Is Charles Drew a good school?

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bumpy bumpy
 
Ahh VerbalAssain. I remember that guy.

On a side note, I found out yesterday while rafting a river in central california the reason the surgery program got shut down (the stuff not reported in the newspaper) Apparently, they tried to punish 2 surgery residents for some reason (Don't know what) by holding them back a year, but they were limited to 36 total surgery spots. When they accepted he normal number of incoming residents, they had 38 spots and had been warned numerous times not to do this (Apparently they had done it before) Since they were having problems getting enough training for the surgery residents as is, there went the program.
 
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Jalby said:
Ahh VerbalAssain. I remember that guy.

On a side note, I found out yesterday while rafting a river in central california the reason the surgery program got shut down (the stuff not reported in the newspaper) Apparently, they tried to punish 2 surgery residents for some reason (Don't know what) by holding them back a year, but they were limited to 36 total surgery spots. When they accepted he normal number of incoming residents, they had 38 spots and had been warned numerous times not to do this (Apparently they had done it before) Since they were having problems getting enough training for the surgery residents as is, there went the program.
Click to expand...

yea, i heard that too. they had extra residents more than once even though they had been warned. sigh.
 
King/Drew Given Tentative Approval
Troubled hospital may keep accreditation but must correct problems in 14 areas, officials say.
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein
Times Staff Writers

May 11, 2004

A national hospital commission has tentatively told Martin Luther King Jr./ Drew Medical Center that it passed a recent inspection and would maintain full accreditation, Los Angeles County officials said Monday.

But the long-troubled county hospital must first fix 14 problems identified during a regularly scheduled review last week.

The inspection by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, conducted every three years, is considered a national barometer of hospital quality.

County officials said the findings were particularly significant as King/Drew works to recover from a devastating series of lapses in patient care and regulatory sanctions in recent months.

A buoyant Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said at a news conference at King/Drew on Monday that the survey results were very symbolic.

"It's certainly good to have a good news day rather than a bad news day, because we've had our share of those," said Burke, whose district includes the hospital, in Willowbrook just south of Watts. "It's time to move on."

Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, director of the county Department of Health Services, called the commission's findings "an important milestone in what we believe is a profound transformation of the medical center."

Hospitals pay the joint commission to conduct its surveys. The commission has the power to strip a hospital of accreditation but rarely does so.

The group notifies hospitals of its inspection dates in advance, allowing them to prepare for reviewers. King/Drew, like many hospitals, hired consultants to help with preparations.

Marc Forstneger, a spokesman for the commission, said that a final decision on King/Drew had not been made and that preliminary findings by reviewers could be changed before they were finalized.

The last time the commission reviewed King/Drew comprehensively, in 2001, the hospital also passed the inspection. But the commission gave it a score of 82 out of 100, which placed it in the bottom 3% of hospitals nationally.

King/Drew corrected its problems at that time to reviewers' satisfaction. Beginning this year, the commission no longer rates hospitals with a score; instead, it indicates which areas need improvement.

To keep its accreditation now, King/Drew must correct such problems as failing to note patients' conditions on their charts, failing to take patients' histories and physical exams fast enough, and failing to adequately staff the emergency room.

The commission's reports were not released publicly, but a summary of the findings was contained in a memo from Garthwaite to the Board of Supervisors.

Those are not the only problems King/Drew must fix. Separately from the commission, which is a private agency, government health inspectors have criticized the hospital for systemic nursing and pharmacy failures that harmed or even killed patients.

At one point in March, the federal government threatened to cut off funding to the 32-year-old hospital, but retreated after King/Drew officials scrambled to fix serious failings in its administration of prescription drugs to patients.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to return to the hospital in coming weeks to conduct a broad inspection.

Yet another group, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, has lifted King/Drew's ability to train surgeons, radiologists and neonatologists. The council has also indicated that the hospital's supervision of residency programs was substandard.

"We have a lot further to go, and I have every confidence in the world that we're going to go there," said Fred Leaf, chief operating officer of the Department of Health Services.

Burke drew the most sustained applause from doctors and nurses who attended the news conference when she said King/Drew was being held to a higher standard by outside reviewers than other hospitals as a result of unfavorable media coverage.

"If you talk to people everywhere throughout Los Angeles, they say: 'Boy, they have really been victimized in the press,' " she said. "And when you've had a constant hammering by the press ? obviously then you're going to have a higher level you'll have to reach in order to meet the accreditation."
 
