IFMSA Newsletter February

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Dear IFMSA member, Welcome to the IFMSA’s monthly E-newsletter !

As the IFMSA March General Assembly approaches, the eyes of the IFMSA world turn towards the United States, and Baltimore in particular. In the meantime, however, you can enjoy different updates from all over the world in our Newsletter. Read more about the Regional European Meeting, and updates from as far north as Quebec to as far south as Brazil, and everything in between. We hope to see you in Baltimore!

February 2013

Ismail El-Kharbotly - Newsletter Editor

GA Program Now Available!

In this Issue News and updates from:

News and updates from:

• NMOs

• Sponsors

Brazil

Dominican Republic

Iran Italy Jordan Libya Quebec

Please use the Hyperlinks above for easy Navigation and Klick on Bar Flower to go back the 1st Page :)

President´s Message

NMOs

Brazil

“Little Heart Test”: Time to broadcast!

Júlia Boechat Farani, Local Public Health Officer, IFMSA Brazil Pulse oximetry is recently being recognized worldwide as a promising tool in neonatal screening for critical congenital heart diseases. Nicknamed in Brazil as the “Little Heart Test”, it has been endorsed in 2012 by the Brazilian Pediatrics Society and over forty cities, including Juiz de Fora, have already sanctioned laws which make the test locally mandatory.

Despite its relevance, the procedure is generally unknown in Brazil and insufficiently implemented in maternity centers. Considering that, our local IFMSA committee has idealized an awareness campaign, in order to enlighten mothers and pregnant women on the test’s benefits for the newborn care.

Accomplished within a week (10th- 14th December 2012), the campaign was held by fifty-two medical students, scheduled to visit waiting rooms at the maternity center of a hospital, the pregnancy assistance service of a public healthcare center and a private pediatric clinic. Our approach included the distribution of instructive material and a brief verbal explanation on the subject.

As groundwork, students attended to a qualification lecture led by a knowledgeable pediatric cardiologist, at which we have learned about the method, such as the main congenital diseases diagnosed by its appliance.

According to participant’s testimonials, the waiting room public (around one hundred and eighty people) has overwhelmingly shown interest and receptivity to the information provided. They shared doubts and personal stories, encouraging our initiative. Volunteer students were also greatly benefited with the opportunity to get in touch with our local community.

Even though it has been an unprecedented campaign and will certainly need improvements, our main targets were achieved. Strongly committed to the enhancement of public health, we believe to have given a tiny, but hopefully significant contribution to widen popular health consciousness!

Dominican Republic

IFMSA-Dominican Republic celebrates World Cancer Day 2013 Dr. Andrea De Lemos Kelner, NPO

Dr. Andrea De Lemos Kelner is a recent graduate from the Iberoamerican University (UNIBE) School of Medicine in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She served as the ODEM Local Public Health Officer (LPO, 2012) and is currently the ODEM National Public Health Officer (NPO, 2013).

From February 4 to 15, 2013, our SCOPH team developed a two-week campaign to educate our community about the dispelling myths and misconceptions about cancer.

Using the theme, “Face up to Cancer” (“Hagámosle Frente al Cáncer”), the ODEM national health initiative promoted health education through the social media from February 4th to 10th, and through university and community health campaigns from February 11th to 17th. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, http://ifmsard.blogspot.com) provided the platform to promote health information, including scientific articles, statistics, webpages and promotional messages. Health campaigns provided opportunities to wear ODEM World Cancer Day t-shirts, hang posters and distribute pamphlets within the universities, hospitals and parks, including cancer statistics, risk factors and pathogenesis as well as the importance for primary and secondary prevention strategies for different cancer types (e.g. breast, cervical, liver, lung, prostate). By creating a dynamic video for the SCOPH campaign, ODEM members joined efforts with other IFMSA-SCOPH teams to promote cancer awareness across the globe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofou4otoa7w&feature=youtu.be

IFMSA-Dominican Republic celebrates World Day of the Sick Hane Lore King, NORP

Using the theme: “Remember your patient!” our SCORP members celebrated World Day of the Sick on February 11, 2013. With increased globalization and diversity within the hospitals that may lead to health disparities through limited access to healthcare services, lack of trust for healthcare providers or ineffective physician-patient communication, ODEM members wanted to educate fellow medical students and clinicians about our important role in the physical, mental and emotional recovery of patients in our hospitals and clinics. ODEM members from six schools of medicine utilized social media to promote the health message, “Your duty as a physician is not to mistreat your patients. Your duty is to take care of your patients!”, to national and international communities.

Iran

Stand Up 2 Cancer After the call from Union of International Cancer Control (UICC) for translating materials of WCD, as our initial action we translated factsheets, infographics and posters to Farsi and prepared materials such as brochures for cancer awareness campaigns.

On February 4th, the WCD, SCOPHians of 4 local committees conducted 2 projects in Tehran and Isfahan Cities.

