Search Results
Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.
(12/05/97 10:00am)
When the School of Medicine introduced its revamped Curriculum 2000 last fall, faculty and administrators claimed its greatest benefits included exposing students to the clinical aspects of medicine earlier in their education, as well as courses emphasizing the connection between patient care and basic science. But one semester after its debut, first-year students said their favorite aspect of the new curriculum is much simpler -- more free time. Student reaction to the new curriculum was generally positive, with many praising it for its expanded educational focus, as well as creature comforts like a staggered exam schedule and a first-semester pass/fail grading policy. Like most institutions, the University has traditionally educated medical students according to the tenets of the Flexner report of 1910, which emphasized basic science education followed by clinical training in a university hospital. The new curriculum does things a little differently. Related basic science courses are taught simultaneously and students are allowed to begin clinical work at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania during their first month of medical school, rather than in their third year. While taking basic science principles in the morning, this fall's first-year class spent two afternoons each week learning about the technology and practice of medicine at HUP as part of the new curriculum. Being at the hospital gave them the opportunity to learn how to interview and diagnose patients within the first few weeks of their medical education, Medical School Vice Dean of Education Gail Morrison said. Many of the first-year students praised the new curriculum, particularly its emphasis on clinical care. "I like that we got a lot of clinical exposure early on," first-year Medical student Portia Krieger said, noting that Curriculum 2000 was the main reason she chose to come to the University. Krieger, who served on a committee evaluating the new curriculum, noted that other medical schools do not give students clinical opportunities until much later. First-year Medical student Ken Wang said most med students spend their first years "caught up in all the basic science." "Seeing patients in the hospital reminds us why we're at med school and ties everything together," he added. Several students also complimented on how the new curriculum draws connections between the material taught in their basic science courses. The curriculum combines microbiology and pharmacology, for example, allowing students to learn about the causes of certain infections and diseases at the same time that they learn about the effectiveness of different treatments. Curriculum 2000's exam schedule and pass/fail policy also won praise from students. "I am glad our exams were staggered throughout the semester," student government representative and first-year student Cara Pellegrini said. "The second-years have bloc exams, so they go for a month without any tests and then they have several all at once." And Morrison noted that because first-semester courses are graded on a pass/fail basis, "students worked together in small groups and cooperated rather than competing against each other." Although the response to the first semester of Curriculum 2000 was overwhelmingly positive, students and administrators identified several areas for future improvements. Several students complained that the program's condensed curriculum -- which taught anatomy material usually covered in 120 hours in only 60 -- moved too quickly and did not offer enough time for review. "Anatomy was a big problem for a lot of people in the first-year class because we had to learn so much material in such a short time," Wang said. And Krieger added that "some of the professors weren't very well prepared and assumed we knew more than we already did." But the first-year students agreed that Medical School faculty and administration have been receptive to their input on the new curriculum. Krieger explained that a curriculum committee comprised of faculty, administrators and first-year students meets every Friday to "discuss what went right and what could have been better during the past week of classes." And Wang called the professors and administrators "very accommodating." "They have listened to our feedback, and if they don't change things for us, they will change them for future classes," he said. Overall, Pellegrini said the new curriculum has exceeded her expectations. "I can't imagine having gone anywhere else," she said.
(12/02/97 10:00am)
Under the merger, announced in November 1996, the hospital will become a subsidiary of the Health System. After months of negotiations, officials recently finalized the terms of the merger between the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Pennsylvania Hospital. The merger was originally announced in November 1996. Pennsylvania Hospital, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1751, is the nation's oldest hospital. Under the agreement, Pennsylvania Hospital, located at Eighth and Spruce streets, will become a subsidiary of the University Health System, which already includes the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Presbyterian Hospital. This process will take between two and three years, according to Pennsylvania Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer John Ball. But although the hospital will remain a teaching hospital and continue to provide a wide range of medical services, the agreement ensures that it will come under the financial and operational control of the Health System, which may reallocate existing resources and services among its three hospitals. Health System Chief Executive Officer William Kelley said most specialized orthopedic programs currently housed at HUP and Presbyterian will move to Pennsylvania Hospital's Musculoskeletal Institute, which opened in July. All three sites will continue to provide basic orthopedic care, he added. Joint reconstruction and replacement, orthopedic-related cancer treatment, sports medicine and foot, ankle and hand surgery are among the procedures which will move to the hospital, Kelley said. The Musculoskeletal Institute will be staffed by 20 orthopedic experts from the Health System and Pennsylvania Hospital, and more physicians will be recruited from across the country. The Health System's Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center will also be based at Pennsylvania Hospital. The center, which investigates the biological basis of neurological diseases and tests experimental medications, is currently located at HUP. The center was formerly affiliated with the Allegheny University Health System, and recently joined the Health System's Neurological Institute. Under the agreement, neurologists at the center will become faculty members in the University's Neurology Department, which consistently ranks among the top neurology departments in the country. Pennsylvania Hospital will continue to maintain its own staff, but the chairperson of each of its departments will be named a vice chairperson of the corresponding department in the Health System. The hospital will be governed by an 11-member board, nine of whom will be appointed by the Health System. Pennsylvania Hospital and HUP were academically affiliated until 1993, when Pennsylvania became affiliated with the Jefferson University Health System. Last year, however, Kelley and Ball signed a letter of intent restoring the strong relationship between the two institutions. And in choosing to join Penn's Health System last year, Pennsylvania Hospital turned down a similar offer from the Jefferson Health System at the time. With the addition of Pennsylvania Hospital, the number of Health System employees will rise to more than 18,000 employees. "Our separate heritage is to be proactive, and that will be our combined future," Kelley said.
