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Jane F. Knapp, MD, GME Physician Leader

Current position(s) and title(s)

Associate Chair of Education
Medical Director of Graduate Medical Education
Professor of Pediatrics
Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine

Educational background

  • BS in Pharmacy, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1974
  • MD, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1978
  • Pediatrics residency, Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, 1981
  • Pediatric emergency medicine fellowship, 1983

Special area(s) of clinical/research/educational interest

For the first 25 years of my career my focus was pediatric emergency medicine. Through my clinical experiences in this field, I developed an interest in injury prevention and injury research.  Recently I had the privilege of being a member of the Institute of Medicine Pediatric Subcommittee on the Future of Emergency Care in the United States. During that process I became very aware of the lack of research on the quality of pediatric emergency care. I have since begun research on the quality of ED care for asthma, bronchiolitis, and croup, with two papers published as a result.

My other major career focus is education. I lead planning and development for the education component of an intimate partner violence screening initiative in the pediatric emergency department. We published the results of our educational program in Pediatrics. In addition, for the past five years I have worked with a colleague in planning the program for the National Conference for Fellows in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. 

Over the past four years I have been involved full time in leading the development of our Department of GME at Children’s Mercy. My goal is to establish our hospital as a center for education research, with a focus on measuring competency and exploring cutting-edge methods of instructional technology.

Why are you a program director/DIO/leader in GME?

I aspire to be a leader in GME for two reasons. The first is very personal. My mother devoted herself to helping myself and my seven younger brothers and sisters attain the education she wanted but never had. It was one of her greatest gifts to us. I share her belief in the power of education to positively changes lives. In GME we positively impact the lives of those we educate and the lives of our patients when our education results in quality care.

The second reason is that being the Director of GME suits my personality. I like building programs and surrounding myself with talented people who share my vision of the future and are willing to work with me to achieve our goals.

What are the most important issues today in GME?

We have to find a way to resolve duty hours, patient care responsibilities, and work/life balance issues, which are frequently in conflict. I believe that we need more research on the effective measurement of the ACGME competencies, which would result in tools that can be reasonably adapted to the majority of programs. Lastly, I think funding for GME should be less complex and well integrated into our healthcare system. 

If you only had a minute, what advice would you give to a physician in training?

My advice would only take a few seconds. It would be to, “Learn hard.” Residency is a demanding, but, wonderful time of life where there are innumerable learning opportunities. Take advantage of as many as possible. 

AMA member since

1983

Personal

In many ways my life is simple. I help to care for my father, who lives with me. I enjoy sharing in the lives of my 16 nieces and nephews and 3 great nephews. Four or five evenings a week I walk two miles with my friends. I still think reading a good book is one of the great pleasures of life. I like collecting cookbooks and experimenting with new recipes. I’m lucky because my father will try and eat just about anything.

Traveling with family and friends is my other great love. My 50th birthday party was in Rome, where fifty of my friends and family joined in a week-long celebration. It was so memorable that most of the guests are clamoring to know where I’ll go when I turn sixty in 2010. Usually I have the opportunity to get away for a couple of weeks each year. Last year I went to Patagonia and cruised to Cape Horn. Next year I’ll be speaking at a conference in Saudi Arabia. I like to journal and sketch when I travel trying to capture all the sights, sounds, and smells of the place. Even though I like faraway places, exploring destinations close to home is also great fun. For me the most important thing is the experience of someplace new.