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-drew6jun06,1,7376765.story

King/Drew Draws Warning on Tasers
Federal inspectors threaten to cut off funding to the hospital over the use of the device to subdue unruly mental patients.

By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Times Staff Writers


Federal health inspectors are threatening to cut off funding to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center for using Taser stun guns to subdue psychiatric patients, saying the unusual practice puts patients in "immediate jeopardy."

The threat comes two years after state inspectors cited King/Drew for the same practice ? and the hospital promised to halt it.

<<continued on website...>>
 
News


Drew Pride

May 14, 2004



Since 1966 Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has excelled in the national effort to close the gap in health care disparities for the medically underserved and economically disadvantaged. Charles R. Drew University continues its noble mission to education and train physicians, residents and allied health professionals to advance research directly applicable to illness and disease impacting minority communities, through outreach and public service, and the delivery of compassionate high quality patient care. Please take a moment to review these recent accomplishments and share Drew pride!

NIH funding exceeds $20 million
For the first time, in 2003, Charles R. Drew University's overall National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding exceeds the $20 million mark. The College of Medicine was awarded $18.3 in NIH funding and the College of Allied Health was awarded $4.72 million.

Drew's medical scholars receive prestigious Pfizer Minority Medical School Scholarships Pfizer representatives paid tribute to the academic achievements of fourth year medical student Pedro Lopez and third year medical student Dana Scott, at a special award presentation on January 29, 2004 on the campus of Charles R. Drew University. The Pfizer Minority Medical School Scholarship Program was established in 1984 to recognize deserving minority medical students at a crucial point in their academic career. Pedro and Dana each received a $10,000 scholarship. The program provides tuition scholarships to eight students per year at the four historically black U.S. medical schools.

Drew student wins prestigious AACAP Award
Julea Leshar McGhee received a 2003 Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Jeanne Spurlock Clinical Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. These awards offer support for each fellow to work up to twelve weeks on a project with a child and adolescent psychiatrist mentor. McGhee was selected for her project entitled Caring For Our Youth. Her mentor was Bonnie Zimon, MD, MPH, from the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. Ten recipients nationwide presented their work at AACAP's 50th Anniversary Meeting in Miami Beach.

The Dr. Charles R. Drew Award - Gold Medal
Congratulations to Dr. Melinda Chen, who was awarded the College of Medicine's highest award at the 2003 commencement. Each year the Dr. Charles R. Drew Award goes to the graduating senior who has most exemplified the combination of compassion and academic excellence over all years of training.

College of Allied Health receives $4.72 million grant
M. Gary Sayed, PhD, Dean of the College of Allied Health, received a $4.72 million award from the National Institutes of Health National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH/NCMHD) to develop a research infrastructure within the College of Allied Health to implement an undergraduate biomedical research and training program. The grant aims to bridge the gap in the educational pipeline at Drew by offering a Bachelor of Science degree in the biomedical sciences, which will allow the College to recruit students from the Drew Medical Magnet High School and other area high schools. Research activities supported by the grant will provide the College of Allied Health students the opportunity to be exposed to and participate in biomedical research projects.

Drew medical students to receive Novo Nordisk Scholarships
Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care, has established the annual Novo Nordisk Diabetes Scholarship fund to recognize excellence in academic achievement among minority medical students. In its inaugural year, the fund will provide $25,000 grants to each of the four historically-black medical schools. The $100,000 scholarship fund was established to support diversity within the medical profession and to encourage leadership in improving overall healthcare and diabetes care among minority populations in underserved communities. Each medical school will select five students, each to receive $5,000 scholarships for the 2003-2004 academic year according to selection criteria established by the individual schools. The five students selected from Drew University are: Luis Sanchez Class of 2007; Bryan Hyler Class of 2006; Sean Jones-Quaido Class of 2005; Amanda Perez Class of 2005 and Tin Botzler Class of 2005.

Charles R. Drew University first to utilize LADWP broadband network to enhance educational programs
In its ongoing effort to look for innovative ways to spur economic growth in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) announced a partnership with the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to bring high-speed Internet access to the Watts area.

Known as the Watts Wide Area Network (or Watts WAN), the broadband connection will support many existing community institutions in Watts, including Charles R. Drew University. The high-speed network will be used to support the university's educational efforts including video streaming and distance learning that require the use of technologies such as broadband. Additionally, Charles R. Drew University's high-speed connection may in turn be used by the King/Drew Medical Center and the Los Angeles Unified School District's King/Drew Magnet High School, both of which are located adjacent to the Drew University campus.

