Medical Schools

Dianne Bye is not a patient, but she plays one at medical school. Clad in an examination gown and calling herself Joan Brown, she tells a third-year medical student at UC Irvine she has suffered severe abdominal pain for three days, always after a meal. She lies down on the table in what looks to be a doctor's examination room, pulls up her gown and allows her belly to be poked repeatedly. "Ow!" she blurts out when the student tells her to inhale while he presses her abdomen.

The economic downturn was tough on the urban core of many U.S. cities. But Pomona got a booster shot from an unlikely source: Western University of Health Sciences. The institution constructed a new clinic and a classroom building as part of a $110-million expansion. The school had previously rehabilitated existing retail space in Pomona's once-blighted center. Its Health Professions Center, for example, is a renovated former Buffum's department store. Nearby, a building that once held a JCPenney houses the University Research Center.

It was a dream that the years could not fade. Jean Forman had wanted to be a doctor for as long as she could remember, even though she grew up during a time when, as she put it, women were told to "leave the doctoring to men." On Sunday, the 51-year-old Long Beach woman completed a decade-long journey to become a physician. As her husband, children and grandchildren watched, Forman received her diploma from the USC School of Medicine.

First-year medical student Hannah Segal sees the same patients and finds herself managing the same ailments during her frequent visits to a community health clinic on downtown Los Angeles' skid row. It's not the most glamorous or desired duty among her USC classmates, many of whom aspire to prestigious, high-paying medical specialties. But her work on the front lines of patient care has helped Segal find her passion. "I'm always really excited to come here," she said. "I get to really problem-solve over time.

The California Board of Medical Quality Assurance is to be commended for what appears on the surface as its intention to maintain high standards of medicine by studying foreign medical schools in order to establish "equivalency" in education (Part I, Dec. 11). However, I regret the implications the article may have unleashed. To set the record straight: There is undeniably a critical lag in health technology in the Philippines. This goes hand in hand with the long-standing economic predicament of the country.

Medical schools are reporting a decline in applications for the first time in nearly a decade, and the reasons cited include an 11% drop in minority applicants, managed care and the booming economy. After a decade of robust growth in applications, the number of students applying for the fall of 1997 incoming class dropped 8.4% from the previous year, when a record 46,968 people competed for 16,000 first-year slots.

The number of applicants to the nation's medical schools has fallen for the sixth straight year, according to a new study -- a trend that baffles researchers. In 2002, about 22% fewer medical school applications were filed than in 1997, according to the report published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. That translates to a drop of about 9,500 applications. Dr. Barbara Barzansky, a co-author of the study, can't explain the drop-off.

The UC Irvine medical school has been buffeted by a series of scandals in the last four years. Now an outside panel has pointed the way to avoid more problems. The suggestions are full of common sense. As previous examinations of the school have noted, the faculty is first-rate and the research cutting edge. That's all the more remarkable considering that the school was only established three decades ago. It's not a longtime establishment pillar acting as a magnet for top-flight researchers.

The proportion of women in schools for health professions has skyrocketed in recent years, a federal statistical analysis showed Tuesday. In dental schools, women made up only 1% of enrollment in the 1971-72 school term. By 1985-86, the figure was 25%. Women in medical schools jumped to 33% from 11% over the same period, and in pharmacy schools they rose to 56% from 24%.

Medical schools and teaching hospitals have failed to respond to some of the most pressing public health problems facing the United States, a group of researchers charged today in one of the country's most widely read medical journals.

Raymond L. Johnson Sr., an attorney, civil rights activist and former Tuskegee Airman, died Dec. 31 in Los Angeles of complications of pneumonia and heart failure, said his wife, Evelyn. He was 89. Johnson, who practiced law for nearly 50 years, was a leader of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People in the 1960s and 1970s. After the 1965 Watts riots, he provided free legal assistance to African Americans who were wrongfully arrested during the disturbances.

For those concerned about the shortage of doctors in the U.S. healthcare system, here is a bit of good news: The number of students enrolling in medical schools has reached its highest level in a decade. More than 19,200 people entered their first year of medical school in 2011, a 3% increase over 2010, according to new data from the nonprofit Assn. of American Medical Colleges. The number of enrollees has been growing steadily since 2001, when medical schools reported 16,365 students entering their first year of medical school.

A few weeks ago, I scheduled a consultation with a new physician I knew very little about. My decision to see her was based on nothing more than friends' recommendations, and, when the day of my appointment rolled around, I arrived at her office having no idea what to expect. Before she'd even walked into the office where I sat waiting to meet her, the diplomas mounted prominently on her walls had me convinced I'd made a good choice. There were loads of them, from some of the best schools in the country: Undergraduate degree at Brown, medical school at Cornell, a residency at UCLA.

Lillian Mobley, a prominent community activist who fought to establish and keep open the doors of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center and pushed to create a companion medical school, has died. She was 81. Mobley, who had been in failing health for the last few years, died Monday at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, said her son Kenneth. She was "without a doubt the most accomplished and successful community activist South Los Angeles has ever had," according to a statement by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles)

Students at the University of California and Cal State University systems are likely to face a second round of tuition hikes this fall in response to deeper funding cuts in the new state budget, officials and student leaders said Wednesday. Discussions are underway for tuition increases of at least 10%. That hike would come on top of an 8% increase at UC and a 10% boost at Cal State that already are set to take effect this fall. An early victim of the state budget cuts is a new medical school at UC Riverside.

The W. M. Keck Foundation on Monday will announce a gift of $150 million to boost scientific research at USC's medical school and at two affiliated hospitals, adding to the university's recent success in attracting supersized donations. The gift is the single largest in the 57-year history of the Keck Foundation, which has backed many scientific projects, including the famous Keck Observatory and telescopes in Hawaii. For USC, the money marks the third mega-gift since March, for a total of $460 million, as new President C. L. Max Nikias seeks to build the Los Angeles university's endowment.

Even a movie "based on a true story" can take some liberties with the facts to create compelling drama. "Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story" is a well-known adage. But the desire should still be to convey truth, not a false and misleading picture of reality. In the movie "Patch Adams," the stern-faced dean lectures to first-year medical students, "It's our mission here to rigorously and ruthlessly train the humanity out of you."

Departing Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler, who battled the tobacco industry and declared nicotine a drug, was named dean of the Yale Medical School. Kessler said he is going to Yale to be at the forefront of shaping medical minds and making discoveries. "These are the places where the real work gets done," Kessler told a news conference. "This all comes down to training the next generation of, not just leaders, but healers."

Plans to open a medical school at UC Riverside next year appeared uncertain Wednesday after officials announced that the school had been denied initial accreditation because of concerns about the cash-strapped state's ability to provide funding. The first 50 students were expected to enroll next summer at the medical school, which would be the sixth in the UC system. The school, approved by UC regents in 2008, is intended to ease a physician shortage in the Inland Empire area and to bolster UC Riverside's academic reputation.

I wasn't expecting the Ritz-Carlton when I showed up at the hospital on Monday night for my sleep study. Still, I was surprised by the austerity: just a single bed and sturdy chair, no television, table or reading lamp. "You won't be needing those," my sleep technologist said as she busied herself behind my chair. The idea was to see how long it would take for me to "reach sleep" from lights-out, she said. At home, my bedtime ritual requires a warm comforter and a good book.