Negotiating teams for Wayne State University, the WSU Physician Group and the Detroit Medical Center reinstated contract talks Nov. 2, following a joint meeting of the WSU Board of Governors and the DMC Board of Trustees. The meeting between the two institutions' boards was intended to re-establish collaborative support for the fundamental goals that link DMC and WSU.

Earlier this week, Dean Robert M. Mentzer, Jr., reaffirmed the School of Medicine 's commitment to:

• Continuing our valued relationship with the DMC;
• Expanding our presence in the city of Detroit;
• Upholding our mission of delivering the highest quality patient care supported by education and research;
• Educating our students and training our residents and fellows in the best possible teaching environments;
• Recruiting and retaining outstanding physicians to teach our students and serve our community;
• Providing care to the region's uninsured and underinsured.

To learn more about the issues involved in the contract talks, please review the negotiations update and read Prognosis regularly for further updates.

 

Protein found to carry toxic metal in cells

Dr. Barry P. Rosen, professor and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Wayne State University 's School of Medicine, has made a fundamental discovery about how cells detoxify arsenic.

Dr. Rosen and a team of researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Durham in the United Kingdom, have been studying arsenic toxicity in water supplies, particularly in countries such as Bangladesh and India, but also well water in Oakland County, Michigan. Their research has identified a bacterial protein, ArsD, that acts as a “chaperone” for arsenic to carry the toxic metal to a pump that removes it from the cell. According to Dr. Rosen, “This chaperone prevents arsenic from reacting with other proteins inside of cells.”

Underscoring the “call for collaboration” expressed by Crain's Detroit Business Publisher Mary Kramer in a recent editorial, Wayne State University's Board of Governors is reaching out to the Board of the Detroit Medical Center in an effort to re-establish collaborative support for the fundamental goals that link the two institutions.

Noting that “negotiations between Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center have reached a critical point,” WSU Board of Governors Chair Jacquelin Washington invited the DMC Board to attend “a joint informational meeting as soon as we can assemble” in an Oct. 19 letter to Charles R. O'Brien, the chair of the Detroit Medical Center Board of Trustees.

“Under the circumstances, it is imperative that our respective Boards be fully engaged and share a common understanding of the underlying issues and points that impede the negotiations,” Washington stated. She added, “The outcome of these negotiations will have long-lasting effects not merely on our two institutions, but on the future of health care in the Detroit metropolitan area. While we do not minimize the challenges in reaching an agreement, we must be mindful of the consequences if we do not do so.”

The Wayne State School of Medicine is working strenuously on protection of quality health care and access for urban residents, many of whom are uninsured and underinsured. Currently, the DMC provides nearly 25 percent of all Medicaid care in the state. Wayne State University faculty physicians and residents (under faculty supervision) deliver 80 percent of the care to Medicaid patients and the working poor.

“Our mission is to train the best doctors while providing the best quality of care possible to the people of Detroit,” noted Robert Mentzer, dean of the Wayne State University School of Medicine. “The DMC shares this vision and mission, and, it is on that basis I believe we can all move forward.”

Currently, the WSU School of Medicine is among the five largest of the nation's 126 medical schools and is the largest single-campus medical school in the United States. It also ranks among the top 20 percent of medical schools nationally, with faculty annually attracting research grants and contracts totaling more than 134 million.

WSU Board of Governor Washington concurs with Mentzer. “We all have a lot invested in making this work,” she added. “The two respective Boards can evaluate roadblocks to agreement in an objective and reasonable way. Such thoughtful analysis and discussion are positive steps toward rebuilding a relationship that has served so many so well for so many years.”

The number of U.S. medical students rose for the second year in a row, according to new data released recently by the Association of American Medical Colleges. WSU School of Medicine, which increased its class size by 11 percent, was one of nine schools to boost first-year enrollment by 10 percent or more. First-time enrollees in the 2006 entering class totaled almost 17,400, a 2.2 percent increase over last year.

