the 1980s.

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