mediNEWSotago, March 2010

Dean’s Welcome

Welcome to this edition of mediNEWSotago.

Our Faculty of Medicine Awards Ceremony was held on Saturday 19 December last year, followed by the main University graduation ceremony. Congratulations to those students who graduated with Distinction, and in particular, congratulations to Amy Jamieson who graduated at the top of the class of 2009, and who led the class in the class declaration.

The new academic year is now well underway. There are record enrolments in the Health Sciences First Year programme, and five of the seven individual HSFY papers have over 2000 enrolments at this stage.

Information on the new Year 2 class in medicine is provided below. There has been a further increase in domestic medical student entrants this year. As in previous years recently, over one quarter of the entering class are graduates from other degree programmes.

The Faculty was saddened to hear of the recent death of Emeritus Professor Jeff Weston, previously Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Otago, Wellington.

And congratulations to Dr John Adams, Dean of the Dunedin School of Medicine, who has been elected Chair of the Medical Council of New Zealand. John takes over this role from Professor John Campbell, also from the Dunedin School of Medicine and who was previously Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Professor Campbell had been Chair of the MCNZ for 7 years.

Professor Emeritus HJ Weston  – Vale

Professor Emeritus HJ Weston was appointed to the new Paediatric Chair at the Wellington Clinical School, subsequently the Wellington School of Medicine University of Otago, in 1975 having started as a resident in Wellington Hospital in 1950. He had post graduate training at Hammersmith Hospital, the Brompton Hospital London UK and The Hospital for Sick Children Gt. Ormond St. London where he was a Resident Assistant Physician. He was much admired as a general paediatrician with an infectious sense of humour, great wisdom and modesty. He was an excellent teacher. Jeff was a popular and effective Head of Department and had much political nous which he used to great effect in his fierce defence of children’s rights. Jeff was ahead of his time in his support for services to prevent and manage child abuse. He was in much demand for Government committees where a broad understanding of the needs of children was required. Jeff was active in getting the present Children’s Hospital built at Wellington Hospital in 1988 and in expanding services for children in the Greater Wellington region. He retired in 1991 but continued attending clinical meetings for a further decade; he also found time in his retirement to complete a BSc in geology through Victoria University and to take up bridge. Jeff was a talented sportsman, including tennis and squash in his younger days and golf later.

Jeff was a strong, loyal and active supporter of the School up until the time of his death. He regularly attended School events and always made a point of seeking out the Dean to discuss School matters and without fail would make positive and supportive comments about the School’s progress.

On behalf of all of us at UOW we extend our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to his wife Anne and family. He will be sorely missed.

Supplied by: Dr Thorsten Stanley
Acting head, Dept of Paediatrics UOW

Staff news

Professor Mark Stringer, Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, gave his inaugural professorial address recently entitled; “Putting the rigor into mortis: new horizons in anatomy”

Link to ODT article

Marie Johannesson from Uppsala University, Sweden, has accepted appointment as Professor of  Paediatrics and Child Health, and as Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, at the University of Otago, Wellington.. She will take up her position on the 15th of March 2010.
Marie obtained  her medical degree from  the Karolinska Instute, Stockholm, Sweden. She undertook  her paediatric residency at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and at UCLA Medical School, Los Angeles, California. Marie is a Board Certified Paediatrician both in the USA and in Sweden.
In addition she has been very involved in the care of CF patients both in Sweden and in the rest of Europe. She has served as President of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society (ECFS), and as Vice President for UNICEF Sweden.
Her main research has been in the field of cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia. She also has a special interest in gender difference and public health after having served as head of research in the primary care setting Uppsala County. She has been extensively  involved in the teaching of medical students at Uppsala University.
She and her husband and youngest daughter arrived in Wellington in early March  She is very much looking forward to work joining us at the  University of Otago.

Dr Branko Sijnja has recently been appointed to the position of Director of the Faculty wide Rural Medical Immersion Programme, replacing the late Dr Pat Farry.

