Navy Section Newsletter, Spring 2009 Edition

Kate E. Oliver, LT MC USN, Navy Section JF Chair

kate.oliver@med.navy.mil, kate.oliver@amedd.army.mil, m994836@hotmail.com

Greetings from ACOG’s 57^th Annual Clinical Meeting in Chicago, IL!

We had a beautiful week for our meeting in Chicago.  For those of you lucky enough to be present for all or part of the meeting, I hope you enjoyed yourself and learned as much as I did.  For those of you who were not able to make it this year, or who have not previously attended an ACM, your next opportunity is the ACOG 58^th Annual Clinical Meeting in San Francisco, CA.  And for those of us lucky enough to be members of the Armed Forces District, our district annual meeting in sunny Honolulu, Hawaii is coming up this November.  Hope to see you all there!

Read on for tidbits from this year’s ACM and for ways to become involved with ACOG.

ACM Highlights

The Medical Student Course.  Dr. Sarah Page, Maj USAF MC, from our own Armed Forces District, organized a medical student course for the approximately 436 medical students who attended the meeting.  The Junior Fellow officers at the meeting made a strong showing as faculty for the event.  The course was composed of interactive and hands-on sessions including knot tying, vaginal delivery simulation, and an ultrasound quiz, in addition to round table discussions regarding choosing the right residency program.  ACOG continues to emphasize medical student involvement in the Annual Clinical Meeting as a part of the effort toward medical student recruitment to the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Actress Fran Drescher.  Emmy-award winning actress Fran Drescher, star of the TV series The Nanny, addressed the meeting attendees during the opening ceremonies.  Ms. Drescher, a uterine cancer survivor, was appointed in 2008 as the US Department of State special envoy for women’s health, and now serves as an outspoken advocate for women’s health and a lobbyist for her foundation Cancer Schmancer on Capitol Hill.  For details, please see: http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr05-04-09-5.cfm.

The Guy Goma Affair.  The Samuel A. Cosgrove Memorial Lecturer, Robert M. Wachter, MD, kicked off the opening morning’s ceremonies with a lecture entitled “What We Need to Know and Do to Cure Our Epidemic of Medical Mistakes.”  Dr. Wachter, Professor and Chief of the Hospitalist Program, University of California, San Francisco, is one of the nation’s leading authorities on patient safety.  Patient safety was the top priority of Dr. Douglas H. Kirkpatrick’s initiatives while serving as President of ACOG for 2009.  Dr. Wachter presented an informative talk relating patient safety in medicine to other industries, with accounts of accidents from the airline industry, as well as an entertaining account of mistaken identity by the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation.  The Guy Goma Affair occurred when a BBC news anchor erroneously interviewed job applicant Guy Goma instead of IT expert Guy Kewney (on live national television).  For a must-see clip of this painfully embarrassing encounter, please see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4770000/newsid_4774100/4774179.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&nol_storyid=4774179&bbcws=1.

Upcoming AFD/ACOG events

The 2009 Annual meeting, hosted by Tripler Army Medical Center, will be held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort in Honolulu November 15^th -18^th 2009.  The deadline for abstract submission is August 31^st, 2009.  Abstracts can be submitted on the ACOG website: http://www.acog.org/district-abstract-submission. 

The Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa is located right on Waikiki beach!!!  For hotel information and reservations, visit http://www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com/.  Please plan to stay at the Hilton where the meeting has reserved rooms. The rates on the reserved rooms depend on filling those rooms, and should the rooms not be filled, a penalty will be forfeited.  See you at the Hau Tree Bar at the Super Pool in November!

Things to do, Summer 2009

AFD Professor of the Year 2009.  The Armed Forces District Professor of the Year award is presented annually by the Junior Fellows to a Fellow who has contributed greatly to their success in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  A complete list of previous winners can be found at: http://www.acog.org/acog_districts/dist_notice.cfm?recno=8&bulletin=165.  Nominations for this year’s AFD Professor of the Year are due by September 1^st in order to select a winner in time for presentation of the award at the AFD annual meeting in Hawaii.  In order to secure a nomination for your favored winner, please provide the Professor’s CV and two letters of support.  Please submit these documents to me or any of the AFD Junior Fellow District Officers listed on our website.

