Tulane University School of Medicine Put On Probation

[2021Doctor]

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The Tulane University School of Medicine was placed on probation last week by a national accreditation board due to allegations of racism and discrimination within its graduate program.

According to the LENS, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) informed the school’s dean, Lee Hamm, of the decision on July 2. In a response sent to the ACGME, Hamm said that “given issues of confidentiality, we are limited in the information we can share about the ACGME’s decision,” but added that two of the primary areas of concern were “oversight of our [graduate medical education] programs,” and “improving our learning and working environments, including enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.”

Allegations of Racism and Discrimination Result in Accreditation Board Placing Tulane School of Medicine on Probabtion | The Root

The Louisiana school has been the subject of frequent discrimination complaints.

www.theroot.com

 

[Goro]

I know probation is a word scary enough to trigger an immediate, massive gastrocolic reflex in SDNers, but keep in mind that it's the grad school that's the issue here, not the med school per se.

Time to page my favorite legal eagle @operaman!

 

[Lawpy]

I know probation is a word scary enough to trigger an immediate, massive gastrocolic reflex in SDNers, but keep in mind that it's the grad school that's the issue here, not the med school per se.

Time to page my favorite legal eagle @operaman!

Idk being slammed with a racism charge is a bad thing. Racist applicants and med students are going to get destroyed. The same punishment should apply to schools/programs

 

[Goro]

Idk being slammed with a racism charge is a bad thing. Racist applicants and med students are going to get destroyed. The same punishment should apply to schools/programs

What is it with you and the hyperbole???

 

[Lawpy]

What is it with you and the hyperbole???

Admins going rogue made me really sour after the Dartmouth scandal

that and following Trump's tweets for years 🙁

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

I know probation is a word scary enough to trigger an immediate, massive gastrocolic reflex in SDNers, but keep in mind that it's the grad school that's the issue here, not the med school per se.

Time to page my favorite legal eagle @operaman!

I'd argue that this is very relevant to the med school - it's not the "grad school", it's the graduate medical education, aka the residency programs. If it were a specific issue with one single program then it may not matter to most students, but this sounds pervasive - medical students directly interact with residents on a daily basis during clinical rotations, and residents who are miserable make students miserable.

Applicants don't need to be concerned about the med school getting shut down or anything, but I think it's worth considering as one of many factors for applicants making decisions about tulane.

 

[operaman]

I know probation is a word scary enough to trigger an immediate, massive gastrocolic reflex in SDNers, but keep in mind that it's the grad school that's the issue here, not the med school per se.

Time to page my favorite legal eagle @operaman!

Yeah I have to admit I was surprised about this one. The ACGME had previously conducted an investigation there into Dennar’s allegations and found in favor of the school. What we don’t know is whether this probation is at all related to Dennar’s case or whether subsequent complaints and investigations have uncovered additional concerning things. There’s also the question of whether public pressure moved them to act, though I think they would have stopped short of probation if that were the case.

While Dennar’s lawsuit is still early on, one of her residents filed a suit that’s already been through depositions and seemed on its way to being tossed. In a nutshell, it seemed to me like Dennar was struggling in her role as PD and failed to grasp some very basic concepts about scheduling and rotation requirements. She tried to play the race card but everything I read in depositions sure sounded like neither she nor her resident who filed suit really understood the nuances of what was going on and instead claimed that widespread racism was to blame.

For acgme to bring down the hammer now makes me wonder. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

 

[Goro]

I'd argue that this is very relevant to the med school - it's not the "grad school", it's the graduate medical education, aka the residency programs. If it were a specific issue with one single program then it may not matter to most students, but this sounds pervasive - medical students directly interact with residents on a daily basis during clinical rotations, and residents who are miserable make students miserable.

Applicants don't need to be concerned about the med school getting shut down or anything, but I think it's worth considering as one of many factors for applicants making decisions about tulane.

Damn!!!! What's the matter with me!??!! The ACGME in the story went right past me...I should have known this was about GME!

Time for a neuro consult for me, stat!!!

 

[efle]

Yeah I have to admit I was surprised about this one. The ACGME had previously conducted an investigation there into Dennar’s allegations and found in favor of the school. What we don’t know is whether this probation is at all related to Dennar’s case or whether subsequent complaints and investigations have uncovered additional concerning things. There’s also the question of whether public pressure moved them to act, though I think they would have stopped short of probation if that were the case.

While Dennar’s lawsuit is still early on, one of her residents filed a suit that’s already been through depositions and seemed on its way to being tossed. In a nutshell, it seemed to me like Dennar was struggling in her role as PD and failed to grasp some very basic concepts about scheduling and rotation requirements. She tried to play the race card but everything I read in depositions sure sounded like neither she nor her resident who filed suit really understood the nuances of what was going on and instead claimed that widespread racism was to blame.

For acgme to bring down the hammer now makes me wonder. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

How on earth can anyone mistake scheduling/coverage issues for racism??

 

[Bobblehead]

How on earth can anyone mistake scheduling/coverage issues for racism??

Scheduling can appear to be extremely arbitrary and subjective, especially if you're building a schedule around mandatory hour and rotation requirements during training while trying to account for people's vacation or interview or religious requests. What if two residents make mistakes on their scheduling requests and both submit late requests and it turns out one person's requests are easier to accommodate than the other's due to the remainder of the schedule? What if one resident believes this is due to the other resident being a different race (and perhaps it is) instead of them having requested a much more difficult month to accommodate?

There are so many ways you can discriminate against someone while scheduling while making it all seem very believable that it was the only way the schedule would work out. On the other side, sometimes the schedule really is that hard to settle and race wasn't even a glimmer of a consideration.

 

[operaman]

How on earth can anyone mistake scheduling/coverage issues for racism??

Yeah the poster above nailed it. In this case, the PD misunderstood the specifics of the rotation requirements and passed this misinformation along to her residents. The acgme leader who was also the IM PD didn’t give her all the rotations she mistakenly thought they needed and instead had them on other more challenging rotations. Because the Med-Peds program was all Black and female, she concluded this was done because of racism.

 

[Archaeologist_turns_Dr]

I know probation is a word scary enough to trigger an immediate, massive gastrocolic reflex in SDNers, but keep in mind that it's the grad school that's the issue here, not the med school per se.

Time to page my favorite legal eagle @operaman!

As a previous research scientist at TUSOM, the med school culture at Tulane is pretty toxic-- the admin is very "old guard". Researchers & PDs shouldn't land here if they want to change/improve anything (and the school basically says as much themselves lol). The Dennar case was after my time there, but there were a number of other issues that occurred related to sex & race discrimination. Dean Hamm has allowed this behavior for years. I find the probation entirely unsurprising and inevitable.