News in brief - April 11, 2005

Medical leaders honored for efforts - Fla. releases guide for online profiles - New medical residency in neurology approved

Medical leaders honored for efforts

Five physicians were honored recently with the 2005 AMA Foundation's Excellence in Medicine Awards, which include the Pride in the Profession Awards and Nathan Davis International Award in Medicine. The awards, presented in association with the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative, recognize physicians who have sacrificed significant time and energy for the common good.

Plastic surgeon Sharadkumar Dicksheet, MD, won the Nathan Davis International Award in Medicine for his work with the India Project to Save the Disabled Children. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based organization serves the poorest regions of India with free plastic surgery camps.

Receiving the Pride in the Profession Awards were:

Sister Anne Brooks, DO, who travels the back roads surrounding Tutwiler, Miss., to provide care for uninsured patients. She also cares for patients at the Tutwiler Clinic, which she founded in 1983.
Gerald G. Jampolsky, MD, whose International Center for Attitudinal Healing in Sausalito, Calif., provides support for children with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses.
Family physician Coleen Kivlahan, MD, former medical director of the Fantus Health Center of the John. H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County. The patient advocate revitalized a system that serves 350,000 uninsured patients annually.
Ophthalmologist Aisha Simjee, MD, who frequently travels to dozens of medically underserved countries -- including Thailand, Vietnam and Bosnia -- to restore sight to hundreds of indigent patients.

Fla. releases guide for online profiles

The Florida Dept. of Health's Division of Medical Quality Assurance recently released the "Guide to the Florida Practitioner Profile," which provides information to the public on how to use the online MQA Profiling Service. The profiling service offers an extensive source of information on Florida's licensed MDs, DOs and other health care professionals. Profiles are available on the MQA Web site (https://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/irm00praes/praslist.asp). If a health professional is licensed in one of the profiled professions, a "Practitioner Profile" option will be shown on the licensure verification screen.

The profiles contain information on education and training, staff privileges and faculty appointments, legal actions, board final disciplinary action and any liability claims filed against MDs and DOs that exceed $100,000.

For more information on the program, see the main Practitioner Profile site (www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/Profiling). The MQA encourages comments and suggestions on ways to improve the profiling Web site; send remarks by (profiling@doh.state.fl.us).

New medical residency in neurology approved

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education recently approved program requirements for a new subspecialty.

The new residency program is a 12-month fellowship covering neuromuscular medicine, a subspecialty of neurology. It is designed for physicians who have completed residencies in adult or pediatric neurology or physical medicine and rehabilitation. The discipline will focus on specialized knowledge in the science, clinical evaluation and management of disorders including abnormalities of the motor neuron, nerve roots, peripheral nerves, neuromuscular junction and muscle affecting adults and children.

In October, the Resident Review Committee for Neurology will start reviewing applications from institutions that want to add the fellowship.

The ACGME also approved a new committee to evaluate resident learning. The Committee on Innovation in the Learning Environment -- will look at ways to improve the learning environment for residents, collect and interpret data on the effect of the 80-hour workweek standard, as well as collect and communicate information on best practices among residency programs as they implement these standards.