Branko writes “I have enjoyed being a general practitioner in Balclutha for thirty years and have been pleased to be able to contribute to my community through my involvement in setting up the community owned and operated hospital and health centre in Balclutha. I have worked in hospital practice for short periods in Palmerston North, Dannevirke, Perth and Bridge of Earn in Scotland. I have always had a hospital job in Balclutha, initially full time and then part time since I entered general practice.

Medical politics is my interest and I am proud to have been a member of the New Zealand Medical Association’s General Practitioner Council till recently and the New Zealand General Practitioner’s Association before that. I have been involved in implementation panels to aspects of the health policies of both the National and Labour Coalition Governments and was pleased when I was elected almost six years ago to the Otago District Health Board.  I am committed to progressing the integration of primary and secondary health care in our rural community.

I have been a teacher of medical students in rural general practice and rural hospital settings for ten years now and am privileged to have been able to take up the post of Director of the Rural Medical Immersion Programme.  I share a lot of the vision of the late Dr Pat Farry and am pleased to be able to continue to work with his dream.

I am the son of a school teacher who was a graduate of the University of Wageningen in Holland. I was born in Holland and emigrated to New Zealand with my parents as a child.  My schooling was in various centres in the North Island and I had my secondary education in Palmerston North Boys High  School. I graduated from Otago University in 1973 with my Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and have Post Graduate Diplomas in Obstetrics and Rural and Provincial Hospital Practice from Otago University as well. I am a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and a Fellow of the New Zealand Medical Association.”

Welcome to Dr Tony Barrett, who is the new Medical Education Adviser for Early Learning in Medicine. He graduated from San Diego State University majoring in Cultural Anthropology.  He went on to earn his Master’s in Cross-Cultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where he also taught in inner city schools for four years. He completed is PhD in Education in the Department of Adult and Organizational Learning at University of Idaho in 2004.

Other News:

Admissions

234 new domestic students have been admitted to ELM Year 2 for 2010, comprising 21% from a rural background and 26% graduate entry (competitive and ‘other’ category). The ELM Year 2 class numbers 250 this year, including 16 international students. The Faculty of Medicine is very pleased to note that 21 Maori students accepted places in second year 2010 reflecting the growth in the number of Maori graduates over the past decade.

Dunedin Campus

A working group is currently involved in developing the building on the corner of Frederick street and Cumberland street, previously occupied by the ‘Bowling Green Hotel’, purchased in 2009 to provide small teaching spaces and a clinical skills unit. The rooms will be for health sciences and expected to be available in 2011.

Dunedin Clinical Teaching Centre and Skills Laboratory

Work is currently underway redeveloping the existing Otago Clinical Skills Laboratory into a new Clinical Teaching Centre and Skills Laboratory to accommodate the needs of the new undergraduate medical curriculum. The centre is located directly opposite the hospital on the 2nd floor of the Fraser building and is a shared facility between Otago University and the Otago DHB. As such, it provides numerous opportunities for multi professional learning for staff and students alike, in a simulated clinical environment.
The facility will be comprised of two main areas including a skills laboratory including a simulated hospital room for general use and a simulated outpatient teaching facility and tutorial room, which will primarily be used by the Ambulatory Medicine Programme and the General Practice department simulated patient clinics.
Skills that will be learned in this facility include consultation skills e.g. history-taking and physical examination, communication skills, procedural skills and the management of clinical scenarios involving inter professional collaboration and team work. While bookings will have to be made for pre-planned teaching sessions, it will also be available as a drop-in centre for staff and students to practice procedural skills such as venepuncture and cannulation etc.
This facility will provide a valuable teaching and learning resource for the development and consolidation of clinical skills in a safe and learner-friendly environment.
The Clinical Teaching Centre and Skills Laboratory is due to be completed by the end of March 2010.