(11/26/97 10:00am)
The 60-bed children's hospital will not threaten the University's children's hospital, according to officials. In a move which will further saturate the already-competitive Philadelphia health care market, Temple University recently unveiled plans to open a new 60-bed children's hospital in North Philadelphia this January. But the $31 million facility will not threaten the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Health System, according to Steven Altschuler, pediatrics chairperson at Penn's Medical School. CHOP was recently recognized as the second-best children's hospital in the country by U.S. News and World Report, and Altschuler said it "enjoys a dominant position in the city's health care market." He explained that the small size of Temple's hospital will prevent it from having the resources to handle serious injuries or illnesses, adding that it will "probably end up sending critical care patients to CHOP." But Temple's new facility will compete directly with St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, a hospital affiliated with the Allegheny University Health System and located less than a mile from the Temple site. Temple's Medical School had trained its pediatrics students at St. Christopher's before the hospital joined the Allegheny system in 1991. Over the next six years, the two health systems quarreled over the future of the Temple personnel working at the hospital. In settling the dispute, doctors were forced to choose between being affiliated with Temple or Allegheny. Only 16 of the hospital's doctors chose to remain with Temple, with the other 60 switching to Allegheny. Temple officials said the feud with Allegheny spurred their decision to build the new facility. "We are building the new children's hospital because we didn't want our primary pediatrics site owned by another heath care system," a Temple spokesperson said. But health care experts question whether Philadelphia needs another children's hospital. "They're going to have trouble filling their beds and attracting the best pediatricians, because you only need so many services in the city," said Norm Feinman, an independent pediatrician in Broomall, Pa. Altschuler added that Temple's facility seems particularly unnecessary at a time when preventive medicine is reducing the number of children who are hospitalized. And St. Christopher's chief executive officer, Carter Bland, stressed the new Temple facility "just doesn't make any sense." But Howard Grant, CEO and chief medical officer of Temple's new hospital, said he remains confident that there is room for a new children's hospital in the Philadelphia health care market. He stressed that St. Christopher's is unable to meet the health care needs of all the children in North Philadelphia, where "nobody can argue that kids are getting everything they need." Grant added that he has already hired several pediatricians for the new hospital and is looking to obtain the services of about a dozen more specialists by partnering with other hospitals.
(11/24/97 10:00am)
The helicopter crew provides medical help while in flight, transporting more than 200 patients to HUP each year. One moment, members of the PennStar helicopter crew are kicking back on the couch, watching college football and talking on the phone with family members. A minute later, they're on their way to the scene of an accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to transport a victim with serious head injuries to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's emergency room. "You have to be in a constant state of readiness," PennStar flight paramedic John Clark said. "You go from drinking a cup of coffee to a high-pressure environment with no transition time." Established in 1988, the PennStar Flight Program operates two helicopters that bring approximately 200 seriously injured patients to HUP's emergency room each month from accident scenes and other hospitals, providing medical assistance while in the air. The helicopters provide emergency medical transport within a five-state, 100-mile radius from Philadelphia, but most of their missions are within 30 miles of the city. They travel at about 150 miles per hour. One of the helicopters is based on the roof on HUP's Ravdin Building, a short distance away from the PennStar crew's 10th-floor headquarters, and operates from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The second operates 24 hours a day from an airfield 12 miles north of the city. The PennStars pick up about half of their patients at accident scenes. Most of these patients are victims of car crashes, but some have been injured in industrial accidents. The other half of the PennStar missions involve transferring patients from other hospitals to HUP. These are typically patients with neurological or or cardiac problems that the sending hospital is not prepared to handle. The PennStar staff consists of nine flight nurses, nine flight paramedics and five pilots. One nurse, one paramedic and one pilot work each shift. PennStar flight nurse Sandra Myerson, a three-year veteran of the program, described in-flight nursing as "the most challenging of all jobs." "It requires excellent critical thinking skills and the ability to quickly asses an emergency situation," she said, pointing to the difficulties of keeping critically injured patients alive during the trip to HUP. PennStar crew members often encounter patients who are in such critical condition that no amount of medical care could save them, Myerson said. "It's hard when you know a patient is in bad shape and there really isn't anything you can do," she said. PennStar pilot Roy Eckrote, who has been with the program for almost a year, recalled an incident two months ago when PennStar was called to a car crash in Westchester, Pa., involving four seriously injured teenagers. PennStar crew members were able to save two of the victims, but the third went into cardiac arrest while the helicopter was in the air and was dead by the time it landed. The fourth died in the trauma bay at HUP. "It was sad, because they were so young and they had their whole lives ahead of them," Eckrote said. The critical injuries suffered by most PennStar patients makes the emotional side of the job particularly difficult, as crew members are forced to deal with losing an abnormally large number of patients. Clark pointed to the deaths of four PennStar patients within the span of one recent week. "It was a really tough week, but you have to get past it and move on," he said. Compounding the difficult tasks faced by the PennStar crew is the small amount of information they typically have while en route to an accident scene. Generally, the crew only knows the information on a particular incident contained in the initial call to 911, and must determine the condition of the victims after landing. The second part of their job is not much easier. Before PennStar can transport a patient from another hospital, physicians at the sending hospital must find a receiving physician and a bed for the patient at HUP. PennStar crew members listen in while doctors from the sending hospital give a report to the HUP physician on call during a given shift. They work with the two physicians to determine what can be done at the sending hospital and at HUP before the helicopter arrives, as well and how they will treat the patient during the flight. But while the job is difficult, PennStar crew members stress that is also provides its share of rewards. "There is a fundamental feeling that you are really helping people in their time of need and making a difference in their lives," Clark said. Myerson added that one of the best parts of her job is being able to visit recovering patients, many of whom were near death when they were brought to the emergency room. "When we visit patients to see how they are doing and family members are there, they are really appreciative that we helped saved the lives of their loved ones," she said.