The number of applications also increased for the fourth consecutive year. More than 39,000 individuals applied to attend medical school this fall, a 4.6 percent increase over last year's total of 37,373. The grade point averages and MCAT scores of this year's applicant pool were the highest in more than a decade.

“These latest figures clearly indicate that medicine remains a compelling career option for more and more well-qualified students,” said AAMC President Darrell G. Kirch, M.D. “With the looming doctor shortage, these results are good news indeed, and we hope this encouraging trend continues.”

Medical schools in all regions of the U.S. continued to expand enrollment this year. In 28 of the 125 U.S. medical schools that grant M.D. degrees, the number of students grew by 5 percent or more.

The AAMC believes a 30 percent increase in total medical school enrollment can be achieved to prevent a future shortage of physicians by increasing class sizes in existing schools as well as building new medical schools.

Analysis of the 2006 applicant data also shows continued gains in medical student diversity. Applications from Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans rose by more than 8 and 6 percent, respectively. In addition, the number of accepted black applicants increased by almost 9 percent, and the number of black enrollees rose by 8 percent, to more than 1,100.

For the second year in a row, men were a modest majority of medical school applicants, with 19,812 male applicants compared to 19,297 female applicants. More men (8,924) than women (8,446) also enrolled in medical school for the 2006 entering class.

Patients nearing the end of their lives face different needs and concerns as they seek relief from the pain and suffering associated with their illness. There is a growing national movement toward better understanding end-of-life issues in our traditionally death-averse society and preparing health-care professionals to better treat those for whom the goal is not cure, but care, and a “good death.”

The Wayne State University Center to Advance Palliative-Care Excellence, with co-sponsors Hospice of Michigan's Maggie Allesee Center for Quality of Life, Hospices of Henry Ford, the Oakwood Health System and the John D. Dingell Veteran's Administration Medical Center, is hosting a special day-and-a-half conference to educate physicians, nurses and other health professionals in more effective end-of-life practice by combining the best of two nationally acclaimed curricula.

“All Things Fall: EPEC and ELNEC Collaborative Palliative and End-of-Life Training for Physicians and Nurses” will take place from 8:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, and 8 a.m.-11:45 a.m. or 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center, 18101 Oakwood Blvd., in Dearborn.

In both medicine and nursing, efforts are focusing on the development and use of national education programs to train students and practitioners in the principles and practices of skillful end-of-life and palliative care. The Educate Physicians on End-of-Life Care Project was prepared by the American Medical Association in cooperation with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the parallel End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium was developed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the City of Hope Medical Center in Los Angeles. Both have been refined through several years of testing and evaluation and have proved effective in raising the knowledge levels of providers in caring for the seriously ill.

Content from both programs will be covered in interdisciplinary sessions conducted by physicians and nurses who have been certified as trainers. Health-care professionals who complete the day-and-a-half program will receive a Certificate of Training in either EPEC or ELNEC along with curriculum materials that can be used in their practice settings.

Participants who also attend the half-day session Saturday afternoon on teaching methods will be certified as either EPEC or ELNEC trainers and receive appropriate instructional materials. Also on Saturday afternoon, Dr. John Finn, of Hospice of Michigan, will lead a discussion on the EPEC curriculum for oncology and review additional specialty practice modules that are becoming available. Dr. Finn's session is open to physicians and other interested health-care providers.

Registration is $125 per person for the ELNEC training, including CEUs, and $300 per person for the EPEC training, including CMEs. Both fees also include all related program materials. Students with proof of enrollment may register for a reduced fee of $100, but will not receive CEUs or CMEs. There is an additional fee of $75 for the “Train the Trainer” session Saturday afternoon or to attend Dr. Finn's EPEC modules presentation. Payment may be made by check, Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

To register, contact Kathleen Kadau, of the Maggie Allesee Center for Quality of Life at Hospice of Michigan, at (313) 578-6301 or kkadau@hom.org. For more information on the conference, contact Dr. Stephanie Myers Schim, CAPEWAYNE associate director for education, at (313) 577-4034 or s.schim@wayne.edu.