Heads of Departments Meeting 8-9 April 2010

This year the meeting will take place on 8-9 April at the Hunter Centre on the Dunedin campus. The programme will be circulated in the near future – topics include curriculum developments, research support and PBRF preparation, and campus developments. There will be an opportunity for committees and discipline groups to meet prior to the main programme on the Thursday morning. (A registration form has been circulated,  Shirley Skinner can be contacted on 03 479 7420 or email: shirley.skinner@otago.ac.nz for further information)

UPDATE: The presentations from the HODs meeting held 8-9 April can be viewed here (University staff username and password requied)

ALM News

2010 Interlinked Plenary Sessions ALM Years 4/5

A programme of 8 sessions is in place for 2010, which forms part of the vertical integration of foundation sciences initiative. The first Interlinked Plenary sessions (IPS) will be “New Zealand’s two favourite recreational drugs”, presented by Professor Doug Sellman Psychological Medicine UOC and Gavin Cape, Psychological Medicine, DSM, on March 18 for ALM Year 4. The Second IPS will be “Congenital Malformations” presented by Professor Stephen Robertson (Clinical Genetics Group, DSM) and Dr Esko Wiltshire (Paediatrics, UOW).

The IPS proposed timetable for 2010 is:

18th March ALM 4 Topic: “New Zealand’s two favourite recreational drugs” presented by Professor Doug  Sellman, (Dept Psychiatric Medicine, UOC) and Dr Gavin Cape (DSM)
25th March ALM 5 Topic: “Congenital Malformations” presented by Professor Stephen Robertson (Clinical Genetics Group, DSM), Dr Kate Neas (Clinical Geneticist, UOW) and Dr Esko Wiltshire (Paediatrics, UOW)

13th May ALM 4 Chronic Inflammatory Disorders – Dr Richard Gearry (UOC)
20th May ALM 5 Antimicrobials – Dr Heather Brooks (OSMS

15th July ALM 4 Aortic Aneurysms – Dr Andrew Miller (UOC)
22nd July ALM 5  Screening-Diagnostic tests – Professor Evan Begg (UOC)

9th Sept ALM 4  Acid-Base -  Associate Professor Brian Hyland (OSMS)
16th Sept ALM 5  Pharmacogenomics – Dr Chris Brown (OSMS)

The venues and times will be posted on Blackboard. 2pm Barnett (DSM), Nordmeyer (UOW) and Rolleston (UOC) lecture theatres

Two eLearning Packages are also being planned

ALM 4 Cancer Biology – immunosuppression Associate Professor David Perez (DSM)
ALM 5 Persistent Pain – TBA

ELM News

Colloquial English Language Test for ELM Year 2

The ELM programme involves contact with patients so it is important that students have a good understanding of colloquial or everyday English as spoken by New Zealanders.  It has always been apparent that a small group of students entering the medical programme do not have a sufficient understanding of colloquial English which makes their learning during their first years more challenging and can also impact on their exam performance.  To assist these students we are providing a simple test so that students can receive feedback on their comprehension of New Zealand English.  The test is hosted on a web site (Moodle for ELM Year 2) and should only take 10-15 minutes for the students to complete either at home or in a computer lab.

At the introductory session in the first week of medical school, it was made clear that this was not a formal assessment and the results would not be recorded on their academic record.  Those identified as having difficulty would however, be offered a second more in depth assessment and the opportunity to take part in group sessions lead by an expert tutor.

Moodle Trial continued for ELM Year 2

Moodle was trialled in 2009 for the first time and this year the trial will continue for the ELM Year 2 students. All content will be delivered on Moodle instead of Blackboard and following evaluation of the trial, a decision will then be made as to whether Moodle will continue into Year 3 in 2011 and then ALM for 2012. So far the site is working well, with administrative staff being trained and academic staff having access to the site initially as non-editing lecturers. Dr Phil Blyth, senior lecturer and eLearning specialist with the Faculty and Brendon Rich, eLearning and Cases administrator, with assistance from the Faculty IT team, have created an excellent content management system for both staff and students, which should prove far more user friendly for students and staff.
The med-moodle site can be found at http://medschool.otago.ac.nz Staff interested in gaining access should contact Philip Tilson, Assistant Faculty Manager, for details. philip.tilson@otago.ac.nz