(11/20/97 10:00am)
For Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania physicians, life never quiets down in the ER. Between assisting a car-crash victim, a woman whose ex-boyfriend clubbed her on the head with a baseball bat and an HIV-positive woman with respiratory problems, Elizabeth Datner found time to admire photos of a colleague's baby and call her husband to check up on her own 17-month-old daughter. It's just another night in the Emergency Room of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Datner -- an Emergency Medicine professor at the School of Medicine -- was one of three attending physicians working a recent shift observed by a reporter and photographer from The Daily Pennsylvanian. "The hardest part is learning how to juggle so many things at once," Datner said. "It requires a lot of coordination." Each month, about 720 seriously injured patients pass through the 26,000-square-foot Emergency Room, which is located on 34th Street just south of HUP's main entrance. About one-sixth of these patients are in such severe condition that physicians must treat them in the department's trauma bay, which is capable of handling up to six patients at a time. Datner reports to the trauma bay to supervise the anesthesia residents whenever dispatchers alert doctors to prepare for a patient arriving via ambulance or the PennStar helicopter. Although the area may seem chaotic to an outsider, Datner said that the trauma staff responds to serious injuries in an organized, well-orchestrated manner. In one of the night's most serious injuries, the helicopter brought in a woman who had been in a major car accident. X-rays posted on a backlit wall revealed that she had a broken neck and severe brain damage. "I don't think this one is going to make it," Datner said. The woman remained in critical condition as of late last night. While the Emergency Department staff devotes immediate attention to major cases such as the accident victim, doctors, nurses and technicians spend most of their time attending to patients in the other 21 acute-care beds. Datner, who came to HUP almost three years ago after completing a joint residency program in Washington between George Washington and Georgetown universities, said she chose to practice emergency medicine because it allows her to do "a little bit of everything," from psychiatry to gynecology to surgery and pediatrics. After arriving at the Emergency Department, patients see a nurse who measures their vital signs and determines the severity of their condition. Residents -- medical-school graduates training to be full physicians -- perform initial evaluations of patients and present individual cases to the attending physicians, who do their own assessments. The physicians and residents then confer to determine which tests to run, discussing possible treatment options and making the decision of whether to admit or discharge patients. One patient, the HIV-positive woman who was having trouble breathing, told Datner she had been in and out of Temple University Hospital for months. The patient said she thought she would be able to breathe more comfortably if doctors inserted a wider tube into her windpipe. Datner immediately called in a head-and-neck specialist to examine her. While Datner prepared a report, another attending physician, Sarah Stahmer, dealt with a drunk woman whose face was covered with blood. The woman cursed at staff members while they tried to assess the extent of her injuries. Across the hall, Datner moved on to the woman whose ex-boyfriend -- the father of one of her five children -- had beaten her and hit her on the head with a baseball bat. About 23 percent of women who come through the Emergency Department are victims of domestic abuse, said Datner, who researches the subject. Datner suggested that the patient get a restraining order to protect herself and her children from the ex-boyfriend. Before the woman left, Datner gave her the telephone numbers of several local shelters and abuse hotlines. "Even if you can only talk to someone for a few minutes, you can still make a difference," she said. Datner recalled a man who came to the Emergency Department after getting in a fight which left his face covered with blood. A year later, he returned with his girlfriend and told Datner he had cleaned up his act. "It's nice to know I'm not banging my head against a brick wall," she said. "If you take the time to educate the patients, you can make them think about what could happen next time and really have an impact on their lives."
(11/19/97 10:00am)
Attempting to benefit from the rapidly deregulating Pennsylvania energy market, a coalition of area hospitals, including members of the Penn Health System, struck a deal with Enron Corp. last week, designed to provide them with energy savings of more than 20 percent. But the company won't actually provide the institutions with lower energy rates. Instead, Texas-based Enron will advise the 150 member hospitals of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council on ways to save money within their current energy contracts, which the hospitals would then be free to accept or ignore. Under the deal, Enron -- one of several companies challenging Pennsylvania Energy Corp. (PECO) for control of Pennsylvania's energy market -- will suggest ways for the hospitals to reduce their energy consumption by utilizing new technology and procedures. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn-affiliated Presbyterian Hospital will consider Enron's proposals, but have not finalized a decision on whether to switch their energy contract to the company, according to HUP Physical Plant Director Doug Aitkens. HUP and Presbyterian are currently bound to PECO under the company's five-year contract with the University. "We will negotiate our best deal," he said. "I don't want to get locked into anything too soon in the game." Enron spokesperson Gary Foster explained that the deal is designed to help hospitals save money in the wake of intense competition, decreasing insurance reimbursements and pressure from managed care companies to cut costs. DVHC President Andrew Wigglesworth said the agreement "ensures that there will be a competitive energy market and that hospitals will be able to select the provider that will best meet their individual needs." The council considered at least six companies during its search for an energy consulting firm and met with PECO representatives in June, but PECO did not show much interest in working with the body, Wigglesworth added. The council ultimately selected Enron because it offered the most "innovative range of services," he said. Area hospitals currently spend more than $500 million a year on energy-related expenses and equipment, and are constantly seeking ways to save money without having to cut staff, Wigglesworth said. He explained that the council recently examined energy use in 10 member hospitals and found that energy costs could be cut by more than 20 percent through improved technology and more efficient procedures. Enron is no stranger to the consulting business, having recently struck a similar deal with the California-based Kaiser Permanente managed care plan --Eone of the largest in the country. It is also currently negotiating with a health care council in the Boston area, Foster said. Although the search for lower energy costs is especially important to the health care field -- where energy and capital expenditures account for up to 10 percent of a hospital's budget -- Foster said the company hopes to make similar alliances with schools, convenience stores and fast food chains across the country. "The whole industry will probably move in this type of direction over the next decade," Foster said.
(11/14/97 10:00am)
A Nursing School program adds a new dimension to midwifery. The walls in Amy Levi's examination room are filled with pictures of the dozens of babies she has delivered over the past 10 years in the arms of their beaming mothers. "I have been through pregnancies with these moms and gotten to know the babies while they are in the womb," she said. "I almost feel like part of the family." But Levi is no ordinary obstetrician -- she is one of the instructors in the Nursing School's midwifery program, which currently has about 25 students. She explained that the term "midwife" -- which means "with woman" in old English -- reflects the profession's commitment to "caring for essentially healthy women before, during and after childbirth with specific emphasis on the needs of the individual woman and her family." Unlike physicians, who often quickly examine patients before telling them to "try a certain treatment and come back in two weeks," Levi said nurse midwives seek to actively involve women in decisions about their own health. While physicians often order extensive tests "just to be on the safe side," midwives provide natural care and only turn to medical technology when absolutely necessary. The growth of the University's nurse midwifery program, which was founded in 1980, parallels the growth of the profession across the country. The University offers a master's degree in nursing for midwifery students who already have an undergraduate nursing degree. About five students are currently enrolled in the program, which takes 16 months to complete. Midwifery students with a liberal arts background can obtain both a bachelor's and a master's degree in under four years. Between 15 and 20 students enroll in the bachelor's/master's program each year. The Nursing School also offers a distance learning program in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Health which is designed to meet the need for midwives in rural parts of the state where patients do not have access to hospitals. In the distance learning program, which was founded in 1994 and currently has five participants, the students typically come to the University on three occasions for clinical orientations. The rest of the time, they go to teleconference centers in Hershey, Coleport, Scranton and Pittsburgh to participate in interactive seminars. Reina Dastous, a student in the bachelor's/master's program, earned a liberal arts degree and worked with special education students before realizing that teaching wasn't for her. After reconsidering her career options, she decided to pursue nurse midwifery because she has "always been fascinated by the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth." Dastous was attracted to the program because its "philosophy about birth and caring for women" was compatible with her own. "Physicians tend to assume something will go wrong rather than watching and waiting before intervening," she said. "Midwives trust that the body nature has provided women with knows what to do in labor." The demand for nurse midwives continues to grow as women seek care that is sensitive to their needs, Levi said. The American College of Nurse Midwives currently has more than 6,300 members. And the number of nurse midwives who are certified annually by the nation's 50 accredited nurse midwifery education programs has increased 25 percent since 1991. Levi said midwives are also gaining respectability with insurance companies. Medicaid reimbursement for nurse midwifery services is mandatory in every state and 31 states require private insurance companies to compensate nurse midwives. She added that managed care organizations tend to be especially supportive of nurse midwives because their reluctance to use expensive technology and procedures tends to contain costs.
