Improving Medical Care and Education: Mentoring

My Fellow Alumni,

I am writing this as a member of the Board of the Alumni to share with you what we are doing and our goals.

I feel that we owe a debt of gratitude to the education that we received from our alma mater and that we would like to give back either financial assistance or sharing with students our experiences, helping them navigate this very complex world of medicine. My favorite professor in the entire world was Dr. Leonardo Mendiola. He was the most outstanding professor that I have ever met. I can’t forget Drs Quito and Basa as well and they shaped my career path.

As a general internist of over 40+ years’ experience and board certified in Internal Medicine (ABIM), I have recertified twice in the past 20 years and am acutely aware of the changes in Medicine and the incredible complexity of our profession. Whether we like this or not we are judged by passing certain exams.

In speaking with the Dean at the Medical School there are some students that are having difficulty passing the Board exams in the Philippines. According to Dr. Tanchoco, she feels that the passing rate of graduating students dropped from over 90% pre-pandemic to uncomfortable levels post-pandemic. This is largely due to limited person-to-person instruction.

Working with the members of the Board we have created a Zoom procedure where we can allow a Mentor to present a Power Point presentation for the students in Manila to help them with some of the basic sciences and the clinical materials that they are confronted with. Dr Winston Magno, a board-certified Pathologist has agreed to mentor. Drs Karl Uy and Arthur Calimaran have graciously agreed to participate as well. It would be nice if more will join.

As an Internist I feel that I can share with them and help point out some of the subtleties of Medicine along with helping them use the internet to supplement the information that they received from the professors at MCU. Also, there is life after medical school, and we use the information from medical school in our daily practice.

I would ask all our alumni to look at the website which has been developed by Dr. Phillip Capobianco and Dr Cesar Dayahan.

We're looking for input from our colleagues to advance the program to help the residents, interns, and students. Please feel free to e-mail me regarding your availability and/or comments. The medical school is also looking for financial assistance. Secure donations can be made via this website.

I envision a Zoom meeting lasting 45-50 min. with dialogue between students at their library on a Saturday morning once a week. For example, I could give a Power Point presentation on the anatomy of the heart with information regarding stroke volume, cardiac output, systemic vascular resistance along with alveolar abnormalities. Perhaps the next meeting would be with the Pathologist talking about hepatocellular changes of hepatitis. I have asked the Dean to provide us with sample topics so that we can divide them and give them to our different Subspecialists in America. In this way we will have an idea of how to help the students. Please note this does not have to be limited to physicians practicing in the US. Certainly, it could be any graduate of MCU either in the Philippines or anywhere in the world. That's the beauty of the Internet and the Zoom meetings.

Please feel free to contact me via my email below, or email mcumafaa@gmail.com with your feedback. Working together we can ensure that our Alma Mater receives the support and gratitude she so richly deserves.

Edward McDermott MD

ejmcdermottmd@gmail.com