SCOPHians from Tehran and Beheshti local committees visited Cancer Patients at the Chemotherapy Ward of the Cancer Institute - Imam Khomeini Complex. Fifteen medical students participating in this project asked admitted cancer patients about their problems, difficulties and concerns over friendly chats and also gave them packs of three books regarding cancer care.

Moreover, on WCD, Isfahan university of medical sciences hosted 41 Isfahan and 9 Kashan SCOPHians gathered together to celebrate this day and introduce their projects about cancer. In this gathering UICC WCD 2013 theme was introduced by NPO and after that there was a big Cancer cake attired with a pink ribbon as the symbol of breast cancer. Thereafter both participating local committees introduced their cancer projects.

Raising awareness is always of great concern. Young population and pupils seems to be the most appropriate target group in some cases specially for being educated on an issue like cancer. A great discussable part of that is lifestyle modification preferably from early ages. From February 5th, Isfahan SCOPH Cancer Education at Schools started and by today more than 200 students and 60 parents have been educated and informed regarding various aspects of cancer, emphasizing prevention, screening and early detection. Classes have been held in 3 different high schools of Isfahan city. A team of more than 15 medical students are involved in this project and have planned for going to more schools until March.

WCD is only one day; IRAN-SCOPH cancer projects will be continued.

Italy

SISM Italy National General Assembly, a new way to organize events From the 8th to the 11th of November 2012 in Genova, SISM Italy organized its National Genaral Assembly.

We thought about an alternative idea of convention, based on a low environmental impact and without wasting money. From to this idea, we decided that the issues discussed during the assembly had to be supported by a practical organization of the event, based on sustainability and attention to the environment.

That’s why we decided to move to a small village in the countryside, in order to interact with the local community, who helped us find accommodation (the students slept in seven different small hotels, all close to each other) and provided meals for all the participants every day.

Food was made using local products only; groceries came from the fields around the village.

The gadget for the participants was a metal water bottle, in order to eliminate plastic waste. These items were part of “Battle to the Bottle” project, a SISM initiative thought for avoiding the waste of plastic bottles in Italian medical universities.

All the stationary items (paper, pens, pencils, folders) were made of recycled materials; also dishes and glasses were biodegradable.

Of course, participants had the responsibility to pay attention to correctly differentiate rubbish. Even if during the assembly there were no extra comforts, most of participant understood the ethical reason supporting this new kind of event, and enjoyed it as always. The OC hopes next assemblies will be organized following the same principles.

Jordan

IFMSA-Jordan’s 3rd National General Assembly “Think Global: Act Local”: the motto that has long motivated IFMSAians around the globe. The powerhouse of any NMO of IFMSA is its national meeting and in accordance with that, the 3rd National General Assembly (NGA) of IFMSA-Jo is due to take place at the end of the upcoming month after the conclusion of the MM in the United States.

The NGA will adopt a theme of substance abuse, a widely spread issue in Jordanian society and will take place at JUST, one of the four medical faculties found in Jordan.

The NGA is due to encompass standing committee sessions, training sessions as well as a number of other surprises!

More information about the NGA will be released at IFMSA-Jo’s website within the upcoming few weeks. www.ifmsa-jo.org

Libya

The 1st Medical Training Course 2013 Mohamed A Jouan (Assistant LOME – LMSA)

After coming back from SCOME sessions at EMR9, we got the opportunity of having expert Libyan doctors at UK and USA to arrange a course. The course organized from 10 - 12 February 2013 at Zliten Teaching Hospital.

The course mainly revolved around discussing & sharing great experiences about medical education aspects , health system and some real comparisons from the developed countries and divided into two sessions . Morning sessions were theoretical full of updated information, and then afternoon sessions were clinical work at the ward with intern and junior doctors.

They finally wrote a report to the local authorities in order to improve health care in the city.

Basics Of Research Methodology Course Mohamed A Jouan (Assistant LOME – LMSA)

As a part of continuous medical education, we organized this course for medical students and junior doctors from 5 - 10 January 2013 at Zliten teaching hospital.

The lectures were afternoon for 3hours daily and given by specialists from universities and National Center For Disease Control (NCDC).

At the end of the course, the participants learned about how to write a protocol and statistical analysis and some of them suggest topics to be research and supervised by those specialists.

The 2nd School Clinic Project AbdolFattah Alghannai (LPO-LMSA)

The goal of the school clinic project is to teach teachers and students how to do first aid in school if it is needed, plus uncovering any physical or psychological conditions the students might have and dealing with such conditions in school if no further medical attention is required.

LMSA-Misrata had the 2nd school clinic project this time in Alentisaar Elementary – Misrata this time focusing on first aid, compared to the 1st school clinic project which was held in Misrata Elementary and was conducted as a survey to find out any health related problems pupils might have.

