June 23, 2003
Volume 7, Number 25 • Indianapolis, Indiana

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IUSM in compliance with new duty limits

IUSM’s 77 specialty, subspecialty residency and fellowship programs will be in compliance when new regulations affecting duty hours go into effect July 1. The change will affect future post-graduate students as well as the 843 residents and 189 fellows currently at the school of medicine.

The new regulations will assure that residents and fellows are offered an academic and clinical education with patient safety and resident well-being utmost in importance. The policies were formulated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. That same accreditation council, through its residency review committees, will be responsible for oversight of the program.

Major provisions of the new standards include:

  • An 80-hour weekly limit, averaged over four weeks, although some specialties may set more restrictive standards.
  • Moonlighting done in the sponsoring institution counts toward the weekly limit.
  • A 24-hour limit on continuous duty time, with an additional period up to six hours permitted for continuity of care and educational activities.
  • One day (24 hours) in seven free from all patient care and educational obligations, averaged over four weeks.
  • In-house call no more than once every three nights, averaged over four weeks.

Duty hour regulations are not entirely foreign to some residency curricula, although most postgraduate training programs will find this to be a culture change, said Stephen Leapman, MD, executive associate dean for educational affairs.

“Programs must ensure that the learning objectives in their curricula are not compromised by excessive reliance on the residents to fulfill their service obligations,” Dr. Leapman said. “The duty hour regulations will bring awareness to the fact that faculty and residents collectively have responsibilities for the safety and welfare of their patients. Compliance with these regulations also have made hospital administrators realize that improved efficiencies in the workplace can have significant impact on compliance with the resident 80-hour work week.”

The new regulations will be monitored through well developed schedules that delineate agreement with the work/hour program, including confidential resident surveys; interviews with program directors, residents and staff during accreditation site visits and education efforts. Programs that fail to comply could be placed on probation or lose their accreditation.

“Numerous individuals have worked many hours to meet these national requirements by the deadline,” said Dr. Leapman. “Our council of Graduate Medical Education under the direction of Meredith Hull, MD, has led a cooperative, supportive effort to bring the school’s residency and fellowship programs into compliance. We owe them a world of thanks.”

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All aboard the People Mover

In six days the long awaited operation of the Clarian People Mover will begin between the IU Medical Center campus and Methodist Hospital. But first, there’s time for celebration.

The media and dignitaries are invited Thursday, June 26, to the Methodist Station for a dedication ceremony. Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, IUSM Dean Craig Brater, MD, and Clarian Health Partners President and CEO Daniel Evans Jr. will speak at 10 a.m. Rides on the only light-rail transportation system in the city will be offered to the guests until 2 p.m.

On Friday, June 27, employees and city residents are invited to participate in the Clarian People Mover Employee/Community Day celebration. Riders can board the train at either the Methodist or the IU/Riley stations between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Refreshments and a commemorative memento will be available at the Methodist Station. The Canal Station will not open until further notice.

The People Mover will begin its normal seven-day-a-week schedule at 5:30 a.m., Saturday, June 28. Both People Mover trains will run from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. After that hour, one of the trains will be docked for maintenance and the other train will be available with the push of a call button at any of the stations. Response time should be about 5 minutes.

During the first 90 days of operation, an attendant will be on board each train to answer questions, provide information and educate interested riders about the People Mover, its safety and security features.

Clarian shuttle buses also will continue to run on their normal schedule for the time being.

The train will transport patients, faculty, staff, students and the public from Methodist, IU and Riley free of charge. The People Mover route will be east from Riley Hospital on Walnut Street to IU Hospital, North on University Boulevard, east on 11th Street to Senate Avenue and then north to Methodist Hospital.

It is estimated the People Mover will carry 500,000 passengers annually in the five-minute trip from Methodist to IU and Riley hospitals. Each train can carry 80 passengers.

Riders, counting down the minutes until operation begins, may want to know these People Mover facts::

  • 500,000 annual passenger estimate
  • $40 million to build
  • 30 mph estimated speed
  • 2 trains run throughout the daytime hours
  • 1.5 miles total length of the track

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Pediatric funding increases in 2002

The IUSM Department of Pediatrics ranked 13th in National Institutes of Health funding in 2002. The $12.86 million received places the department sixth in the nation in NIH funding to public medical schools’ pediatric departments.

The department’s ranking in NIH funding improved by four positions over 2001.

“This ranking is yet another example of the excellence that is performed in pediatrics within the IU School of Medicine and at Riley Hospital,” says Richard Schreiner, MD, pediatrics department chair. “Our leadership in research keeps IUSM and Riley at the forefront of medical knowledge.”

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Parking permits expire June 30

Faculty and staff parking permits expire June 30. Permits may be renewed on-line at www.parking.iupui.edu.

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Women faculty leadership seminar – June 27

The "Women in Medicine and Science: A Leadership Development Seminar," open to all female faculty, will be Friday, June 27.

The program is sponsored by the Center of Excellence for Women's Health and, in part, made possible by an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer. It is modeled after the AAMC programs for women in medicine.