(11/13/97 10:00am)
A woman stops by a 7-Eleven convenience store on her way home from work and bumps into an old college acquaintance. After driving him home, the man invites her in for a drink. And when she refuses, he rapes her. When the case comes to trial, the nurse who examined the woman in the emergency room is called on to testify in court. The man's defense attorney tries to discredit the nurse witness by questioning which procedures she performed and how she performed them. When this strategy does not work, the attorney hounds the nurse about her background and tries to prove that she was not adequately qualified to examine the victim. Though this specific incident is hypothetical, the situation is depressingly familiar for emergency room nurses, many of whom often find themselves on the receiving end of harsh attacks by defense attorneys. The theoretical case went to trial yesterday in a mock court designed to teach nurses how to maintain their composure in the face of difficult questions. The event was the culmination of a three-day Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program offered through the continuing education division of the Nursing School. Thomas Curran, an attorney with the Defender Association of Philadelphia's child advocacy unit and a professor of psychiatric and mental health nursing at Penn, played the role of defense attorney. He cross-examined Judy Quattrone, who portrayed the victim, and Vicky Firth, who played the role of the nurse who examined the victim when she arrived in the hospital after being raped. Quattrone and Firth were members of the first class to graduate from the program in 1994 and currently work as sexual assault nurse examiners in Doylestown, Pa. Curran urged the nurses not to "underestimate the power" of their testimony in sexual assault cases. "Do not be threatened by an attorney asking you questions, because we have no magical power," he said. "As a specialist, you have more power over your testimony than you may realize." During the trial, Curran questioned Firth about the specific tests she performed on the victim, as well as her methodology in examining and interviewing the victim. He also questioned her about her educational background and work experience in an effort to demonstrate how judges determine whether nurses should qualify as expert witnesses. Important factors in that decision include determining if nurses have advanced degrees or belong to professional organizations, have published work or hold academic faculty positions. Curran noted that if nurses qualify as expert witnesses, they can remain in the courtroom while other witnesses testify in order to provide emotional support to the victim they examined. Nurses should also emphasize to the judge their previous experience working with sexual assault victims to establish that they are qualified to conduct such examinations, according to Curran. Janet Tomcavages, one of the organizers of the mock trial, described it as an important part of sexual assault nursing education. "It gave us a snapshot of what to expect from nurse testimony, how nurse witnesses are handled, and what is important to say and not say," she said. More than 75 people, including members of the program and students from the Nursing, Law and Social Work schools, gathered in the Nursing Education Building auditorium yesterday afternoon to watch the trial. The sexual assault nursing education program teaches registered nurses who work in emergency departments how to interview sexual assault victims, identify injuries and prove use of force and sexual contact.
(11/10/97 10:00am)
Cost-cutting measures associated with managed care have reduced the number of Caesarean sections performed in Pennsylvania, according to a recent report. The C-section operation, which involves removing the infant through an incision the walls of the uterus, is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the state, accounting for $209 million in medical costs in 1995. After rising from 5 percent of the total amount of deliveries in 1970 to 25 percent in 1987, Pennsylvania's C-section rate fell to 20.2 percent in 1995, saving patients and insurers an estimated $20 million annually. The report, which was issued by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, also found that 20.7 percent of the babies born at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1995 were delivered by C-section. The C-section rates at the 41 hospitals surveyed in the Philadelphia region ranged from 28.5 percent of the total deliveries at Jeanes Hospital to 11.2 percent at Episcopal Hospital. Mark Woodland, a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital, said the report shows "the pendulum swung out and is now swinging back again." If the decrease continues, C-section rates at HUP and across the state should reach the 15 percent target rate set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by the year 2000. Experts agree that an excessive number of unnecessary C-sections were performed in the 1980s. Albert Reese, chairperson of Temple University's obstetrics and gynecology department, attributed this high C-section rate to doctors' fear of being sued. "There is that lurking misconception that if you're concerned about anything, the best thing to do is get the baby out," he explained. But this overreliance on C-sections proved problematic because of the risks associated with the procedure and the possibility of scars rupturing during subsequent normal births. C-sections also cost patients an average of $7,300, as opposed to $3,700 for normal births. Additionally, the procedure requires patients to remain in the hospital for twice as long as after a normal delivery, adding to the cost of the operation. Experts attributed the reduced number of C-sections to several factors, including active discouragement of the procedure by managed care insurers. Many insurance companies, such as Aetna U.S. Healthcare -- which manages the University's student health plan -- have adopted formulas which pay doctors more to perform normal deliveries than C-sections. Patients enrolled by Medicaid health maintenance organizations have a C-section rate of 17.2 percent, considerably below the state average. Phillip Goldstein, regional director of Oxford Health Plans, said many of the 75,000 people enrolled in Oxford's local Medicaid plan live in urban areas with teaching hospitals that encourage normal births. These patients also tend to use midwives, who rarely refer them to hospitals for C-sections. And Goldstein said the lower average age of Medicaid mothers may lead to fewer complications requiring a C-section delivery.
