The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation's largest, independent medical student organization, is outraged at the recent action by New York Medical College (NYMC) to ban a student group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and has organized an on-campus "teach-in" entitled, "LGBT Acceptance: 101," on Thursday, January 27, 2005.
At the start of the academic year, the LGBT student group, previously named, Student Support Group, changed its name to the "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People in Medicine." Due to the modification, the NYMC administration revoked the charter, taking away funding and other benefits. Dr. Ralph O'Connell, NYMC provost and dean states, "�it was clear that the organization and its leader would advocate and promote activities inconsistent with the values of NYMC."
O'Connell has not responded to formal meeting requests from AMSA or the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.
Last week, Dr. Joshua Lipsman, Westchester County Health Commissioner and NYMC professor, resigned his faculty status at the college to protest the school's decision. Lipsman is invited to address the students at Thursday's event.
"The actions taken by NYMC are inconsistent with the goals of medical education. Instead of creating more discrimination, there needs to be awareness of the health needs of LGBT patients," says Dr. Brian Palmer, AMSA national president. "By disbanding its LGBT student group, NYMC harms both its own students and their future patients. Prospective students should seriously evaluate the quality of medical education they would receive at a school that openly discriminates."
AMSA consists of many subgroups, including a national committee for LGBT people in medicine. The organization's Student Bill of Rights includes both the right of students to organize themselves and the right to be free from discrimination based on sexual orientation, as well as race, age, religion, disability, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
"Medical education must provide opportunities that reduce bias and enhance tolerance and understanding in order to eliminate health disparities," continues Palmer.
Source
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
New York Medical College to stop using live dogs
VALHALLA - The newest class of students at New York Medical College will study the basics of cardiology without the traditional method: They won't be opening the chest of a live dog and watching its heart beat.
Responding to appeals from humanitarian groups, the college said yesterday that it would end the practice normally used to teach 190 students in first-year physiology class. Echocardiography and simulators will replace the use of live dogs when they reach that phase of their course in early 2008.
The college attracted a mini-movement of opposition over the past two years as the only medical school in New York that apparently still used animals. Animal-rights groups, neighborhood dog lovers and politicians joined the cause.
Bob Funck, who lives in Harrison, said he began fighting the policy after hearing about it from a student. "I give the folks at the college credit for making a good, positive decision - for them and for the animals," he said.
An organization called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is fighting the practice around the country. Just 11 medical schools still use live animals, none of them in New York state, said Dr. John J. Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist working with the organization. He said technological tools have quickly become the standard in education.
Dr. Karl Adler, president of the college in Valhalla, said that last he had heard, about seven dogs were used annually in the lab. The animals were given anesthesia during the procedure and euthanized afterward, administrators have said.
"The reason why the dogs were used in the past is that the students could actually see a beating heart, and understand the physiology of how the heart works," Adler said. "It's the only internal organ where there's actually movement that you can understand the physiology of."
Animals were once a common study aid, he said. An internist, Adler remembers learning about treatment for seizures in a medical school lab with a number of seizing dogs.
Technology has since provided alternative ways to display and simulate the heart's function. With a portable echocardiograph machine, the class will be able to attach an electrode to a student's chest and watch the heart's activity on a video monitor. Simulators with computerized models will be able to mimic things like cardiac arrest or the effect of a drug.
New York Medical College's curriculum committee was asked in July to study alternatives to the animal lab, and reported back to the dean that the alternatives were just as effective in instruction. Adler had no estimate on how much the college would spend on the technology.
"We're not teaching open-heart surgery. What we're teaching is first-year medical students to understand how the heart works," he said. "And we think that the exposure using (echocardiography) and the simulators is equivalent now to using a live dog."
Among the elected officials pressing against the practice was Assemblyman Adam Bradley, who wrote to the college dean, Dr. Ralph O'Connell, this month.
Bradley called the procedure "unjustified and unnecessary." He wrote that the practice could not have been a great benefit to graduates, given that students were already allowed to opt out.
Typically, animals in a lab are anesthetized and given a breathing tube, and students open the chest, observe the heart and give drugs intravenously to watch the effects, said Pippin, the Dallas cardiologist. Modern simulators, in the form of humans, replicate the process so well that students can become emotional when the device simulates death.
The advantage: "You get to go back and learn and do it all over again and be successful, as opposed to using a dog, where if you do make a mistake and the dog dies, you're done," he said. "The traditional notion that, 'Well, we're going to use an animal to show you this 'cause we don't know how else to do it' - that doesn't hold water anymore, because there are much better ways to do it."