LMSA-Misrata is planning on redoing the project in different schools until hopefully every school in Misrata will have first aid equipment and the teachers will have had proper first aid training.

Quebec

Training New Trainers in Saguenay, Quebec IFMSA-Quebec hosted a TNT on February 8th-10th, 2013 in Saguenay. We had the pleasure to welcome Juan Carlos Trejo Fernandez, who made his way directly from Spain to help us train 20 new dynamic and great trainers. According to them, a leader is someone who can facilitate by empowering a group to achieve a common goal through open communication, accepting and sharing ideas, listening actively, motivating, knowing when to take decisions and having the humility to let others take the lead. The weekend went beyond our expectations! As we say, keep training, keep rocking ;)

IFMSA-Quebec on the road: Read our blog!

It is now a tradition that IFMSA-Québec delegates going to General Assemblies and Regional Meeting write on a daily blog, to follow up on their general objectives and more personal views of the meeting. You are invited to read the past RM blog at http://rm2013. ifmsa.qc.ca. Stay tuned for the MM2013, as delegates will start blogging soon at http://mm2013.ifmsa.qc.ca. Entries are in English and in French.

MonWHO : March 22-24, 2013 The Montreal World Health Organization Simulation, also known as the MonWHO, is an annual 3-day conference in Montreal where engaged individuals interested in public health gather to tackle a global issue. This year’s theme is Corruption in Global Healthcare Systems and takes place from March 22-24. Registration is open until March 1st, 2013. For more, please visit http:// www.monwho.org.

Global Health Colloquium : April 6-7, 2013 The Global Health Colloquium is an inspiring weekend filled with lectures and activities open to students from Quebec, Canada and abroad. Reuniting over 20 speakers, it aims to raise awareness and allows participants to learn about a variety of topics directly related to global health. This year edition takes place in Montreal on April 6-7, 2013. For more, http://csm.ifmsa.qc.ca

Global Health Newsletter IFMSA-Québec proudly presents you the lastest edition of our Global Health Newsletter, our official publication. It is filled with inspiring articles on various topics, all related to global health. The next GHN is due late march / early april and you can submit an article at bsm@ifmsa. Enjoy the read: http://issuu.com/ifmsa_quebec/docs/bsm_7_-_02-2013/1

Sponsors Events Upcoming

Kaplan Medical: Road to Graduate Medical Training in the U.S. Kaplan Can Help.

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High USMLE scores are often not enough to receive the graduate training position of your choice. Below is step by step guide to applying for a training position via the Match.

Match Checklist: 1. Apply for ECFMG Certification. Read through all of the pages on the website, and watch our video for step-by-step instructions on how to begin your ECFMG application.

2. Prepare thoroughly for the required USMLE, please see Kaplan’s article in the January IFMSA newsletter for more info on these exams. Remember that earning high scores will make you a more competitive candidate. Do NOT take the exams until you are confident you will score high. Click here to learn more about Kaplan’s biggest savings of the year.

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3. USCE – United States Clinical Experience: Starting now, make time for researching and requesting possible clinical opportunities. As you can see from this extremely informative ECFMG report, having USCE will increase your chances of residency interviews. Programs like to know that applicants have some sense of how medicine is practiced here in the U.S. through away rotations, externships, observerships, or medically related work experiences. Contact your medical school for a list of partner institutions in the U.S. where you may be able to participate in an away elective, or research programs to find a list of locations interested in hosting international medical students. Some foreign medical students also pay fees to commercial firms to find them U.S. clinical opportunities. It can take months and many calls/emails before you find an opportunity but don’t give up. Read our Residency Secrets blog for more info about finding USCE opportunities.

4. You may have long dreamed of practicing a specific specialty, but consider also where you have the best chance for interviews. IMGs tend to land more residencies in Primary Care, as illustrated in this surprising article by Kevin Pho, MD.n 5. The ECFMG timeline for the 2014 Match is summarized below: June Determine eligibility.

US Residency Programs & Licensure Requirements Schedule.

If you haven’t scheduled your CS by now, do so immediately!

ERAS Tokens.

July Submit Supporting Documents. AAMC’s MyERAS opens.

August Track Supporting Documents. Finalize Application in MyERAS.

September NRMP Registration opens. Begin applying to Programs.

October MSPEs are released.

November Wait for interviews. Take Step 3 or find more USCE.

December NRMP Early Registration Deadline.

January NRMP Rank Order List Entry begins.

February Deadline for Match Registration and Submission of Rank Order List.

March Match Results Posted to NRMP Website.

SOAP Offer Rounds begin.

Match Day!

Sponsors

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E-newsletter Team IFMSA Publications Support D.D: • Bronwyn Jones

Editor of the E-newsletter: • Ismail El-Kharbotly

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Layout and Designing: • Ibrahim Mousa • Airin Aldiani • Hassan Aboul-Nour • Eric Melendez