Drew student becomes Sarnoff Cardiology Research Fellow
Congratulations to Bryan Hyler, Class of 2006, recipient of the 2004-2005 Sarnoff Fellowship in Cardiology Research. The Sarnoff Fellowship Program is designed to give medical students the opportunity to spend a year conducting intensive work in a research laboratory. Medical students enrolled in any accredited medical school within the United States may apply for a Fellowship award. Fellows generally have completed their second or third year of medical school. Fellows are chosen by the Endowment Scientific Board each year on the basis of a national competition. In selecting Fellows, the Scientific Board seeks individuals with demonstrated intellectual and academic achievement and leadership ability. The first set of Fellows date back to 1980, and the Endowment funds up to eighteen Fellows a year.

A unique feature of the Sarnoff Fellowship is its lifetime commitment to the Fellow. Each Fellow is paired with a member of the Endowment Scientific Board, who not only serves to provide guidance during the research year, but also to aid in the Fellow's overall career development. In addition, the Fellow is afforded the opportunity throughout the research year and each subsequent year to interact with other Fellows, Scholars and Scientific Board members at the Endowment's Annual Scientific Meetings and at other scientific conferences.

Hewlett Packard provides technology gift to Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science through The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund
Drew University is one of 45 recipients of Hewlett Packard's (HP) $2.1 million Technology Gift from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, which is designed to assist the national efforts to achieve educational parity at public historically black colleges and universities. Each school will receive an HP ProLiant Server and HP technology support for member schools' e-mail services for student and faculty communications, an area that has been identified as one of priority need by a majority of the Thurgood Marshall academic institutions.

In addition to hardware products and installation services, HP is providing Microsoft Windows? technical software support services. This service provides problem identification and resolution, information services, and answers to point-specific questions on software deployment and installation.

UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center and Charles R. Drew University partnership provides leading-edge cancer care to South Los Angeles residents
Leading-edge experimental cancer treatments will be provided to an under-served, minority patient population in South Central Los Angeles under a new partnership between UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. The partnership program will bring Jonsson Cancer Center clinical trials to Drew University patients, including studies of the new targeted therapies that are showing promise in fighting cancer. It also seeks to strengthen Drew University's cancer research and training programs through collaborative research projects and partnerships between Drew and UCLA's world-renowned scientists.

This communique comes to you from the office of the Vice President for University Affairs. For more information about Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science please visit our website at www.cdrewu.edu or call us at 323-563-5822.
 
LOS ANGELES
Drew Grads Undeterred by Stream of Bad News
New doctors stand by the education they received at the medical school affiliated with the beleaguered Willowbrook hospital.
By Steve Hymon
Times Staff Writer

June 6, 2004

Even as controversy persists over patient care at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, new graduates from its affiliated school of medicine pledged Saturday to improve the hospital and help provide the best healthcare for the poor.

Twenty-four students received medical degrees from the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles, while 100-plus celebrated completing their residencies in a variety of disciplines.

"It's sometimes hard to keep your perspective when your own school is in the headlines and the headlines aren't good," said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey in her keynote address. "The truth is that the news you read in the paper is only the first draft of history. It's your job to revise that first draft every day."

Lavizzo-Mourey is president and chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a healthcare philanthropy based in Princeton, N.J. She received an honorary degree from Drew.

Charles R. Drew University was founded in 1966. The school's mission is to train physicians and other health professionals ? particularly those who wish to work in communities where healthcare is lacking.

But state and federal inspectors, as well as groups that accredit training programs, have found numerous and serious lapses at King/Drew in the last year.

A cardiac monitoring ward was closed in December because some nurses allegedly couldn't read patients' bedside monitors, and in March the Willowbrook hospital's pharmacy was found to have problems dispensing the correct medications to patients.

A national accrediting group also revoked the hospital's and school's right to train students in radiology, surgery and neonatology.

Last week, federal inspectors threatened to cut funding to the Los Angeles County-owned hospital because of its over-reliance on Taser guns to subdue mental patients.

Yet, many students said the hospital's troubles did not derail their education ? and that they believe the training they received will serve them well in their medical careers.

"I think I'm prepared to work anywhere in the U.S. or the world," said Dr. Claudio Ferreira, 35, who graduated from the ophthalmology residency program. "This is an underserved population and for training purposes, it's great."

Ferreira attended medical school in his native Brazil. He said he interviewed with 21 institutions for his next career move ? a fellowship ? and that his affiliation with King/Drew did not cost him any opportunities.

"I think all this is politics, it's not real," said Dr. Jamal Siddiqui, a graduate of the pediatrics residency program. "Nobody is perfect, and it's not like it's unprofessional [at the hospital] all the time. Every hospital has a few bad people on the inside, but this is a great institution."