Source
Responding to appeals from humanitarian groups, the college said yesterday that it would end the practice normally used to teach 190 students in first-year physiology class. Echocardiography and simulators will replace the use of live dogs when they reach that phase of their course in early 2008.
The college attracted a mini-movement of opposition over the past two years as the only medical school in New York that apparently still used animals. Animal-rights groups, neighborhood dog lovers and politicians joined the cause.
Bob Funck, who lives in Harrison, said he began fighting the policy after hearing about it from a student. "I give the folks at the college credit for making a good, positive decision - for them and for the animals," he said.
An organization called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is fighting the practice around the country. Just 11 medical schools still use live animals, none of them in New York state, said Dr. John J. Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist working with the organization. He said technological tools have quickly become the standard in education.
Dr. Karl Adler, president of the college in Valhalla, said that last he had heard, about seven dogs were used annually in the lab. The animals were given anesthesia during the procedure and euthanized afterward, administrators have said.
"The reason why the dogs were used in the past is that the students could actually see a beating heart, and understand the physiology of how the heart works," Adler said. "It's the only internal organ where there's actually movement that you can understand the physiology of."
Animals were once a common study aid, he said. An internist, Adler remembers learning about treatment for seizures in a medical school lab with a number of seizing dogs.
Technology has since provided alternative ways to display and simulate the heart's function. With a portable echocardiograph machine, the class will be able to attach an electrode to a student's chest and watch the heart's activity on a video monitor. Simulators with computerized models will be able to mimic things like cardiac arrest or the effect of a drug.
New York Medical College's curriculum committee was asked in July to study alternatives to the animal lab, and reported back to the dean that the alternatives were just as effective in instruction. Adler had no estimate on how much the college would spend on the technology.
"We're not teaching open-heart surgery. What we're teaching is first-year medical students to understand how the heart works," he said. "And we think that the exposure using (echocardiography) and the simulators is equivalent now to using a live dog."
Among the elected officials pressing against the practice was Assemblyman Adam Bradley, who wrote to the college dean, Dr. Ralph O'Connell, this month.
Bradley called the procedure "unjustified and unnecessary." He wrote that the practice could not have been a great benefit to graduates, given that students were already allowed to opt out.
Typically, animals in a lab are anesthetized and given a breathing tube, and students open the chest, observe the heart and give drugs intravenously to watch the effects, said Pippin, the Dallas cardiologist. Modern simulators, in the form of humans, replicate the process so well that students can become emotional when the device simulates death.
The advantage: "You get to go back and learn and do it all over again and be successful, as opposed to using a dog, where if you do make a mistake and the dog dies, you're done," he said. "The traditional notion that, 'Well, we're going to use an animal to show you this 'cause we don't know how else to do it' - that doesn't hold water anymore, because there are much better ways to do it."
Source
Monday, July 6, 2009
Top School for Medical Assisting Degrees - Los Angeles, CA
Located about eight miles from Los Angeles in Monterey Park, California, East Los Angeles College offers a degree in Medical Assisting. Students may earn an Associate in Science or an Associate in Arts in Medical Assisting.
East Los Angeles College in Lost Angeles, California
East Los Angeles College is a two-year college serving the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley community. It offers courses that prepare students for admission to four-year colleges and universities and occupational programs that take two years or less to complete. The college's student body is multi-cultural and international. East Los Angeles College offers the following program in Medical Assisting:- Associate in Science or Associate in Arts in Medical Assisting: East Los Angeles College's two-year Medical Assisting program prepares students for careers in hospitals, community medical facilities and doctors' offices. Students earn an Associate in Arts or an Associate in Science, depending on the option they pursue. The program offers three options: medical assistant, community health worker or medical secretary. The medical assistant and the community health worker options lead to an Associate in Science in Medical Assisting degree. The medical secretary option leads to an Associate in Arts in Medical Assisting degree. The medical assistant option prepares students for administrative tasks such as maintaining medical records, scheduling patients, dealing with insurance issues, assisting with medical exams and taking patients' histories. The community health worker option prepares students for careers in community health, acting as liaisons between patients and hospitals, clinics and community health agencies. The medical secretary option allows students to pursue secretarial positions in doctors' offices, hospitals and medical organizations. Typical courses for all options in East Los Angeles College's Medical Assisting Program are as follows:
- Human Biology
- Medical Terminology
- Hospital Ethics and Law
- Oral Communication
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