2010 Internal Medicine conference at Toronto Convention Center

From HIV screening guidelines to disaster response volunteerism to spirituality in end-of-life care, Internal Medicine 2010 provides many story opportunities for journalists

More than 5,000 internists (adult medicine specialists), subspecialists, medical students, and allied health professionals will meet in Toronto, Canada, for Internal Medicine 2010, the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Physicians (ACP), April 22 - 24 (Thursday - Saturday), at the Toronto Convention Center.

ACP is the largest specialty organization devoted to adult medicine and is the second-largest physician group in the United States. Internists specialize in the prevention, detection, and treatment of illnesses in adults.

Internal Medicine 2010 features more than 250 scientific sessions taught by top-rated, nationally recognized physicians. Courses and events that provide interesting story angles are below.

At the Opening Ceremony on April 22 at 9:30 a.m., James Orbinski, MD, a humanitarian activist and associate professor at the University of Toronto, will deliver the keynote address about the issue of equity and global health. Dr. Orbinski was the international president of M-decins Sans Fronti-res/Doctors Without Borders from 1998 to 2001. In 1999, he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the organization for its pioneering approach to medical humanitarianism.

Convocation, which takes place on April 22 at 6:30 p.m., offers photo / video opportunities. More than 600 new Masters, Fellows, awardees, and dignitaries will process in full academic regalia.

Course and Event Highlights

Clinical Courses

Breast Cancer Screening. What is the current evidence for screening women in their 40s? What is the evidence for conventional versus digital mammography? Is there a role for MRI?

What the General Internist Should Know About HIV. Who should have HIV screening? What are the most effective methods to prevent HIV transmission?

Alternative and Natural Medicine (Including Vitamins): How Much Does It Work and When is It Dangerous? Which are the most frequently used complementary/alternative preparations and what are their supposed indications? Which complementary/alternative preparations are known to deleteriously interact with regular/approved drugs? What are the resources available to help evaluate the safety and efficiency of alternative or natural preparations? Which are the evidence based approved indications for vitamins?

Our Gut Flora: Influencing Our Health and Our Diseases. How is gut flora critical for health? How do we acquire our gut flora and how do they change over time? How can the gut flora influence insulin resistance and obesity? Can we manipulate our gut flora with antibiotics and prebiotics to influence our health and treat disease? Are our colonic bacteria important in disease?

Approach to Headache: Differential Diagnosis and Treatment. What are the most common types of headache? What are the warnings signs for serious headaches, and what is the appropriate evaluation of new headaches? What are new developments in the medical and interventional treatment of common types of headaches, such as migraine and tension headache?

Prostate Cancer: Challenges in Screening, Prevention, and Treatment. How do we interpret changes in PSA and when do we act? What are the treatment options for early stage prostate cancer? Have efforts in screening and treatment improved survival for patients with early prostate cancer? What are the data for prostate cancer prevention?

When You Can't Find It in Google: Accessing Medical Information on the Web. What strategies can be employed to maximizes the quality and usefulness of medical information obtained through internet searches? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these online resources?

Ethics and Professionalism Courses

Ethical Challenges: Do We Have An Ethical Duty To Provide Care? Do ethical, moral, or religious beliefs of physicians and other health care providers supersede their duty to care for patients? Does the physician have an ethical duty to treat during a pandemic? Is patient noncompliance with treatment recommendations (e.g., failure to stop smoking or lose weight, refusal to take drugs due to unwanted side effects) a legitimate reason to terminate a patient-physician relationship?

Disaster Response Volunteerism. How does the medical community respond to the health issues involved in the wake of natural or atypical disasters? What are the likely health consequences of natural disasters like these and how do they vary based on the type of disaster? What are the effects on public health infrastructure and what types of illnesses are likely to arise because of each disaster? Learn how to prepare your family, office, and community in the event of a disaster (i.e., equipment, masks, etc.).

