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Health Care Updates
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3/23/2000
By: Tammy Rachau
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State Champs in Medicine
NEW HAVEN - A team of four Hospital of Saint Raphael internal medicine resident physicians clinched first prize in the state finals of a medical quiz game that pitted them against teams from similar residency programs in the state. They now will compete against other state winners from across the country at the annual session of the American College of Physicians/American Society of Internal Medicine meeting in Philadelphia on April 13.
“We're extremely proud of our team for earning the state championship,” said Sherri Clayton, M.D., director of Saint Raphael's Internal Medicine Training Program. “But we're really not surprised. We've always believed our medical residents were the best and the brightest.”
Team members are Leyda Delgado, Arastoo Vossough, Muna Mian, and Katerina Khronosova.
HSR Earns State Cert
NEW HAVEN - The Hospital of Saint Raphael has been re-certified as a Level II Trauma Center by the Office of Emergency Medical Services of the state's Department of Public Health. The certification follows an evaluation process by the American College of Surgeons. Re-certification is required every three years.
“State regulations require certain types of critically injured patients to be taken to a state-designated trauma facility,” explained John Bonadies, M.D., trauma director. These facilities have the equipment, staff and other resources to provide high levels of sophisticated care - differentiating them from emergency departments lacking state trauma designations.
“Since receiving this status in 1997, we have treated nearly 3,000 trauma patients and raised the level of trauma care in greater New Haven,” added Bonadies.
New Building for Med School
NEW HAVEN - Yale School of Medicine will begin construction of a new $176 million building on Congress Avenue to house key research and state-of-the-art educational facilities for the school. The building is part of Yale University's commitment to invest $500 million over the next ten years to expand and improve its medical school facilities, increasing its laboratory space by 25 percent.
“This plan will increase our capacity for biomedical research, one of Yale's greatest academic strengths, and allow our faculty and students to work and learn in state-of-the-art facilities,” university President Richard C. Levin said.
The new building will house six floors of laboratories for disease-based research, core facilities for genomics and magnetic-resonance imaging, and teaching space for anatomy and histology.
Yale ranks fifth in the nation in funding from National Institutes of Health, most of which goes to the medical school. As the funding has increased, so has the demand for laboratory space. Along with the Congress Avenue facility, the investments announced will include renovation of much of the school's other laboratory space.
The Congress Avenue building is being designed by Payette Associates of Boston and Venturi Scott Brown of Philadelphia, while construction management will be handled by Whiting-Turner.
Eyes Have It for
Yale Physician
NEW HAVEN - A new device that permits at-home testing for glaucoma - one of the world's leading causes of blindness - has been designed by Yale physician M. Marc Abreu. Abreu says he hopes the Alcon Abreu Tonometry System will improve glaucoma diagnosis and treatment because it enables ophthalmologists to monitor the patient's eye pressure throughout the day and away from the hospital, in addition to the usual isolated single test in a doctor's office.
“There is the potential to completely change the way glaucoma is treated, diagnosed and monitored,” said Abreu, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at Yale School of Medicine. “The technology allows for a completely automated system without the need for any drops to anesthetize the eye for measurement. And, the system is affordable.”
The system eliminates two common problems with the current method of glaucoma testing. The system eliminates the problem doctors have of detecting peaks in pressure when they do a single in-office test. Other devices to measure pressure in the eye require direct contact with the eye, which causes patients to move involuntarily, thereby distorting the accuracy of the reading. The Alcon Abreu Tonometry System is designed to be quick, soundless, painless and does not require direct contact with the eye.
The device is currently under development with clinical trials eventually planned to begin in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. Alcon Universal Ltd. of Fort Worth, Tex., the largest ophthalmic company in the world, has signed an exclusive license agreement to manufacture and market the device.
Anthem Surveys Brokers
NORTH HAVEN - Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut reported positive results from its recent survey of top-producing independent brokers selling Anthem's - and other companies - insurance products. Among the findings: Ninety-eight percent of respondents expressed overall satisfaction with the company's products and services; most responding brokers ranked Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield as their No. 1 carrier; and brokers were satisfied overall with the company's reputation, stability, service, performance, name value and compensation programs. The survey identified cost as one area where brokers saw room for improvement.
“Brokers are the best judges of how well we perform,” explained David Fusco, sales director at Anthem Blue Cross. “This survey is really a tool for us - a way to see where we excel, and where we have opportunities to improve. It also gives us a gauge to measure our future performance.”
Grey Has Her Say
NEW HAVEN - Margaret Grey, associate dean at the Yale School of Nursing, has been appointed to the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research. The Council determines how federal dollars for nursing research should be spent. Grey's four-year term began last month.
Grey is one of only three nurses on the 12-member panel, which has enormous influence on the course of nursing science. In addition to making decisions on individual grant requests, the council more broadly influences the areas in which federal dollars will be concentrated.
Historically, the National Institute of Nursing Research has devoted a relatively high percentage of funds to research training as opposed to research projects.
“That's a reflection of the developmental nature of our science,” said Grey. “As more senior researchers emerge in the discipline, we'll see a shift in our funding priorities. How that shift will take place is one of the major issues that NINR will face in the next five to ten years.”
Grey has a distinguished record of clinical research concentrating on the adaptation of children and their families to diabetes. In a health care system that often focuses on acute illness, she is a strong advocate for systemic change to better support people living with chronic conditions.
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