Dangerous Times at OSUCOM

[Medicineman20]

Apparently, OSUCOM is in serious problems with the fear of loosing their residency program in Tulsa. The adminstration at the school is not giving any information about the hospital situation. My main question is based on the lack of communication and unstability of the hospital, has any D.O students request a school transfer?

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[tkim]

http://osu.okstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1188&Itemid=90

Not all the programs are going to make it over, I hear.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

DrMom lends insight into the situation, beginning on page 2, here.

 

[DrMom]

Yep. I'm one of the residents in the middle of this. Not fun. My residency is definitely ended by this.

I strongly encourage anyone on here from Oklahoma or with family in Oklahoma to write/encourage family to write...or call...or email their state legislators and encourage them to support funding the current OSUMC so that it can stay open and continue to care for our thousands of patients. Closing the hospital and moving (some) residencies is not only bad for medical education in Oklahoma, but it will be devastating for healthcare in Tulsa. We can't afford to lose an ED serving 40K visits/year and 33 ICU beds, let alone the regular hospital beds.
Anyone can use this webpage to find their state legislators. lsb.state.ok.us

 

[e p i c]

Yep. I'm one of the residents in the middle of this. Not fun. My residency is definitely ended by this.

I strongly encourage anyone on here from Oklahoma or with family in Oklahoma to write/encourage family to write...or call...or email their state legislators and encourage them to support funding the current OSUMC so that it can stay open and continue to care for our thousands of patients. Closing the hospital and moving (some) residencies is not only bad for medical education in Oklahoma, but it will be devastating for healthcare in Tulsa. We can't afford to lose an ED serving 40K visits/year and 33 ICU beds, let alone the regular hospital beds.
Anyone can use this webpage to find their state legislators. lsb.state.ok.us

Ouch. So what does this mean for you? Are you just going to get absorbed into another program?

 

[DrMom]

The school has messed up our funding for training so we can only be absorbed by programs that have extra funding. That doesn't leave much. The residents in my program have called all of the other DO EM programs in the country, so we know where our options lie.

 

[e p i c]

The school has messed up our funding for training so we can only be absorbed by programs that have extra funding. That doesn't leave much. The residents in my program have called all of the other DO EM programs in the country, so we know where our options lie.

I would be furious.

Make a stink. A big one. Try to garner some publicity about this - maybe the government will subsidize.

 

[DrMom]

I and my fellow residents have been doing exactly what you recommend. We've been very vocal with the local paper and TV stations, written/called/met with our legislators, spoken/met with the AOA, etc. We're not going quietly.

 

[dermpathdoc]

I would be furious.

Make a stink. A big one. Try to garner some publicity about this - maybe the government will subsidize.

I have emailed a bunch of people at the AOA..i can't believe they are sitting on their hands on this issue when they are trying to stave off the loss of reisdency positions to the ACGME and retain residents in the AOA for certification.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

I have emailed a bunch of people at the AOA..i can't believe they are sitting on their hands on this issue when they are trying to stave off the loss of reisdency positions to the ACGME and retain residents in the AOA for certification.

I only hear good things about the AOA. Can't wait til I get to know them better in a year or so.

 

[DrMom]

The AOA has been very helpful on this. They aren't part of the problem here.

 

[dermpathdoc]

I only hear good things about the AOA. Can't wait til I get to know them better in a year or so.

u serious?? I fight with them every day! really...you got to take thier edicts with a grain of salt....they don't know what thier stuff is doing to the rank and file....

 

[e p i c]

I have emailed a bunch of people at the AOA..i can't believe they are sitting on their hands on this issue when they are trying to stave off the loss of reisdency positions to the ACGME and retain residents in the AOA for certification.

F the AOA. I will be starting med school next Fall so my focus has shifted from 'getting in' to 'what's next.' It's clear to me that the AOA isn't acting in the best interests of the profession. I don't yet know what fuels them, and I don't know how to cripple them. But believe me, I intend on figuring out both.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

The AOA has been very helpful on this. They aren't part of the problem here.

