March 1 2012

KU Medical Center has a long history of serving Kansas by working with communities to improve health. Our Institute for Outreach & Community Engagement, under the direction of David Cook, PhD, has done an outstanding job of identifying the needs and supporting activities to ensure healthier communities. Everyone can now keep up with what KU Medical Center is doing throughout Kansas thanks to a new website that includes an interactive map showing what outreach services are available in every Kansas county.

Although we can point with great pride at our outreach efforts, we are always trying to do more. That is why last summer we surveyed a group of alumni, health care providers, educators and key stakeholders to learn more about how they see our role in serving the health care needs of Kansans.

More than 1,200 people from 91 Kansas counties responded with opinions on ways our institution can best serve the state. While some of those surveyed were our alumni or faculty, the vast majority were doctors, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, hospital administrators, public health officials, teachers, social workers, community leaders and students who are invested in our success, even though they don't have a direct connection to our institution.

What the survey told us is that the respondents believe KU Medical Center’s top two priorities for serving Kansas should be enhancing student education and strengthening Kansas’ health care workforce.

To enhance student education, the respondents recommended increasing student rotations in medically underserved communities; providing support to community colleges and K-12 students to encourage selecting medical and health careers; and ensuring opportunities for mid-career professionals to obtain advanced degrees.

In the area of strengthening Kansas’ health care workforce, those surveyed suggested recruiting and retaining providers in health-care shortage areas; providing continuing education for health care professionals; and ensuring loan forgiveness programs for clinicians who practice in rural and underserved Kansas communities.

The information we culled from this survey has been extremely valuable as we continue to expand our outreach efforts in Kansas. My thanks to everyone who participated in the survey – and to those at our Institute for Outreach & Community Engagement, who work hard every day to make Kansas a healthier state.

Jana Parrett, an administrative assistant in orthopedic surgery, and Andrea Elyachar, operations coordinator in preventive medicine and public health, were among those cheering the KU men's basketball team this past Saturday at a watch party sponsored by the KU Medical Center Alumni Association. The Jayhawks defeated the Missouri Tigers 87-86 in overtime.

In the news

The Wichita Eagle ran a feature story last week on a program at the School of Medicine–Wichita campus that uses actors as patients to help students work on their doctor-patient communication skills.

A retired Scottsdale, Ariz., physician has donated $500,000 to KU Medical Center to establish an obstetrics/gynecology visiting professorship at the School of Medicine. Misha Curtis completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at KUMC in 1979. Details here.

Kudos

Russ Waitman, PhD, is KUMC's new Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enterprise Analytics. Dr. Waitman will continue to serve as an associate professor of biostatistics and director of medical informatics. His research interests are clinical decision support, knowledge discovery, and creating information environments to support research and patient safety.

Lacey Luense, doctoral student in molecular and integrative physiology, and Jessica Witherspoon, a doctoral student in rehabilitation science, were among the award winners at the ninth annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit, which was Feb. 16 in Topeka. Luense received an award for her poster “MicroRNAs Are Necessary for Female Fertility," and Witherspoon's award was for her poster “Shoulder Instability May Depend on Labral and Capsular Properties.”  You can read more about the summit here.

Carol E. Smith, PhD, RN, FAAN, a professor in the School of Nursing, is among 14 nurse researchers who will be inducted this summer into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. Read more here.

John McMaster, MD, a School of Medicine–Wichita Family and Community Medicine clinical assistant professor, has been selected by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts as its first medical director. Responsibilities include serving as an adviser to the board and assisting the agency staff who evaluate and assess complaints and the professional conduct of licensees.

KU Medical Center's magazine, Kansas Medicine + Science, has received an ADDY award from the American Advertising Federation Kansas City. The Spring/Summer 2011 issue of Kansas Medicine + Science received the first-place award in the Public Service Magazine category.

Around campus

KU Medical Center has kicked off a book drive for Reach Out and Read Kansas City. Reach Out and Read Kansas City is a pediatric early literacy program serving Kansas City’s most vulnerable children. The program is KUMC's flagship fundraising project for 2012. You can read more about the program – and how to donate books – here.

The KU School of Medicine-Wichita is partnering with the Kansas Health Institute on a grant to conduct a first-of-its-kind health impact assessment in Kansas. The grant will fund the identification of potential health benefits and risks involved with developing a casino in southeast Kansas. It was awarded by the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Details here.