(11/07/97 10:00am)
Underrepresented minority applications to the University's Medical School dropped 14 percent this year, in line with national trends showing fewer black, Latino and Native-American applicants to the nation's 125 accredited medical institutions. The national decrease was particularly pronounced in public universities affected by recent rollbacks to affirmative action. The number of minority students applying to medical schools in states like California and Texas that recently eliminated affirmative action in admissions decisions dropped 17 percent between 1996 and 1997. By contrast, the number of minorities applying to medical schools in states that did not repeal affirmative action policies fell just 7 percent. Additionally, the number of minorities accepted at medical schools that eliminated affirmative action policies plunged 27 percent last year, while the minority acceptance rate dropped just 4 percent in other states. The information comes from a recent study by the Association of American Medical Colleges, which argues that the affirmative action repeal has discouraged underrepresented minorities from applying to medical schools across the country, including institutions unaffected by the change. AAMC President Jordan Cohen said the national decline in minority applications is clearly linked to California's Proposition 209, which eliminated affirmative action in state institutions, and the Hopwood v. State of Texas federal court decision, which eliminated affirmative action in schools in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. "It is clear that the climate engendered by the Hopwood decision and Proposition 209 is discouraging minorities from applying to medical school," he said. Cohen said he finds it "particularly alarming" that minorities are even avoiding applying to medical schools in states that have not rolled back affirmative action. "This is an ominous sign for the medical community and our nation, which badly needs a physician workforce that is both diverse and reflective of our society as a whole," he added. At Penn, minority applications to the Medical School peaked at 811 in 1995 but fell to 776 in 1996 and 660 last year, according to Medical School Admissions Director Gaye Sheffler. The number of minority matriculants also fell from a recent high of 32 in 1994 to 22 in 1997. And although minorities continue to make up a small fraction of the 8,000 applicants to the University's Medical School each year, Sheffler insisted that the minority applicant pool remains "large and strong." Despite the decrease in black, Latino and Native-American applicants to the Penn Medical School, 40 percent of its students continue to come from minority backgrounds. But Sheffler said Asians, who comprise the Medical School's largest minority contingent, are not counted in the AAMC report because they are not considered to be underrepresented. She added that the Medical School remains "committed to increasing minority applications and representation" through programs such as a minority affairs office, which works to attract minority high school and college students to Penn's Medical School. Experts remain divided over whether the national decrease in minority applications is directly related to the affirmative action repeals in California and Texas. Jennifer Nelson, executive director of the American Civil Rights Institute, a group that studies affirmative action issues, argued that it's "a leap of logic to assume that changes in California and Texas account for this national trend." She noted that the national medical school applicant pool also decreased last year for the first time since 1988, with the number of students competing for approximately 16,000 slots dropping 8.4 percent to just over 43,000 applicants.
(11/06/97 10:00am)
Pennsylvania first lady Michele Ridge was shocked when doctors discovered a breast tumor during a routine mammogram last December. Although the tumor turned out to be benign, the experience made Michele Ridge and her husband, Gov. Tom Ridge, more aware of the concerns of the 10,500 Pennsylvania women diagnosed with breast cancer annually. Tuesday, almost a year after his wife's scare, Ridge signed a bill requiring insurance companies to cover mastectomies completely. The bill went into effect immediately. "Those brave survivors of this disease need to know that their lives will go on, that they will be whole again, and that they will heal," said Ridge, a Republican, before signing the bill in a ceremony in the state capital of Harrisburg. The legislation makes Pennsylvania the 12th state to outlaw the so-called "drive-through" mastectomies which force women to leave the hospital just hours after having breast-removal surgery. The problem arises when insurance companies and health maintenance organizations will not cover an overnight stay. Nancy Zieber, an oncology clinical nurse specialist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, said the bill will help HUP improve mastectomy patient care. "Now women will be able to get the treatment they need without having to worry about finances in addition to cancer," she said. The new legislation also requires insurance companies to cover surgery to reconstruct the breast for up to six years after the initial mastectomy, a move Zieber called particularly significant because "many women are not psychologically ready to undergo reconstructive surgery after they have just been operated on to have cancer removed." And although most women want to go home as soon as possible after having a mastectomy, Zieber said it is important that they have the option to remain overnight because many develop diseases or other complications following the procedure. "Under this bill, the choices are made by the women who are affected and not dictated by insurance companies," she said. Women's health advocates have been pushing for the legislation since July 1996, when State Sen. Joseph Uliana (R-Northampton) first received complaints from doctors in his district that their patients were having difficulty convincing insurance companies to cover post-mastectomy reconstructive surgery. Before the legislation, women had to personally lobby insurers and doctors to pay for reconstructive surgery. Julia Beekler, who lobbied for the bill in the state legislature, said she had to fight her insurance company to cover surgery after she suffered chest injuries in car crash, though her auto insurance gladly repaid her for damage to the car. "I'm going to have my car for just a few more years, but I have to live with my body for the rest of my life," she said.
(11/05/97 10:00am)
A doctor in the program spoke to more than 75 Med School students about his humanitarian efforts. David Schnadower knew he wanted to join Doctors Without Borders ever since he read about its humanitarian missions to help sick and starving children in war-ravaged Afghanistan when he was 15 years old. And he has never regretted the decision, not even when his work brought him face to face with starving and dying children in Uganda and Mexico, where as many as five of his young patients died every day. "The hardest part is sustaining yourself with all this sadness around you," he told more than 75 Medical School students yesterday at the John Morgan Building. "I had a very hard time accepting children were dying around me, and sometimes there wasn't anything I could do to save them." Schnadower recounted his experiences with DWB as part of the International Health Seminar Series, which brings speakers to talk about research and clinical opportunities abroad. With a budget of more than $250 million, and humanitarian missions in 83 countries, DWB is one of the world's largest nongovernmental organizations. The program, established by four French doctors in 1971, focuses on helping those most in need of medical assistance, regardless of their race, religion or political affiliation. DWB "maintains strict impartiality in the name of humanitarian aid," but unlike International Red Cross workers, DWB volunteers are allowed to speak to the media and often provide valuable information about atrocities in troubled areas, he said. Schnadower, who was born in England and grew up in France and Mexico, joined DWB after graduating from the University of Mexico Medical School in 1994. He worked with Sudanese refugees in Uganda and Zapatista rebels in Chiapas, Mexico, and is now a pediatric resident at New York University Medical School. His presentation included a video of malnourished children suffering from malaria and meningitis, from the hospital where he worked in Uganda. Many did not survive. The gut-wrenching images reduced several audience members to tears. Schnadower recounted the experience of a team of doctors who arrived at a refugee camp of 5,000 people with only enough food to feed 2,000, and were forced to decide which lives to save. But he stressed that his work with DWB made him feel like he was "really making a difference," adding that the organization saves 3.3 million lives a year for under $25 per person. Because underdeveloped populations are prone to diseases, Schnadower said immunizations are a major focus of DWB's program. Although children in these countries are 35 times more likely to contract an infectious disease than their counterparts in developed nations, 65 percent of such diseases are preventable with low-cost vaccinations. "It's so easy to make a difference with just food and immunizations," he said, noting that 80 percent of the world's children are vaccinated through organizations like DWB. The International Health Seminar Series was established four years ago through "student initiation and faculty help," said Donald Silberberg, the Medical School's associate dean for international programs. The series is sponsored by the Office of International Medical Programs and the International Medicine Student Group, which consists of about 40 second-year Medical students.
