KU School of Medicine-Wichita

18 The KSKidsMAP team also does phone consultations with clinicians — some involving patients, others helping clinicians cope with burnout and other wellness factors aecting their lives and practices. From January through mid-September, it did 130 consultations. Collaborating and informing On a number of fronts, KU faculty and sta collaborate across the state to improve health and save lives. A recent eort is the Kansas COVID Workgroup for Kids, which came together to provide information to medical colleagues, school ocials and government leaders and to ensure children's needs were recognized amid the pandemic. Other eorts include CRIBS, the Center for Research for Infant Birth & Survival, which is working to eliminate the 230 preventable infant deaths per year in the state, and Project ADAM, which is expanding awareness of sudden cardiac arrest. These programs are just examples — any attempt at a full list would likely leave worthy eorts out. Other KUSM-Wichita programs allow providers to come and learn about the latest research or approaches they can take home to their practices. The Department of Family & Community Medicine's spring and fall weekend symposiums draw 150 to 200 attendees. Doctors, nurse practitioners and others learn about such topics as cardiac disease, migraines and bipolar disorders while earning continuing education credit. Like many things in 2020, the symposium went virtual amid the pandemic. "COVID has upset the apple cart. The virtual event will potentially allow us to reach more rural physicians with new medical information, but one of the things rural doctors like about the live event is the social interaction with colleagues," said Rick Kellerman, M.D., chair of the Department of Family & Community Medicine. In the school's early days, outreach almost always occurred on-site. For a hypertension screening program, a Winnebago RV traveled to communities, eventually testing 250,000 Kansans. That road-worn Winnebago later was a mobile training site for hospital sta in rural communities. Dean Kortge was director of special projects and helped set up rural preceptorships, building on the belief of the school's first dean, Cramer Reed, M.D., that medical students should "get the sense of being in a real community, breaking away from the mold of being in a medical school only." KUSM-W and the Medical Practice Association establish the Clinical Research Institute, a for-profit organization, which dissolved in 2010. WSU study names KU School of Medicine-Wichita an "economic driver," bringing $35.6 million in total earnings to the community. An economic study was repeated in 2010 finding $49.7 million in total earnings. A 2016 study focused on the economic impact of physicians in Kansas and stated that KUSM-W graduates accounted for $1,287,020,288. 2003 2003 Training students in rural areas Preceptorships and other programs are built on the long-standing belief that simply training more doctors does not mean rural Kansans will have a doctor in their community. A first step is exposing medical students to rural communities — a test, in a sense, of whether they think they could make a life and career there. Others involve establishing an early pipeline to medical school and financial incentives. The Scholars in Rural Health program identifies Kansas undergraduates interested in becoming rural doctors, who then shadow a physician during their junior and senior years. Having met academic and program requirements, they are assured admission to the Wichita medical school. Once at school, students do a mandatory fourth-year rural rotation. John Dorsch, M.D., longtime director of rural programs, fostered rural ties and doubled the number of preceptorships to about 60. Lynn Fisher, M.D., took over the program in 2019, bringing strong rural contacts as a practitioner in Plainville, president of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and board member of the Kansas Hospital Association. Rick Kellerman, M.D., Family & Community Medicine

• Cover