School officials said Drew University continued to draw students from around the world. Officials also said competition remained intense to get into the school ? precisely because many students wanted to train in a busy public hospital that treats severely ill patients who have a wide range of medical conditions.

"We have kids who could have gone anywhere and they come here," said Dr. Marcelle Willock, the dean of Drew's College of Medicine.

Dr. Showkot Ara Rahman, a Bangladesh native, said she had sought a pediatrics residency program that would allow her to care for the underprivileged.

"I grew up in a poor country, and it's sad that poor people often have no power to get the right treatments," she said.

She said that the last year has been nerve-racking because she was unsure if her residency program might also be found to have problems. Nonetheless, she is eager about her next move ? a fellowship in ambulatory pediatrics at King/Drew ? and hopes to land a job at the hospital some day.

Dr. Alan Dakak, 25, is American but comes from an area that to South Los Angeles might seem foreign: suburban Orange County.

He said his grandfather and father were doctors. Dakak said a stint doing volunteer work in a Los Angeles hospital inspired him to also become a physician.

"That was a great experience, and I found it very enriching to work with a lot of people who really needed my help. I wasn't just standing on the sidelines," Dakak said.

He too said he targeted Drew University because of its affiliation with King/Drew hospital. The hospital's recent troubles, Dakak said, had little effect on his day-to-day education.

"The attending [physicians] and residents are here for the patients and they work hard," he said. "I think sometimes there are going to be some nurses or staff who are slower; but in general most of them are very good, and I would say most of the patients who come out of here, come out happy."
 
Thanks for the positive post docmemi!!!! :rolleyes: :) :thumbup:
 
In answer to the question posted on this thread's subject line: YES!!!!!! :luck:
 
ok jalbs and others, its time to explain to me. what do you mean exactly when you say "drew will close doors for you!" please give some examples.

thanks for teaching me.
 
My question is, what good does it do to explain this??? Are you planning on going to Drew instead of UCLA?? Or do you just want the information??

There are types of people who are reading this thread.

1. People who are curous about Drew but going somewhere else. They just want the knowledge.

2. People who are waitlisted at Drew or attending. I'm quite sure they don't want to know why it would be harder for them to get into different things. I'm sure they would much rather be ignorant on this stuff. It's out of their control.

Part of the reason I talk about UCSD is because the studnets their have an opportunity to change their future. People who are going to Drew won't. They will still get a good education and if their mission is to serve the underserved, than it is a great place to do that. But I don't really see what good would come out of me explaining the disadvantages that they could have and not be able to change, outside of satisfying your curiousity.
 
okay. maybe you can pm me then. i want to know cause im part of the drew family. ive been there for a while now and am very involved with it. ive lived the mission for the last 5 years. there is a whole other side to drew that people dont see. and it pisses me off when people say things like this and dont have anything to back it up with. now, the statement i dont understand has been told to me before...but i dont know what it means cause people just say it and dont explain it and i wonder if they really know what they are saying. i know that you, jalby, know what you are saying...so ive come to ask you.
 
Alright, here you go:

1. Students go to drew because of their mission, not because of the resources and stuff like that. Because of that, students tend to have lower grades and GPA's than other schools, and the caliber of students who end up at Drew tend to be the equivalent to the people who end up at a place like Drexel. You can show you are smarter with the USMLE, but you also wouldn't get as much credit as you would at another school. If you got a 230 at UCLA, people would think that you deserve that score because you were smart enough to get accepted there. If you get a 230 at Drew, it's more likely to think that you got lucky on 5 questions and really should have a 225 since you are a student at Drew in the first place.

2. Cinical grades: Again, this goes back to the level of students around you. You are graded against them, and given a percentage. Because of the fact that the competition isn't as good and a smaller sample size, your grades in this area won't be as reflective as if you went to a bigger school with smarter students. If you are in the top 2 of your class of 24 in every rotation, it would be hard for a res director to figure out how good you really are compared to someone who would be 23rd out of 150 students at UCLA. They have a more direct reference, and for the better residencies they know what they are going to get with someone who can score 23rd at a bigger more well established school than someone who is the top two of a class of 24 which has less than average grades.

3. Teaching done at Drew: As it stands now, Drew residents have some of the lowest pass rates in the nation. They don't do enough proceedures, and they don't learn enough to to be able to achieve a passing score. And these people are the ones responsible for training the students. So as a residency director, unless you have a good knowledge of Drew (which could be a good or bad thing) you would know about the problems the residencies are having and would correlate that to the students.