(11/03/97 10:00am)
Fraternity brothers and Black Student League members gave students from two local schools a taste of Penn life during Thursday's Communiversity activities. The program brought close to 100 students from Turner Middle School, located at 59th Street and Baltimore Avenue, and Overbrook High School, at 59th Street and Lancaster Avenue, to campus for the day. The eighth graders from Turner began their day at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house, while the freshmen and sophomores from Overbrook gathered in the multipurpose room of W.E.B. DuBois College House. Glenn Bryan, director of the University's Office of Community Relations who grew up in West Philadelphia, greeted the students by discussing the importance their education and answering their questions. The students spent the rest of the morning attending classes with AEPi brothers and BSL members and then tried out the lunch menu at Class of 1920 Commons. After lunch, AEPi brothers led small groups of Turner students on a scavenger hunt around campus. One group, led by College junior and AEPi brother Michael Turi, roamed the campus searching for landmarks such as Steinberg-Dietrich Hall and the peace sign. Turi's group found the scavenger hunt an enjoyable way to familiarize themselves with the University's campus. "This place is really nice," eighth grader Anthony Mapp said. "It's hard to believe we're still in the middle of the city." And Shantaine Ayers said that attending classes and seeing the campus piqued her interest in the University. "If I work real hard, maybe I can come here one day," she said. Meanwhile, afternoon activities for the Overbrook students included a meeting with Fred Whiten, director of the Upward Bound program, which prepares local high school students from low-income families for college. Whiten, who grew up in the projects of North Philadelphia, told the students "the only difference between you and me is time," noting that he is 51 while they are only 15. He demonstrated the importance of first impressions by having Overbrook students Andre Andrews and Samantha Summers practice introducing themselves to him as if he were a prospective employer. This led to a discussion of ways to make a good first impression, such as eye contact, articulation and a strong handshake. Whiten ended his presentation by talking about the Outward Bound program, which brings local students to the University on Saturdays and for six weeks during the summer to improve their writing and interpersonal skills. He noted that Upward Bound participants have been successful in earning full or partial scholarship to college and added that many graduates of the program are at Penn, Temple University and Morehouse and Spelman colleges.
(10/29/97 10:00am)
Coupled with a force of 40 officers, the hospital's new security system makes HUP a very safe place. and Randi Rothberg With a high-tech surveillance system and its own security force, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania may be one of the safest places on campus. It needs to be. In recent years, emergency room staffers have been forced to deal with escaped mental patients, bloody intruders and even the occasional food-thief. HUP's security system, which was updated at a cost of $150,000 when a new emergency room was built two years ago, is housed in a Security Operations Center located adjacent to the hospital's emergency entrance on the west side of 34th Street. The hospital maintains a security force of 40 officers, which is separate from the University's Division of Public Safety that handles campus security. Approximately 10 armed officers -- whose uniforms closely resemble those of the University Police -- are assigned to each shift. The guards do not have the authority to make arrests, and University Police officers help out at the hospital when needed. Additionally, Spectaguard mans two outdoor posts at HUP each weekday, according to Spectaguard Assistant Vice President Gesi McAllister. HUP's security system features more than 140 videos cameras in public areas in and around the hospital which constantly tape all activity and allow security officials in the operations center to zoom in on specific images, HUP Security Director Al Glogower said. Additionally, the hospital's 150 doors open only to those with proper access programmed onto the magnetic strips of their identification cards. Whenever a person swipes a card to open any HUP door, the individual's name, position and location are displayed on a monitor in the dispatch office, he added. All security officials -- most of whom have held positions in the military, police force or other security agencies -- endure an "extensive" 40-hour training program teaching them skills ranging from subduing intruders to report-writing. But while most HUP security guards eagerly share dramatic "war stories" of confrontations with distraught patients or families, most admitted that their daily tasks are considerably more mundane. Indeed, the officers spend much of their time directing lost patients and visitors through the "ever-changing hospital maze," according to HUP security official Kent McFarland, who joined the force five years ago after leaving the military. Additionally, the guards are taught how to handle difficult interpersonal situations, such as when distraught family members refuse to be separated from patients. "The officers all know how to talk to the patients and their families," HUP security official Sandy Shelton said. "They understand that this is an environment where people are going to be upset." Shelton added that HUP staff members sometimes call security officers to deal with difficult patients, noting that while officers peacefully mediate most situations, "sometimes no amount of talking will resolve the issue." Shelton -- a 20-year HUP security veteran and former postal policewoman -- said officers also deal with safety issues, such as people stuck in elevators, chemical spills and gas leaks. She noted that their most boring task is unlocking doors for locked-out employees and contractors needing access to construction sites, but stressed that "somebody has to make sure only the right people get in." Although officers spend most of their time handling routine security and safety issues, they can all recall specific memorable incidents. Security officer Norris Haynes -- who has worked in several security positions, including as a Spectaguard supervisor, for eight years -- said working at HUP is "more involved [and] more intense" than his other jobs. "There's all kinds of confrontation," the former state crisis intervention center employee said, recalling an incident when he had to confront a patient attempting to leave the hospital against medical advice with the patient's intoxicated family members. McFarland said he also remembers one night about two years ago when a psychologically unstable patient escaped from the ER and ran through the hospital. McFarland and several other officers joined ER staff in chasing him through HUP's underground tunnel system and down Spruce Street before they finally caught and handcuffed him at 38th Street. HUP security official Kevin Sample -- who worked at the Graduate Hospital and 18th and South Streets before joining HUP more than a year ago -- recalled a mysterious intruder who kept sneaking into HUP's dietary unit and eating food intended for the patients. The officers nicknamed him the "chicken man" because he was particularly fond of stealing chicken. They finally caught him and discovered that he had gained access to HUP through a friend who worked at the hospital. Shelton said she remembers an incident about three years ago when a patient struck a match and lit the ER on fire. She also recalled a patient who came into the ER with a knife stuck in her heart. "That was very frightening," she said. "She had already lost a lot of blood and she was really pale, but I am told she actually survived."