Other eLearning and ICT projects:

Outcomes Database

The Faculty undergraduate outcomes database continues to be refined, with objectives being updated and analysed by the moderating group. For further details contact Karin Warnaar (Project Officer) Faculty of Medicine. karin.warnaar@otago.ac.nz
www. https://outcomes.facmed.otago.ac.nz/

Student Progress Database (SPD)

This project is being rolled-out in a staged fashion this year.
John Kaiser (Manager, ICT Strategy and Services, Health Sciences Division) and the Faculty IT team, with input from Grant Taylor (DSM ICT Manager) as well as the attachment administrators at all campuses are working hard to create a database that will function effectively across the three sites and provide accurate information for all staff and students on progress data from years 2 to 6 of the undergraduate degree. UOW has been involved in the first stage of the database delivery with data from the TI year now being entered. The Year 4/5 Years, ELM and then TI & 4/5 Years at DSM and UOC will then be included.

Collaborative Tools

The University has been investigating options for providing software that will enable easy connections with colleagues in real-time and from their own desk tops. Adobe Connect appears to be the most likely contender and it is hoped a decision will be made soon as to when collaborative tools such as this will be available. For a demonstration of Adobe Connect in action, go to: http://connect.massey.ac.nz/p40854840/

Faculty Education Unit Cicero Meeting – 10 February

Around  60 staff from across the Division of Health Sciences attended a colloquium in February for clinical education researchers. The event,  the first step in establishing a network for Collaboration in Inter-Professional Clinical Education Research at Otago (to be known as CICERO), provided a forum for lively discussions that revealed the breadth and depth of interest in all aspects of the subject and  stimulated new ideas for encouraging and developing collaboration and collegiality across the clinical professions.

The colloquium’s management group is now working on implementing some of the suggestions, including special interest groups and an interactive web community. Staff interested in clinical education research are invited to sign up for these initiatives. For more information about CICERO and joining this network, please see http://tiny.cc/CICERO

Scholarships 2010

Scholarship offered in Medical Education

The Faculty of Medicine is offering a PhD scholarship for clinically-qualified graduates who are interested in researching a topic in medical education. The scholarship will be awarded for a three year period at $20,000 per year plus fees. Applicants may be based in any one of the School locations (Dunedin, Christchurch, or Wellington) or associated sites (e.g. Invercargill, Palmerston North), provided suitable supervisory arrangements can be made, and part time study will be considered.

For further information, please see the medical education website or contact Joy Rudland, Director, Faculty Education Unit, tel: 03 479 5082. or email: joy.rudland@otago.ac.nz

Graham Aitken Nuffield Medical Postgraduate Travelling Scholarship

The attention of New Zealand medical graduates is drawn to the availability of the above Scholarship.The purpose of the Scholarship is to enable well-qualified New Zealanders to visit the United Kingdom to foster their clinical medical training and research interests.  The Nuffield Foundation hopes that scholars will return to New Zealand and take up senior clinical teaching and research appointments.The value of the Scholarship has a current maximum of $20,000.  It will provide a travel contribution of up to the equivalent of three return excursion airfares and an allowance of not less than $5,000, based on the applicant’s circumstances, to support the applicant over and above the travel contributions. It is expected that the Scholar will have a salaried appointment within the field of the proposal to go to in the United Kingdom.

Application information and Scholarship regulations may be obtained from:Professor Arthur Campbell
c/- Chemistry Department, University of Otago – adcamp@otago.net.nz

Best wishes

Don Roberton

If there is any information that you would like to be disseminated to the Faculty in mediNEWSotago, please contact Jacqui Bradshaw, Administrator & PA to the Faculty Manager, Faculty of Medicine at jacqui.bradshaw@otago.ac.nz