91ֱ����Ƶ

THE MICROSCOPE

This issue of the COMmunicator features:

• Event Article: 91ֱ����ƵCOMs Out to Celebrate — 2017 Hooding Ceremony
• Spotlight Story: Here COMs Orientation
• In Good COMpany: The Who's Who in COM
• Campus Circulation
• COM Student Clubs & Orgs
• 91ֱ����ƵCOM in the News
• Alumni Notes
• Save the Date
• Meme for Thought

COM ON READERS, WRITE US!

91ֱ����ƵCOMS OUT TO CELEBRATE!

Congratulate UNE's College of Osteopathic Medicine's Class of 2017

UNE'S COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE'S 2017 HOODING CEREMONY AT MERRILL AUDITORIUM

In Latin, regalia means royal privileges. The word, privilege in this context refers both to the subject and the audience: to the graduates themselves, their families, friends, and the faculty and staff who have helped cultivate and support them. It was at this year’s Hooding Ceremony that the graduating class of 2017 wore their robes in celebration of their many achievements. These graduates have earned this privilege for their hard work, dedication, sacrifices and persistence. It is also UNE’s privilege to have had a hand in sculpting doctors of osteopathy who practice medicine with compassion and civility, not just the diagnostic tools they have at their disposal. As they pave their own paths, it is this human touch that will help ignite a bright future for medicine and positively impact the health of our world and its people.

SPOTLIGHT STORY

The Intersections of 91ֱ����ƵCOM and Medicine in Today's Changing World 

Here COMs Orientation

WELCOME, CLASS OF 2021!

The newest additions to 91ֱ����ƵCOM have arrived in style. Greeting the day and each other with smiles of spirited anticipation, the class of 2021 dove into COM Orientation with effervescent panache. Many of these students last stepped foot onto the grassy knolls of campus for the infamous OsteoBlast! and have now returned for the beginning of a new, courageous endeavor.

One may choose to view Orientation as an irrelevant amusement or as dreaded informational sessions informing students of all the necessities they need to know before they start classes, yet both are oversimplifications. There is an immense amount of planning and strategy that goes into orienting new students. Vincent Buonocore is the new Assistant Director of Medical Student Services for the COM Office of Recruitment, Student & Alumni Services (RSAS) who started at 91ֱ����ƵCOM earlier this spring. He sees Orientation as “a student’s introduction, transition and ultimate acceptance of the intellectual, social and cultural environment at the university.” In his mind, a successful program is one that gives incoming students, “some sense of confidence in their ability to navigate the academic experience…and perhaps most importantly, [to] feel as though they have made a connection to the university.”

This year, Vin has rounded up two OsteoBlast! & Orientation co-chairs (O & O), Katherine Cone and Danielle Sultan, whose help has been indispensable and a welcome relief. Not only have they jumped in when necessary, they have enthusiastically taken initiative and ownership over certain aspects of the program. According to Vin, “They problem solved, made suggestions and took the lead on things they probably never anticipated having to take the lead on. [They] led a group of peers through a complex program with lots of moving parts, adapted when there were mistakes, and resolved their fair share of conflicts.” The program ended up with 49 Orientation Leaders to help with the multitude of tasks leading up to and during Orientation. Of their commitment, Vin states, “the program cannot function without their leadership, perspective and willingness to sacrifice their time in service to others.”

There is no contesting the level of detail that goes into planning these large events. They are not only logically challenging, but can be mentally taxing as well. What one will notice from the Orientation program, however, is that Vin doesn’t shy away from adding a bit of humor into the mix. With captions such as “This is selfie explanatory” under the class photo, or “This is an Orientation not a BORIENTATION” for the staff activity, Vin adds little quips as a refreshing sidebar to the programmatic language directing students on where they need to go and what they need to know. It is this kind of attitude that is the foundation for a successful program as one can’t help but catch positivity once it’s in motion. It was Leonardo Da Vinci who mused, “Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.” It is the detail that breathes intentionality into lifeless pages and pragmatic rigidity. By treating the event as one entity and calling attention to where attitude, learning and success intersect, Orientation starts to promote this idea of balance within academia.

Another favored balance break asked students to “lend a hand” by painting with them. The activity took on its own metaphor as students got their hands dirty as they worked together to create a “Class of 2021” banner that was colorfully cathartic. Out of the hand prints and smears came a visual representation of the class of 2021, an expressionist-inspired canvas featuring the wits, whims and wellness of the incoming class.

Although it is difficult to add unique flavor to an annual event, and give it its own refreshing spin, this year’s Orientation was a feel-good balance of necessity and fun, of learning and light-hearted engagement. Everyone came together to make the event a success. When asked about next year, Vin thought that collaboration was key: “I hope to build on our partnerships both within and outside of COM to make sure students are receiving what they need...Everyone should have a role in welcoming these students.” One thing to look out for is more innovative technologies in future programs. Vin has seen that, “Orientation programs across the country are utilizing technology more and more…and I hope to investigate how we might be able to leverage our existing resources to enhance the new student experience.” Whatever is in store for next year, we know that Vin will be prepared, which means that our incoming COM students will be ready for anything.

