IU Medical Alumni Weekend Focuses On Changes In Education

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana University School of Medicine alumni will return to campus May 16 and 17 for the usual fanfare related to an annual reunion, but this year the veteran physicians also will get a glimpse at how medical education has changed.

The former medical students will observe current students participating in a relatively new teaching technique used to assess student doctors' skills. The technique, called Objective Structures Clinical Examination, involves role-playing with actor-patients. Student responses to the actor-patient are monitored and evaluated by School of Medicine faculty for doctor-patient interaction, clinical techniques and diagnostic accuracy.

The alumni also will get some hands-on time with surgical simulators - mannequins programmed to respond electronically to treatment for everything from the placement of a bronchial tube to an endoscopic procedure. The mannequins can simulate cardiac arrest, choking or other life-threatening events patients may experience.

The Friday afternoon events promise to be a learning experience for IU medical school alumni and students alike.

The 56th annual Alumni Day Awards Luncheon will begin at noon Saturday. Two alumni and a retiring faculty member will be honored.

This year's Glenn W. Irwin Jr. Distinguished Faculty Service Award recipient is Robert A. Harris, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Harris has served on the IU School of Medicine faculty since 1970 and as chair of the biochemistry department since 1988.

Distinguished Medical Alumni Awards will be presented to Merrill Ritter, M.D., who is an orthopaedic surgeon with the Center for Hip and Knee Surgery in Mooresville, and Eugene Tardy Jr., M.D., who teaches otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Ritter is a 1963 graduate of the IU School of Medicine. He has published 11 books on joint replacement and dozens of articles on orthopaedics.

Dr. Tardy received his undergraduate degree from IU and graduated from IU medical school in 1960. He also has taught otolaryngology at IU and Northwestern University, but has been on faculty at the University of Illinois since 1967. He is a professor of otolaryngology and director of the Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Medical alumni graduating in years ending in a "3" or "8" from across the country will gather for class reunions during the annual event.

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Media Contact: Mary Hardin
317-274-7722
mhardin@iupui.edu

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