(10/23/97 9:00am)
Children, adults with weakened immune systems and the elderly are among those at risk of getting sick from pathogens in Philadelphia's water supply, says a new report. The study, released Tuesday by Harvard University's School of Public Health, found that instances of gastro-intestinal sickness increased by an average of 10 percent during periods when Philadelphia water was more contaminated than usual. "This isn't something to panic about," Harvard School of Public Health Professor Joel Schwartz, the lead author of the report, said. "But it's something to suggest that there is a possibility Philadelphia could do a better job of treating its water." Officials from the Philadelphia Water Department, however, emphasized that contamination levels in the city's water are an average of six times lower than those required by federal standards. "Our customers should not be concerned about the quality of their drinking water," Water Department spokesperson Joan Dahme said, adding that the department has been working to improve the city's water supply since the study was conducted. The department serves 1.2 million people with water drawn from the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers which is treated and chlorinated at three separate plants. The Harvard report examined the relationship between contamination levels in Philadelphia water between 1989 and 1993 and the number of young patients admitted to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia emergency room for gastro-intestinal problems. Findings indicated that high instances of disease were linked to periods of increased pollution. Although the study was limited to children, Schwartz suggested that adults with weakened immune systems -- such as the elderly, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or people with AIDS -- should "consider some kind of water filtration device that could remove pathogens from the drinking water." A slight increase in cloudiness can lead to gastro-intestinal sickness, even when the water still meets federal safety standards, he added. Water contamination is measured with a nephelometer, a device which scatters light through a sample of water to determine its level of pollution. Federal standards dictate that 95 percent of water samples cannot exceed .5 nephelometric units (NTUs), and Schwartz said contamination levels in Philadelphia water are significantly lower than required by federal law, typically ranging from .17 to .22 NTUs. "The point of the study was that, even in a city with filtration and chlorination and drinking water that meets federal standards, an increase in gastrointestinal cases followed periods of cloudier water," he said. Schwartz added that the study, which appears in the November issue of Epidemiology, "suggests chlorine and filtration practices may not be the whole answer to ensuring water quality." And although many people drink bottled water instead of tap water in an effort to avoid polluted water, Schwartz warned that "there is basically no regulation on bottled water, so you don't know what is in there."
(10/21/97 9:00am)
According to a "Chronicle of HIgher Education" survey, only two private college presidents earned more than Judith Rodin, who received $453,029. University President Judith Rodin was the third-highest paid private college president in the country in 1995-96. Her total compensation of $453,029 placed her behind only then-Northeastern University President John Curry and Vanderbilt University President Joe Wyatt, according to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education survey. But although Curry topped the list with $995,358 in salary and benefits, more than $690,000 of his earnings came from a retirement package he received from Northeastern, making his actual salary for the year only $310,000. Wyatt earned a total of $479,072 in compensation for 1995-1996. Curry received the generous retirement package for leading the institution through a difficult period in the early 1990s during which officials cut $60 million from the budget by eliminating about 700 jobs and withholding annual raises, according to a Northeastern spokesperson. Penn spokesperson Ken Wildes stressed that Rodin deserved her high level of compensation, which was set by the University Board of Trustees. "Clearly, she is recognized by the trustees as an outstanding president at one of America's premier universities," Wildes said. Rodin's compensation included a base salary of $375,000, $78,029 in benefits and more than $40,000 in expenses. Her base salary increased $25,000 over the year before. Other Ivy League presidents among the top-10 highest compensated private college presidents include Yale University's Richard Levin, Columbia University's George Rupp and James Freedman of Dartmouth College. Rodin's salary has remained near the top of the Ivy League since she arrived at Penn. She earned $375,980 -- the second-highest salary in the Ivy League -- in 1994-95, her first year at Penn. Only Yale's Levin received more that year, earning $387,138. The highest-paid private university president that year was Howard University's Franklin Jenifer, who earned a generous $800,318 package as part of the school's attempt to prevent him from joining the University of Texas. The Chronicle's survey also found that although the nation averaged a 2.8 percent inflation rate in 1995-96, half of the nearly 400 presidents who worked full years in 1994-95 and 1995-96 reported receiving salary increases of at least 4 percent, with 60 receiving raises of at least 10 percent. The Chronicle conducts an annual survey analyzing the tax records of private college presidents across the country to determine the most generous salary and benefits packages. But the highest-paid people in the academic world continued to be medical professors, rather than university presidents. Seven doctors earned more than $1 million in salary and benefits, with an additional 12 earning more than than $800,000. Medical professors' earnings from university-owned clinics are often included in their yearly salaries, leading to their high levels of compensation. The highest-paid doctor in 1995-96 was Wayne Isom, the chairperson of Cornell University's Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, who earned $1.77 million. The six highest-paid Penn employees are all associated with the University's Health System. Health System Chief Executive Officer and Medical School Dean William Kelley's income of $867,394 was the highest in the University for 1995-96, and many Health System administrators and Medical School faculty earn significantly more than Rodin. But Health System spokesperson Rebecca Harmon explained that Penn only pays these professors a small portion of their salary -- under $60,000 -- with revenues from their clinical practices accounting for the rest of their compensation.
(10/21/97 9:00am)
Faced with reduced insurance payments, intense competition and increased debt, the Allegheny University Health System -- the largest hospital network in the region -- fired 1,200 people, 6 percent of its work force, last week in a cost-cutting move. Penn's Health System -- one of Allegheny's chief competitors -- is experiencing similar financial difficulties, including a projected $78 million operating loss in fiscal year 1998. But University officials insist they will not be forced to take such drastic measures as Allegheny's recent firings. "Although we expect operating losses in FY 1998, we have a positive outlook on our financial situation," Health System spokesperson Lori Doyle said. "We don't anticipate any layoffs in the near future." Rather than laying off workers, Penn's Health System plans to turn its operating losses into gains by the year 2000 by cutting administrative costs and increasing the number of patients who visit its network of 200 Clinical Care Associates. But Allegheny's financial difficulties may give Penn's Health System a competitive edge in the region's tumultuous health care market, experts said. "If Allegheny is reducing the size of its operation, that provides an opportunity for Penn to move in and take a larger piece of the Philadelphia health care market," Health Care Systems Professor Mark Pauly said. He added that Penn's Health System "has not gone as far out on a limb as Allegheny, so it shouldn't face such a serious situation." Allegheny, which is based in Pittsburgh, has rapidly expanded to create a statewide network since first acquiring the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1987. The system currently owns 10 area hospitals. "Allegheny basically came into town and bought every hospital that went up for sale, while Penn has been much more conservative," Pauly said. Allegheny's financial difficulties stem from its strategy of purchasing local hospitals out of line with its financial resources. Although its patient revenues increased 2.7 percent in 1996 to $1.03 billion, its expenses climbed 5 percent to $1.1 billion -- leading to losses of $69 million last year. The recent downsizing included trimming executive salaries by an average of over 20 percent and implementing a program linking the salaries of professors at Allegheny's University of the Health Sciences to how many patients they bring to the system and their level of research. In a written release, Allegheny President Sharif Abdelhak called the layoffs "extraordinarily difficult for each individual involved," but stressed that they were necessary to maintain a high level of patient care. "We have taken these actions at this time to maintain the strength of the organization and to ensure the provision of high-quality care throughout," he said in the release. But many Allegheny personnel said the layoffs were made abruptly. David Hamilton, who works in the dietary department of Allegheny's Hahnemann division at Broad and Vine streets, said seven of his 75 co-workers were fired last week. "The bosses, they don't know how it is out here," he said. "They just rearrange things without consulting their workers." At the former Medical College of Pennsylvania, nurses said they were concerned about how the downsizing will impact patient care. "The managers actually told us that we have to do what we're doing now, but we have to do it cheaper," one nurse in the Intensive Care Unit said. The hospital workers' union is holding a rally at 5 p.m. today at the Hahnemann facility to protest the layoffs, according to Henry Nicholas, head of the 17,000 member District 1199C of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees.
