The IHI Open School is an innovative learning community where you can take free online courses, earn certificates, network with peers and experts, and gain confidence and skills in quality improvement and patient safety to change health care.
Ramon Cancino, MD, MSc, is the Chief Medical Officer of a health center serving people living in poverty in a neighborhood of Boston, MA. In a new video activity, Dr. Cancino discusses the relationship between poverty and health, and compares his experiences treating patients with differing levels of income and education. He describes many of the social factors — known as the social determinants of health — that influence people’s risk of disease and their ability to lead healthy lives. Share the video activity with your Chapter or colleagues, and learn more about reducing health disparities in our new course, TA 102: Improving Health Equity.
This Friday, graduating medical students across the United States will find out where they will do their residencies. After investing so much hard work into their careers, these students will have to let a computer system take control of their futures. Alla Smith, MD, a senior resident at Boston Children's Hospital, shares her experience with Match Day and offers some simple advice for students on this stressful day. “Match Day is cause for celebration because it represents the culmination of years of hard work, a triumph no matter what is written on the piece of paper you are handed.”Read more in our latest blog post.
Sanyu Janardan was a first-year medical student just starting at an outpatient clinic as part of an introductory course in clinical medicine. She had her white coat, a rainbow of pens, and a shiny name tag. But when a patient struggling with depression said she’d come to the clinic because she needed a recipe for chocolate cake, Sanyu was stumped. Then she handed the patient a recipe, and a meaningful conversation began. “It dawned on me it wouldn't help me much to know the intricacies of a patient’s disease if I didn't also take the time to hear about his or her life,” she writes. Read the rest of the story in Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine.