Medical Student Recruiting.  As the new academic year approaches, 4^th year medical students will begin rotating through our hospitals on audition rotations and 3^rd year medical students will escape the classrooms to start their clinical years.  This summer provides an excellent opportunity to recruit your medical students to the field of OB/Gyn!!  ACOG has developed a new recruiting video which can be viewed at: http://www.acog.org/departments/dept_notice.cfm?recno=43&bulletin=4718. 

Medical Student Handbook.  The AFD JF website also has medical student resources, such as the relatively new Medical Student handbook.  Please be sure to direct any medical students, and particularly HPSP students, to the website for an excellent source of information regarding Armed Forces GME: http://www.acog.org/acog_districts/dist_notice.cfm?recno=23&bulletin=2793.

The Gibbons Award.  John M. Gibbons Jr, MD is a past president of ACOG who recognized the importance of medical students to the future of our specialty.  The John Gibbons Award was created to allow medical students to travel to ACOG meetings to introduce them to the field of obstetrics and gynecology. The Gibbons Medical Student Grant supports the attendance of 3 medical students at the Armed Forces District meeting each year.  Applications are due this year by August 1^st.  This is an excellent way to promote medical student involvement in ACOG, in AFD and in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology, so be sure to let your students know. Contact any of the AFD JF District or Section officers for details.

ACOG Committee Membership.  Applications for membership are due by 11 September 2009.  Please refer to the ACOG website for the application, committee member instructions, and for details regarding the committees seeking membership. President Elect Richard N. Waldman, MD, will make these appointments in November 2009.  Please be sure to involve Dr. Christopher Zahn, COL USAF MC, Armed Forces District Chair, in your application.  While it is important to include your preference for committee membership, also be sure to cast your net widely.  It is easier to get onto a committee after you’ve been on one before.  Follow this link for particulars: http://www.acog.org/departments/dept_web.cfm?recno=42.

Miscellany

2008 Navy Base List.   Refer to the Armed Forces District Junior Fellow website for updates on the Navy bases list, pending for Fall 2009, just in time for the Consultant interviews at AFD.  If you have any insights, corrections or additions, please do not hesitate to contact me so the list can be as comprehensive and accurate as possible.

Career Advancement.  In conjunction with CPT Ben Kase (Army Section Chair), I will be compiling a career roadmap particular to members of the Armed Forces.  The guide will have career information focusing on military promotion specific to each of the three services as well as a section dedicated to academic advancement.  Most of our information will come from the senior members of each service attached to the National Capitol Consortium, but certainly contact either of us if you have input or questions.  Look for a preliminary guide after AFD 2009!

Benefits of ACOG membership.  Resident members of ACOG are automatically enrolled in membership of AMA.  Future membership benefits that are in progress include Cochrane database access.  For a list of all advantages to your ACOG membership, follow this link: http://www.acog.org/departments/dept_notice.cfm?recno=5&bulletin=4108.

2009-2010 Junior Fellow College Advisory Council.  Tara Shirazian, MD, the newly-elected JFCAC Chair, announced her initiatives for this year.  She included an emphasis on mentorship as well as a focus on international activities.  For the upcoming district meetings, she plans to integrate a global health lecture or seminar.  She also wants to create a database on available humanitarian missions with contact information, ratings, and other opportunities to promote participation by JF members of the College.  For details, see the JF website or contact Dr. Shirazian at: taraneh.shirazian@mssm.edu.

Projects in a Box. Another initiative that is planned for this year is the “Project in a Box” concept.  This will be a repository of community service or other outreach projects conceived of by Junior Fellows from any of the ACOG Districts.  The goal of this initiative is promoting communication of good ideas, successes, and roadblocks amongst members of different ACOG JF districts in order to make projects easier and to prevent duplication of effort.  Look for details on the ACOG JF website and see Dr. Shirazian’s powerpoint presentation:  www.acog.org/departments/juniorfellows/20090228Shirazian.ppt - 2009-03-10.

That’s all for this edition … looking forward to seeing you in Honolulu!