4. Letters of Recommendations/contacts: Drew doesn't have the world famous, or even the semi-famous people at thier school. This is the third most important part of your residency aplication, behind board scores and USMLE scores. If you do your rotations at UCLA, you get to meet the surgeons, impress them, and get a letter of recommendation that other residency directors would know means something because they know the person who wrote the letter. Heck, they might even call the person (I've heard this happens sometimes) Drew doesn't have these people, and even if you were the best student in the class, the letter won't carry as much weight to the competative residencies than one that came from someone well known, even if the letter isn't as good or personal.


Those are the biggest reasons that going to Drew would shut doors for you compared to other schools. Not saying they are overcomable, but it's highly unlikely.
 
thanks jalby. i can think about them now and talk to some people about it. i will look into some things. ill be wondering or trying to find out if those barriers can be overcome. thanks again.
 
Jalby said:
Alright, here you go:.......

Those are the biggest reasons that going to Drew would shut doors for you compared to other schools. Not saying they are overcomable, but it's highly unlikely.
Click to expand...

Interesting take on the subject but what if you wanted to go into an easier residency program such as family practice rather than surgery or derm? Would it be impossible to go into a decent family practice residency in L.A. or Southern California in general?
 
curandero said:
Interesting take on the subject but what if you wanted to go into an easier residency program such as family practice rather than surgery or derm? Would it be impossible to go into a decent family practice residency in L.A. or Southern California in general?
Click to expand...

The subject was shutting doors. If you wanted to go into family practice or internal medicine, Drew is one of the best programs to do that with. Drew's goal is to train clinicians who work in the underserved, which is mostly primary care, not really specialists. If you go to Drew, you defiantely can do family practice at almost any program in SoCal. Even if you have to leave the state, it's not to hard to come back for family practice.
 
King/Drew Praised for Response to Lapses
Encouragement comes from federal official. Others cite lack of resources as an obstacle for the hospital.
By Charles Ornstein
Times Staff Writer

June 29, 2004

A top federal health official on Monday praised Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center employees for swiftly correcting serious patient-care lapses uncovered by inspectors over the last six months at the hospital.

"There was a lot of work to do, and a lot of work got done," said Jeff Flick, regional administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates the hospital. "You should feel good about it. You should take some credit for that. In my opinion, there just aren't that many hospitals that could have gone through what you've been through."

Flick made his comments at a three-hour meeting in the hospital's auditorium hosted by Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson) and attended by about 200 King/Drew staff members and supporters. It was Millender-McDonald's second meeting to discuss King/Drew's problems and the steps being taken to correct them.

Twice since March, federal inspectors found that patients were in immediate jeopardy of being harmed at King/Drew. The first instance dealt with prescription drug errors; the second with the use of Taser stun guns to subdue psychiatric patients.

The government threatened to cut off funding to the hospital, but retreated after officials corrected the lapses. King/Drew is still fixing other serious problems with its nursing staff and its aging building and equipment.

"There's still work remaining to be done, but all of this discussion is around your hospital meeting the basic standards that hospitals need to meet," Flick said. "We're not having a discussion right now around the concept of excellence."

Several speakers at the meeting blamed Los Angeles County, which owns the hospital in Willowbrook, just south of Watts, for shortchanging it and withholding needed resources.

"There are still people that don't want this hospital to be here, and there are still people that are working against us," said City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who represents areas served by the facility. "At what point do we need hold the county Board of Supervisors accountable? ? It is because of the level of funding. It is because of the lack of resources. It is because of the lack of really paying attention to this hospital."

Sylvia Drew Ivie, daughter of King/Drew namesake Charles R. Drew, is a member of a steering committee examining the future of the hospital. She said her group, like Hahn, has identified money as a problem. The committee is funded by the California Endowment.

"More resources are needed of every sort to allow this complex to achieve the heights that only it can achieve," Ivie said, adding that her group would retain auditors to examine how money is spent at King/Drew.

While praising reforms at the hospital, Millender-McDonald criticized county health director Dr. Thomas Garthwaite for missing her meeting.

"He is not that important that he shouldn't be here," she said. "If I can take this time, so can he and anybody else."

In a telephone interview after the meeting, Garthwaite said he had informed the congresswoman's staff that he would not be able to attend because of other obligations. But he disputed the characterization that King/Drew was underfunded, pointing to data and studies showing otherwise.
 
Wow. It's going to suck to get hurt in Los Angeles.
 
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