Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, August 13, 2021
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Director's Corner
Perspectives/Opinions
Announcements
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Poetry Corner
- Elizabeth Moore: She is Bold
Your Turn
Announcements & Resources
- Submit a speaker proposal to the Kern Institute Event Advisory Committee
- Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Journal Club
- Save the Date: Kern Grand Rounds - Value-Added Medical Education: Reimagining Learner Roles
- Kern National Network News & Events
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Director's Corner
The Redress of Moral Distress Requires Practical Wisdom, Mutual Trust and Supportive Institutions
by Adina Kalet, MD, MPH
This week, Dr. Kalet calls for us to pay attention to the inevitable moral distress associated with the work of health care professionals and how we should and might navigate this. She begins with an example …
Emergency rooms in many parts of the country are seeing a dramatic rise in the number of patients seeking care. Beds are tight.
An experienced emergency room nurse describes the scene from the vantage point of the triage desk. He sits in full view of the large room of people worried enough to have sought ER care. Wearing a face mask and shield, and ready with his stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, thermometer, and oxygen monitor, he speaks with each arrival in turn, evaluating their situation, and determining each person’s level of urgency.
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SPARCC Program Introduction
Student-centered Pipeline to Advance Research in Cancer Careers (SPARCC) is a summer program, federally funded by the National Cancer Institute. SPARCC completed its third year, with the goal to immerse undergraduate students, underrepresented in biomedical research and medicine, into the vast field of clinical cancer research. During the rigorous eight weeks, scholars engage in daily workshops, clinical practicum rotations, and complete a culminating research project that is presented at the SPARCC Research Summit. This summer, 18 remarkable individuals came to MCW from across the US, including Wisconsin, California, Illinois, and Florida. Already, these phenomenal young people are making a difference and will truly pave the way as the next generation of scientists, clinicians, and researchers.
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All students above have been vaccinated and posed for a brief time unmasked for the photo.
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Premedical Student Perspective
Take-Aways From the SPARCC Program
Several of the students in the 2021 Student-Centered Pipeline to Advance Research in Cancer Careers (SPARCC) program write about what the program meant to them. SPARCC was funded by an NCI grant overseen by Janet Rader, MD and Kristina Kaljo, PhD, in the MCW Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology …
As I go forth into my personal and professional space, I walk away with three important things from SPARCC: a love for research, an interest in cancer, and wonderful, new friendships.
It sounds so vague and simple, a love for research, but it is not. I used to think that research was not for me. I remember telling my sister that I did not want to do research because I thought that it would be uneventful to sit in a lab and fill test tubes or look at cells in a petri dish all day. How could I ever think that if I had never tried research before? SPARCC showed me that research can be a powerful way to address the health disparities in the medical field. It is a way to start making a change in the way we as people of color view and experience medicine. Research is the way to reputably change medicine. I learned that it can be patient-centered and not just test tubes and beakers. There is nothing wrong with that type of research, of course, but I have always seen myself interacting with people and patients. I have a new appreciation for research and aspire to one day start my own project.
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Perspective/Opinion
Three Lessons From the Seven Collaboratories
By Michael Braun, PhD and Herodotos Ellinas, MD
In this article, collaboratories co-directors Drs. Michael T. Braun and Herodotos Ellinas, review three big takeaways from the collaboratories and the kickoff event…
On July 19 and July 22, 2021, the Kern Institute hosted two kickoff events for our inaugural class of collaboratories. The seven collaboratory teams, funded by the Kern Institute, gathered to share their projects, and discuss the transformation of medical education centered on the 3 Cs of character, competence, and caring. The events also featured speakers from the Center for Applied Research (CFAR), who discussed transformative work and the unexpected partnerships that drive it.
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Perspective/Opinion
Surviving Dedicated
By Eileen Peterson, M3
Eileen Peterson reflects on her Step-1 ‘Dedicated’ study period and a trip to Iceland during the COVID-19 pandemic…
This June, I was lucky enough to travel to Iceland with my partner as we both finished up our second year of medical school at MCW, our dedicated study period, and the Test That Shall Not Be Named* (*USMLE Step 1 Exam). Anyone who has been in medical school knows that the Step 1 Exam is the Exam. The exam that, unfortunately, students start worrying about from their very first ‘Molecules to Cells’ lecture as first-year students.