The keynote speaker will be Molly Carnes, MD, MS, director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Women's Health and Women's Health Research and professor, University of Wisconsin, departments of medicine, psychiatry and industrial engineering.

The seminar's theme will focus on communication skills. Areas that will be addressed include communication styles, how to develop a career plan, conflict resolution and more.

For additional information and registration, contact the Division of Continuing Medical Education, IU School of Medicine, 714 N. Senate Avenue, EF 200, Indianapolis, IN 46202, or phone 317-274-8353. CME credit will be awarded.

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Summer seminars for undergraduates with medical career interests

A series of six seminars featuring speakers knowledgeable about navigating the medical school admission process will be offered this summer for college students working on campus and interested in a career in medicine.

The series, “A Career in Medicine: Admission to Physician,” will be moderated by Patricia Keener, MD, clinical professor of pediatrics, and Lynda Means, MD, executive associate dean, professor of anesthesia and of surgery and the chair of the IUSM Admissions Committee.

All seminars will be in the lower level of the Riley Outpatient Clinic in the Ruth Lilly Learning Center, conference rooms A and B. The series is free and participants are welcome to bring a lunch. However, lunch will be provided at the July 28 session. All sessions begin at noon and should finish by 1 p.m.

The schedule follows.

Monday, July 7: Applying to Medical School

Monday, July 14: Making ‘Cents’ of Financing Medical School

Wednesday, July 16: The Medical School Interview: Hot Seat or Driver’s Seat?

Monday, July 21: Primary Care as a Career Choice

Wednesday, July 23: Specialty Care Career Choices

Monday, July 28: Let’s Talk about Life – as a Medical Student

For additional information, contact Jeanne Hayes at 274-7108, or ghayes@iupui.edu.

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Free tickets for RCA Championships opening night

University Place Conference Center and Hotel will again sponsor Opening Night at the RCA Championships Monday, July 21. Faculty and staff of IUPUI can now order free tickets for Opening Night, which will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. There is a limit of four tickets per employee.

The men's hardcourt tennis tournament will be at Indianapolis Tennis Center July 19 - 27.

Tickets can be requested by calling Megan Tinder at 274-2339 and leaving a message on voice mail with your name, department, campus address, phone number and number of tickets requested.

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NIH presents online exhibit on genetics research

The Office of National Institutes of Health History has created a web-based exhibit on genetics research. The exhibit, "Revolution in Progress: Human Genetics and Medical Research," looks specifically at how this research will help in the prevention and treatment of disease.

The exhibit provides information on the roles that DNA, genes and chromosomes play in the human body, explains how basic science research has led to a better understanding of genetic research, and discusses the scope, purpose, and techniques of the Human Genome Project to map and decode human genes. The exhibit also includes an animated cartoon page for children.

It can be found at history.nih.gov/exhibits/genetics.

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This week on Sound Medicine

Tune in at noon, Saturday, June 28, to Sound Medicine, the weekly radio program co-produced by IUSM and WFYI Public Radio (90.1 FM) in Indianapolis. The program is hosted by Barb Lewis. This week’s co-host will be Kathy Miller, MD.

Guests include Mayo Clinic’s David Sherris, MD, who will discuss his research of fungus that resides in everyone's sinus cavity. For some, it causes chronic sinus infection because of an immunologic response. He also discusses the newest part of his research which is in how to treat chronic sinus infection using an antifungal nose spray.

A novel approach to teach medical students how to listen to and diagnose problems of the heart, created by Morton Tavel, MD, Indiana Heart Institute / The Care Group, will be discussed. Dr. Tavel records the heartbeats of his patients using a special electronic stethoscope, then uses computer software to amplify the heartbeats and create corresponding visual cues that students can watch on a screen while listening to the sound.

A new minimally invasive approach to hip replacement surgery is the topic of Richard Berger, MD, of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke Hospital in Chicago.

Archived editions of Sound Medicine, as well as other helpful health information, can be found at soundmedicine.iu.edu/.

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Online IUSM calendars

A comprehensive listing on IUSM seminars, lectures and Grand Rounds can be accessed at www.medlib.iupui.edu/calendar. To place items on the Scientific Calendar, please forward them to Iona Sewell at imsewell@iupui.edu.

A Special Events Calendar for presentations, symposiums, conferences and other activities at IUSM can be found on the School's Web page at www.medicine.iu.edu. The calendar also can be accessed directly at wwwdb.ucs.indiana.edu/iusm/scripts/calendar/instr.cfm

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Submissions to Scope

Scope wants your news items.

The deadline for submission is 8:30 a.m. on Fridays. Scope is published electronically and sent to faculty, staff, students, and residents.

There are four easy ways to submit story ideas or information to Scope:

  • fax the information to 278-8722
  • e-mail the information to mhardin@iupui.edu
  • mail the information to Mary Hardin, Z-7, Ste. 306, IUPUI
  • paste your plain text message into Scope Web form on the IUSM faculty & staff page: http://medicine.iu.edu/faculty

Contributions submitted by e-mail should be forwarded in 12 point, plain text format.
To keep the electronic version of Scope as streamlined as possible, only seminars and lectures of general or multidisciplinary interest will be included.

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