Happy Tuesday! Enjoy your

NCMS Morning Rounds.

  June 9, 2020

NCMS Student Section Update

The NCMS is proud to periodically share the work of the medical student leaders in our Student Section. The NCMS Student Section was founded this year with the goal of shaping the future of medicine in North Carolina through medical student involvement and non-partisan collaboration among all state medical schools. Student leaders at institutions across our state have been working tirelessly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, as medical schools adjust clinical rotations, graduation requirements and the future of medical education at large in 2020.

This week, NCMS Student Section leaders from Wake Forest School of Medicine offer the following update from their campus. In coming weeks, other schools will be represented.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us all, and it has been a particularly interesting time for medical education. Despite having their schedules altered and being taken out of their clinical rotations, medical students have risen to the occasion and have worked hard to give back to their communities during this pandemic. Here at Wake Forest School of Medicine, we have focused on serving those in our community who have barriers to accessing multitudes of resources, and aiding the faculty, staff, and patients at our institution. A group of students got together and created a COVID-19 Student Literature Review, in an effort to create a resource for students and physicians that makes the rapidly evolving research on COVID-19 more accessible.

Our student-run clinic, Delivering Equal Access to Care (DEAC) Clinic, checked up on and assessed for food insecurity among their patients, through telehealth. They garnered funding for a grocery delivery program, and were able to follow up with their food insecure patients and make a one-time online grocery delivery to their homes.

Through Wake Forest Baptist Health’s House Call Program, student volunteers called over 100 homebound older adults to address potential concerns over stress management, food insecurity, social isolation, and emotional responses during this pandemic.

Lastly, medical students are helping to screen those entering Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for potential COVID-19 symptoms/exposures and high temperatures.

If you are a medical student and would like to learn more about the activities of the NCMS Student Section, please reach out to NCMS Director, Member Services Richard Simpson at [email protected].

NC Medical Board Seats Open for Nominations

The NC Medical Board has three open seats and the Review Panel for the NCMB is now accepting nominations for those positions through July 1. Under state law, one of the available seats must be filled by a member of the Old North State Medical Society. Two of the physician Board members currently serving are eligible for reappointment; one incumbent physician Board member is not eligible for reappointment.

Learn more about eligibility to serve, the responsibilities and the nomination and selection process here.

The Review Panel, which is independent of the NCMB, will interview qualified applicants Aug. 22 and 23. The three-year terms for the open positions on the Board would begin Nov. 1.

You may submit an application for an open position here.

NCMS Offers Advocacy Update to Alamance County

NCMS Director of Legislative Relations Sue Ann Forrest, MPA, is offering physicians and PAs in and around Alamance County and beyond an update on the NCMS’ current advocacy efforts tonight, Tuesday, June 9 at 7 p.m. 

The update, which will include information on COVID-19, Medicaid transformation, the State Health Plan and the November elections including local legislative races, will be offered virtually via Zoom at this link, meeting password: 184148. Or call in at 1-301-715-8592 and enter 87661269792#, then 1# and the meeting password, 184148#. All are welcome whether you live in Alamance County or not.

NCMS advocacy staff seeks to keep members informed and involved in our efforts on your behalf through meetings like this one as well as our regularly updated legislative blog, our weekly Political Pulse video and the opportunity to engage directly with legislators in an informed and thoughtful way through our White Coat Wednesdays. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to socially distance, we have adapted to make White Coat Wednesday and meetings like today’s advocacy update available remotely.

In the News

On the Minds of Black Lives Matter Protesters: A Racist Health System, ProPublica, 6-5-20

Learning Opportunity

‘Communications Challenges Surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic’, a live webinar presented by the Region IV Public Health Training Center, will be held this Thursday, June 11 from noon to 1:30 p.m. The pandemic continues to present huge challenges to our public health system. One challenge has been huge behavioral changes and long term cooperation necessary on the part of the public at large. This webinar will address how to successfully communicate and persuade during the COVID-19 pandemic including the need for clear, consistent, credible and apolitical communication and looking ahead to the development of a successful vaccine, and public health campaigns to accept vaccination especially in communities which have traditionally had low vaccination rates. Learn more and register here.