4th Year (Class of 2012)

Back to the Classroom

Advanced Clinical Pathology (September)

Course Director: Dr. Jeffrey Jhang, (212) 342 2981, jj222@columbia.edu

Course Coordinator: Ozaira Santana, (212) 305 1790, ozs9002@nyp.org

The use of laboratory studies to make and/or confirm diagnoses has become critical in modern medicine. However, the excessive use of laboratory studies by physicians has become a prime target of attack by those aiming to contain the cost of medical care.

Objective: We will explore several aspects of the use of laboratory medicine in today's changing environment.

Learning Experience: These include: 1) The role of screening laboratory studies in both in-patient and out-patient settings; 2) The use and interpretation of sophisticated testing to resolve certain critical issues in patient management, especially as related to hematologic testing; 3) The relative place for new technology in the diagnostic and therapeutic armamentarium - is it complementary, or should it replace less sophisticated but well-tested studies currently being performed; 4) How can we resolve the ethical dilemmas created by the availability of testing to predict who might develop certain chronic illnesses (e.g., breast cancer, colon cancer, Huntington's disease) that heretofore could not be predicted?; and finally, 5) Who decides what testing is appropriate and what testing is inappropriate in any given situation?; How are such decisions made, and how should they be made in the future? 

Advanced Medical Pathophysiology & Therapeutics (February Only)

Course Directors: Dr. Ronald Drusin, (212) 305-4194, red3@columbia.edu
Dr. Donald Landry, (212) 305-2131, dwl1@columbia.edu

Course Coordinator: Jamilette Gaton, (212) 305 4195, jg2001@columbia.edu

Objective: Provides students with a knowledge of pathophysiology and therapeutics that is organized so as to emphasize critical evidence which is necessary for clinical decision-making.

Learning Experience: The students will meet weekday mornings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (CP IV is offered on Wednesdays as a separate course that is included within each selective). Topics to be selected relate to critical evidence that underlies decision-making in key areas of clinical medicine. Topics covered in a recent offering included Evaluation of publications appropriate to Evidence-based Medicine, breast cancer screening, liver failure, diabetes, heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, HIV, shock, and colon cancer. Emphasis will be given to the foundations of medical knowledge including critical appraisal of data as well as the more practical aspects of management. The Faculty members are experts in each field discussed. The topics to be covered have been selected with the assistance of the P&S graduates serving on the Medical House staff at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital to ensure relevance to the experience of interns and residents. However, the course is intended to serve the needs of those pursuing postgraduate training in any clinical specialty.

Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (March Only)

Course Directors:
Dr. Penelope Boyden, (212) 305-7907, pab4@columbia.edu
Dr. Steven O. Marx, (212) 305-0271, sm460@columbia.edu

Course Coordinator: Karen Allis, (212) 305 4197, kja7@columbia.edu

Objectives: The objective is to teach skills in designing and implementing appropriate pharmacological therapy for the treatment of a wide variety of disease states using sound clinical and scientific principles.

Learning experience: There is an initial series of workshops consisting of lectures and discussions focused on basic principles of drug administration, absorption, distribution, elimination and drug-drug interactions. This includes how drug actions and pharmacokinetics are altered in special populations such as women, and pediatric and geriatric patients. The goal of these workshops is to learn how to modify drug administration and dosing schedules to maximize therapeutic effects and minimize drug toxicity. This will be followed during the next 3 weeks by student work‑up and presentation of therapeutic strategies for a variety of clinical cases under the guidance of expert faculty in the areas of cardiology, nephrology, hypertension, infectious disease, rheumatology, oncology, endocrinology and psychiatry.

Biomedical Informatics (September, February and March)

Course Director: Dr. Herbert Chase, herbert.chase@dbmi.columbia.edu

This course will focus on the ways that Biomedical Informatics has improved the practice of medicine (by facilitating evidence-based practice, improving patient safety, and expanding the reach of public health initiatives). Students will also be exposed to the potential pit-falls of technology. Conference activities provide additional training in advanced literature searching and expose students to classic cognitive biases that influence medical decision-making.

Clinical Practice IV (September, February, and March)

Course Director: Dr. Michael Devlin, mjd5@columbia.edu

Course Coordinator: TBA. Contact Roheeni Saxena in the interim, rs3098@columbia.edu

In Clinical Practice IV students return to the classroom for weekly discussions during their Back to the Classroom Selective. Goals of this course are 1.) To provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their profession, their goals, and their training while considering the mission of medicine and what it means to them as individuals. 2.) To encourage habits of open communication between colleagues as they work together to identify and address contemporary challenges in medicine throughout their careers. 3.) To explore major challenges facing medicine today. The four sessions are:

• Challenges and Strategies in Disease Prevention: Life style changes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke.
• Our Changing Health Care System: Economics, Organization and Ethical Challenges.
• The Physician and Patients near Death: Loss and grief, healing and curing, palliative care.
• Selective Topics with attention to self-care. These include Physical Therapy, Pain Management, Human Rights, Economics, Nutrition, and Topics in Complementary and Alternative Therapeutics including Yoga and Acupuncture.