I'm glad to hear that.

u serious?? I fight with them every day! really...you got to take thier edicts with a grain of salt....they don't know what thier stuff is doing to the rank and file....

I was being sarcastic. I generally only hear the very negative things about what the AOA is directly and indirectly doing to the profession. I'll try to reserve actual judgement until I get to know them, first hand.

 

[Old_Mil]

I have emailed a bunch of people at the AOA..i can't believe they are sitting on their hands on this issue when they are trying to stave off the loss of reisdency positions to the ACGME and retain residents in the AOA for certification.

They're too busy defending RVU and keeping open the prospect of more for-profit diploma mills to concern themselves with things of this sort.

I hope this is a lesson for any DO students who might be swayed - to their detriment - by philosophical arguments from their instructors the first two years. Take the USMLEs. Get the heck out of "osteopathy" and go on to an ACGME program and your future career as a physician.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

They're too busy defending RVU and keeping open the prospect of more for-profit diploma mills to concern themselves with things of this sort.

I hope this is a lesson for any DO students who might be swayed - to their detriment - by philosophical arguments from their instructors the first two years. Take the USMLEs. Get the heck out of "osteopathy" and go on to an ACGME program and your future career as a physician.

I'm kind of confused as to what the AOA could do to help out here. OSU's hospital is losing a ton of money due to having an old facility that needs lots of upgrades and bearing a big chunk of the indigent health care burden in Tulsa. OSU, Ardent (the hospital's owner) and the state legislature have all been unable to come up with any agreement about anything. The AOA can't come in and keep the hospital open, so where could they help? I know a lot of you guys aren't fans of them, but this really isn't their fault.

I think the warning story here is that we're all vulnerable to the economic realities of the hospitals where we're training. I just read about a hospital with allopathic programs closing, and all their residents are out of a job. I'm sitting at the allopathic program in Tulsa and our main training facility is losing lots of money, too. Of course, now they're offering to take over OSU's hospital, and I'm just not figuring out how that will work financially.

 

[SomeDoc]

I'm kind of confused as to what the AOA could do to help out here. OSU's hospital is losing a ton of money due to having an old facility that needs lots of upgrades and bearing a big chunk of the indigent health care burden in Tulsa. OSU, Ardent (the hospital's owner) and the state legislature have all been unable to come up with any agreement about anything. The AOA can't come in and keep the hospital open, so where could they help? I know a lot of you guys aren't fans of them, but this really isn't their fault.

I think the warning story here is that we're all vulnerable to the economic realities of the hospitals where we're training. I just read about a hospital with allopathic programs closing, and all their residents are out of a job. I'm sitting at the allopathic program in Tulsa and our main training facility is losing lots of money, too. Of course, now they're offering to take over OSU's hospital, and I'm just not figuring out how that will work financially.

I agree, these are symptoms of a failing healthcare system. DrMom, I'm sorry to hear that your program was affected. Hopefully the OPTI has been helpful with making arrangements for those of you in your program.

 

[DrMom]

Our school and our OPTI have not been helpful. The AOA and ACOEP have been invaluable.

Our city council met last night. Basically, there was a vote to set up a city trust for the hospital. This provides a means for funding (right now we just have the offered St John/Seigfried donation), which would have to be primarily funded by the state. This whole thing also involves a means to run the facility, which is something that has been an issue in the past. While the city council vote doesn't actually fix anything right now, it does set things up much better for legislator support.

I encourage any okies to call, write, or email your state legislators. If you do not know who your area legislators are go to www.lsb.state.ok.us/ under Legislative Information System you will see a link called Find Your Legislators. Click on the link, type in your address and you will be provided with your legislators names and contact information. We still need as many people as possible to let them know that this is important. I've attached a document (I didn't put this together) with info to help overview the current salient points.