IN GOOD COMPANY

The Who's Who in 91ֱ����ƵCOM

COM STUDENT CLUBS & ORGS

A Look at COM Students in Action

WHITECOATS4BLACKLIVES MAKES AN IMPRESSION ON COM

This year's notable start-up student organization was White Coats for Black Lives, part of the national WhiteCoats4BlackLives organization, formed in December 2014. The mission of COM's chapter is to "illuminate overt systematic racism and implicit racial bias in medicine during the formative years of student doctor education and support the COM administration in improving student diversity and diversity training." 1

The need for ethical education outside the medical classroom has been debated for decades. According to Hafferty & Franks, "[m]ost of what the [students] will internalize in terms of the values, attitudes, beliefs, and related behaviors deemed important within medicine takes place not within the formal curriculum but via a more latent one, a 'hidden curriculum.'" 2

This hidden curriculum is a socialized education formed by interactions in the field through peers, institutional practices, and personal experiences.

The purpose of the White Coats for Black Lives organization is to address this hidden curriculum by naming it, allowing both practitioners and students alike to take a closer look at their own assumptions, and to recognize the inter-relatedness of race, power, and privilege that dominates today's healthcare system.

These insidious attitudes, for example, cause black patients to receive less pain medication in general than white patients.3 However, racist attitudes are not reserved only for doctors towards their patients. In a 2015 survey conducted at Stanford University, about 15% of pediatric residents were discriminated against by their patients based on their race or ethnicity. 3

Most of us have heard these blatant, blanket statements, especially if you have worked in the medical field. My uncle recently recounted his hospital stay in Florida. "None of the doctors spoke English," he complained. I am meant to take this literally, although I am certain the doctors did speak English, but with an accent. There are many conclusions I can draw from that statement alone: because English was not their first language, their expert opinions are considered refutable or inaccurate; my Uncle would prefer a white doctor; my uncle believes in Standard English; my Uncle believes (perhaps subconsciously) that he should not be put outside his comfort zone despite being in a part of the country with a large Hispanic population and culture; the difficulty in communication was the fault of the doctor and not his own. There is also a flip side to this mode of thinking. I once had a patient ask for his primary care physician to be Chinese because they know more about medicine.

Ethics in medicine is not a small matter, and not one that can be easily solved or eradicated, yet COM's White Coats for Black Lives is a step in the right direction. In a state that is 94.8% white,4 training in ethics "...should be studied early and continued throughout all the basic clinical sciences."2 The White Coats for Black Lives provides a space within 91ֱ����ƵCOM for dialogue, awareness, and education in order to imagine and build a better future for healthcare.

References:

1 White Coats for Black Lives Mission Statement. Une.edu. http://www.une.edu/com/rsas/student-organizations. Accessed June 28, 2017.

2 Hafferty FW, Franks R. The hidden curriculum, ethics teaching & the structure of medical education. Acad Med. 1994 Nov;69(11): 861-871.

3 Howard, J.  CNN. 2016 Oct.

4 U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/ME,VT/PST045216. Accessed June 28, 2017.

91ֱ����ƵCOM IN THE NEWS

UnCOMpromising COMmitment to Our World & COMmunity

Members of 91ֱ����ƵCOM participated in the Beach to Beacon 10K on August 5 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Participants included 91ֱ����ƵPresident, James Herbert, Ph.D., the Interim Chair of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) Department, Christopher Frothingham, D.O., and Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Douglas Spicer, Ph.D. They were joined by more than 50 faculty, staff, and students from the 91ֱ����Ƶ.

• Read News Release

Below is a visual representation of 91ֱ����ƵCOM News for Summer 2017.

DELVE DEEPER

ALUMNI NOTES

91ֱ����ƵCOM FALL PREMIER CME/ALUMNI WEEKEND (OCT 20–22, 2017)

LEARN MORE

CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION

Manual Medicine Series

Hosted by the 91ֱ����ƵCollege of Osteopathic Medicine, the Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and the Department of Continuing Medical Education, this series is for practicing D.O.'s, M.D., and other licensed medical practitioners looking for CME credits.

The 2017 Schedule is:

• L-Spine (Jan. 13–15)
• Hip Joint & Lower Extremities (May 5–7)
• Thorax & Rib Cage (Sept. 22–24)
• C-Spine & Upper Extremities (Nov. 10–12)

For more information or to register, 

Save the Date

• July 27–28: COM Class of 2021 Orientation 
• July 31: First Day of Classes
• Aug. 17–20:  (Regional Osteopathic Medical Education)
• Sept. 23: White Coat Ceremony
• Sept. 23: Body Donor Memorial Service at 7 p.m.
• Oct. 7–10:  (Osteopathic Medical Conference & Exposition)
• Oct. 9: 91ֱ����ƵCOM Alumni Reception in Philadelphia (Location TBA). Special recognition for the Class of 1982 — 35th reunion
• Oct. 20–22: 91ֱ����ƵCOM Fall Premier CME/Alumni Weekend

Meme for Thought...

Readers: Share your memes with us. They can be ironic or frivolous, as long as they aim to amuse.

Share your stories

91ֱ����ƵCOM: Where Your Story & Our Story COM Together

We want to feature content from our readers to show the depth and breadth of the 91ֱ����ƵCOM Community. We encourage diverse submissions including opinion pieces, short essays, creative writing, comical rants, artwork, and photography. Send us your reflections on conferences, lectures, presentations, community outreach, and teachings. We want to feature the work you are doing in your communities, as well as the people you have become.

We reserve the right to edit all submissions.

Follow Us on Our Social Sites

Copyright © 2017 91ֱ����Ƶ
College of Osteopathic Medicine
All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

COM Office of Recruitment, Student & Alumni Services
11 Hills Beach Road
Biddeford, ME 04005
(207) 602-2329
rsas@une.edu