(10/17/97 9:00am)
The University of Pennsylvania Health System has been named the exclusive health care provider for a new medical information Web site available to America Online members. The project represents a collaboration with the AOL Digital City Philadelphia on-line service, part of the 14-city Digital City network which provides local news, sports, traffic and entertainment information. The new site, which is located on AOL at keyword "Penn Health," provides approximately 300,000 Digital City Philadelphia members with a range of medical information and services. Kathryn Hillegass, multimedia communications coordinator for the Health System, said Digital City Philadelphia officials approached the University this summer because they "wanted to partner with the premiere health system in the area." She noted that the University not only provided content information for the site but also helped in its development. The site took two months to develop and is designed to be "interactive, educational and entertaining," according to Hillegass. Digital City General Manager Jim Riesenbach said the site was designed to provide "relevant health, fitness and nutrition content with a local angle for AOL members in the Philadelphia area." He added that he hopes the site will be "not just a reference source but something people will want to come back to." The site features chat sessions with University physicians. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Hillegass said there was a recent session where a doctor from the cancer center answered questions. Another feature allows Digital City Philadelphia members to search for doctors affiliated with the Health System by specialty or location, and to make appointments on line. The site also includes an interactive slide tour, daily health tips and information on chronic conditions, educational seminars, support groups and special events. Riesenbach said Digital City selected the Health System as its partner because of its "tremendous credibility and resources." "Having access to relevant healthcare information is vitally important for everyone," he said. "We couldn't be more pleased than to have a first-rate provider such as the University of Pennsylvania providing that service." Health System Chief Executive Officer William Kelley said he believes the partnership with Digital City Philadelphia will also be beneficial for the University. "This relationship helps the University of Pennsylvania Health System to maintain a committed connection with the on-line community both locally and globally," Kelley said.
(10/16/97 9:00am)
Like many heart transplant patients, 43-year-old Duke Grant was forced to wait more than five months for a donor to became available at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. But while most patients typically remain hospitalized until the operation, Grant was able to live at home with his wife and children this summer, thanks to an experimental heart pumping device. Grant was the first patient in the Delaware Valley to go home with a left ventricular assist device, which allowed him to lead a "somewhat normal life" of movies and baseball games, while walking up to 2.5 miles per day and doing regular weight-lifting. "You just can't get that kind of exercise in the hospital," he said. Because the LVAD weighs only two pounds and is easily transportable, the device has been hailed as a vast improvement over older, heavier heart-pumping mechanisms that require patients to remain connected to hospital machinery. "This device not only helps extend patients' lives, but also allows them to rehabilitate so that they are better able to tolerate the heart transplant surgery when it finally does occur," HUP Cardiac Transplant Program Director Michael Acker said. Since the device allowed Grant to exercise in the months prior to his October 7 heart transplant, he withstood the surgery better than patients who remain bedridden during the waiting period, according Acker. He was able to get out of bed the day after his operation and was discharged after only two weeks -- as compared to the four to six weeks most heart transplant patients must remain in the hospital, according to Cardiac Transplant Program Medical Director Evan Loh. Although Grant's wife, a registered nurse, and other family members took care of him this summer, Grant said he now expects to be able to get along without help. "I have my freedom back now," he said. He added that the LVAD has given him an "improved outlook on life." But the device is still in the "investigational" stage and pending approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration, Acker said. HUP and Temple University's hospital are the only area facilities currently providing transplant patients with the LVAD, but Acker predicted that the device will see increased use in the future. "Once the safety has been established for people at home, you will see the same device being used as a permanent assist device for people who perhaps are not transplant candidates or cannot get a heart," he said. Approximately 16,000 Americans under the age of 56 need heart transplants each year, according to the American Heart Association.
(10/09/97 9:00am)
A recently appointed committee charged with finding a new dean for the College of Arts and Sciences plans to release its recommendations to interim School of Arts and Sciences Dean Walter Wales by Thanksgiving. The committee, which consists of two students, five faculty members and one administrator, met for the first time this week to begin outlining the qualities it seeks in a dean. The committee will submit its list of three to five potential candidates to Wales, who will ultimately make the final decision. Wales will select a candidate to replace outgoing College Dean Robert Rescorla, who is stepping down from his administrative position at the end of the semester to return to teaching and conducting research in the Psychology Department. While the ongoing search for a permanent replacement for Wales is being conducted nationally, the new College dean will be chosen from among tenured SAS faculty members, according to search committee chairperson and English Professor Peter Conn. The committee is accepting nominations from faculty and students and will treat all nominations equally. Conn said he cannot remember another time in his 30 years at the University when students were included on a College dean search committee or given the opportunity to nominate professors and voice their opinions. A small group of 15 faculty and students gathered in Houston Hall's Bodek Lounge yesterday afternoon to discuss the search. When Nursing sophomore Mikaila Brown asked how to go about nominating professors, Conn said sending the committee a letter or e-mail explaining why the professor would make a good dean is more useful than simply forwarding names of potential candidates. Several students wanted to know if the committee was looking for a professor from a particular department. Conn said the committee as a whole does not have a departmental preference, but stressed that individual members may have opinions about the issue. Recent College deans have come from a variety of departments, ranging from English and Psychology to Slavic Languages and Classical Studies. But Conn said some faculty would like to see a science professor fill the position. In the University's academic pecking order, there tends to be "physics envy" resulting from the belief that "the real academics are in the Physics Department," Conn said. Other students at yesterday's meeting wondered if faculty members must have administrative experience to be considered for the position. While such experience is desirable, Conn emphasized that it is not necessary as long as candidates are "willing to give give their full attention to the job." He noted that many professors are more comfortable doing laboratory research than performing administrative and fundraising duties which require constant interaction with people. "You have to remember academics are the ones who couldn't get dates in high school," he joked. Additionally, Conn said faculty members are unlikely to express interest in the position because academics "tend to frown on professors who seem to be trying to climb the administrative ladder."