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Announcement
Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Launches
By Michael T. Braun, PhD; Amy Farkas, MD, MS; and Kristina Kaljo, PhD
On July 7, we announced the launch of the Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship, KICS for short. KICS aims to provide the infrastructure support for medical education scholarship for the Kern Institute and all of MCW. We launched this effort with three components: research office hours, a scholarship group to drive original research, and a journal club. We look forward to sharing more details of what these activities accomplish in future issues of the Transformational Times. In this article, we'd like to introduce KICS by talking about the support we think is needed to drive groundbreaking medical education research and our vision for KICS’s role in this work.
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She is Bold
By Elizabeth Moore, M4
She is bold.
For even the earth quakes her roots
Shakes, crumbles her mountainside
Her magma ignores the equanimity
Washes her beaches in gentle routine
Retracts her beauty in flickering flames
In skyscraper waves
In spiraling winds
In pelting hurricanes
Her still, her calm, her glassy lakes
Must also have a say of their burden
Must also house her darkest reactions
She is bold.
The wisdom of the empath
Sleeps wrinkled between her eyebrows
Awakens at the slightest exigency
When her children fear
When her children hurt
When wrongness settles its dusky cape
She flings this heavy shall
Preaches her unsettled response
The demands in her crashing screams
The protection in her fire
Her peaceful glimmering stars
Explode amongst her sickled moonbows
Before the hush of her ultimate rest
She is bold.
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Respond to next week's reflection prompt: |
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What is your favorite local bookstore?
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A Special T. Times Issue
Remembering 9/11: Share Your Thoughts and Stories
Saturday, September 11 will mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. For that week's issue, we are asking for your 100-word reflections (either signed or anonymous) to one of these prompts:
Choose one:
- What do you remember most about 9/11 and the days that followed?
- How have the events of that day affected you or those around you?
- What will people remember about 9/11 in 25, 50, or 100 years?
We will open a submission portal next week and hope to publish many of the responses. Thank you for helping us all remember.
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The Kern Institute Event Advisory Committee invites you to
Submit a Speaker Proposal
The Kern Institute is working to transform medical education to better align with the needs of the public on the basis of character, competence, and caring.
Please complete the form below if you have a speaker you would like to propose.
The Event Advisory Committee will review all proposals based on the following criteria:
- The speaker's qualifications
- Timeliness of the topic
- Relevance to the mission
If chosen, a committee member will extend the invitation to the speaker and open the line of communication.
*Please Note: While we greatly appreciate your enthusiasm, please do not initiate correspondence with the speaker directly. This will ensure that expectations are clear and confusion or misunderstandings are averted.
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Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Journal Club
Interested individuals can join the meeting via Zoom using the link below, or email Michael Braun to be added to the meeting invite.
The KICS Journal Club for Medical Education meets monthly on the second Wednesday of the month via Zoom, 12:15–1:00 PM Central.
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Meeting ID: 921 1154 0031
Passcode: KICSJoClub
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September 8, 2021
Zoom Presentation
12:15 - 1:00 pm CT
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Save the Date
2021 Professionalism Week
Kern Institute Grand Rounds
Value-Added Medical Education: Reimagining Learner Roles
While traditional clinical teaching activities such as taking a history, performing a physical exam, writing notes, and giving oral case presentations are clearly effective educational tools, they often lead to inefficiency and duplication of work. Meanwhile, gaps persist between current state and optimal state for patient care and learning outcomes.
This session will include a panel discussion of opportunities to creatively reimagine student roles on patient care teams and participant reflection on how key concepts might be implemented in their sphere of influence.
Panelists include:
Marty Muntz, MD (Lead)
Erica Chou, MD
Christopher Davis, MD
Catherine Ferguson, MD
John Hayes, DO
Lana Minshew, PhD
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Save The Date: More Info Coming Soon
October 20, 2021
Live Virtual Panel Presentation
12:00 - 1:00 pm CT
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The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community. |
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Editorial Board: Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, Adina Kalet, MD, Wendy Peltier, MD, Erin Weileder, Scott Lamm, Eileen Peterson, Sarah Torres, & Anna Visser
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