Spirituality in End-of-Life Care: What is the Physician's Role? Explores the impact of spirituality on the healing process and the physician's role in addressing patient issues of spirituality. Are physician expertise, science, and technology the only determinants of a good outcome or are other forces at work as well?

Concierge Medicine: The Debate Continues. A discussion of the pros and cons of concierge medicine, the clinical effectiveness of concierge medicine, and patient and physician satisfaction with concierge medicine.

From Jazz to Medicine: Exploring Improvisation in Clinical Practice. Explore how physicians can "tune-in" to their ability to improvise and improve their ability to react to new patient situations and events. This will include specific examples of patient interactions and problems that may require "quick thinking" and utilize the ability to improvise a novel treatment regimen. Apply the concept of ensemble to improve communication dynamics during the medical interview.

Ethics Year in Review. What are the pressing bioethical issues for internists today? How are emerging ethical issues affecting patient care? What should practitioners keep in mind when confronting these issues?

Business and Policy Courses

The Global Burden of the Migration of Physicians. What are the reasons for the migration of physicians (political upheaval, natural disasters, war, poverty, etc.)? How does the migration of physicians affect global health? What are the health and social issues associated with immigration and the impact on the countries absorbing the new influx of people? What is the impact of brain drain of physicians from developing countries? What are the disease implications caused by the movement of physicians?

Communication in the 21st Century. Explore advanced technologies in use today and how they can appropriately be used for medical care. Leveraging such technology as social web (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) for care coordination, Skype for patient care, Vocera for intra-office communication, texting and other web-based or hardware technology to improve the care for patients. The medico-legal aspects of these will also be discussed.

Report from the Field: Implication of Patient-Centered Medical Home Projects. What is the Patient Centered Medical Home? How will demonstration projects influence health care reform? What lessons have been learned?

Washington Report: Key Health Policy Issues Concerning Internal Medicine.

What are the key health policy issues that are being considered by Congress and the federal executive and regulatory agencies that will affect internists and their patients? What regulatory changes are being considered that will affect internal medicine? What is ACP's public policy agenda on health care reform on other priority issues?

What Makes a Good Neighbor? The Interface Between the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and Subspecialty Practices

What is a PCMH neighbor? What real life "lessons learned" are available from PCMH demonstrations exploring the interface between the PCMH and subspecialty practices? How can service agreements facilitate the linkage between PCMH and subspecialty practices?

History of Medicine Courses

History of Medicine I: They Made a Difference. Sir William Osler: High Priest of Medicine; Politics and Pulpits: Tommy Douglas and the Foundation of Canadian Health Care; Dr. Norman Bethune: Maverick Surgeon and the Hero of China.

History of Medicine II: They Made a Difference. Sir Frederick Banting: Troubled Nobel Laureate; Fed Me, Fed My Horse: Innovation and Survival in 19th Century Practice; Wilder Penfield: The Brain Revealed.

The Historical Contributions of India to Modern Medicine. Outlines the historical and contemporary contributions of multiple global cultures to both the science and practice of modern medicine. Describes the contributions of ancient India to modern medicine. Provides examples of key leaders/teachers and their unique contributions. Highlights the enduring principle of Indian medicine.

Famous Physicals: Diagnostic Dilemmas in History; issues to be addressed: A review of the distinctive physical findings in historical figures and celebrities.

Leadership for the 21st Century: The Ten Tenets of Leadership. What made historic figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Florence Nightingale, and Winston Churchill effective leaders? What are some of the qualities and attributes of great leaders? What is leadership and can it be taught? What are the 10 tenets of leadership?

Internal Medicine 2010 Highlights and the final round of Doctor's Dilemma take place on April 24 at 5:15 p.m. Three clinician-educators will share what they think are Internal Medicine 2010's most important take-home messages. Then the "Final Four" teams remaining in the Doctor's Dilemma competition -- a fast-paced, Jeopardy-style medical knowledge competition among students and residents -- will face off in the championship round. The winning team takes home the Osler Cup -- ACP's coveted trophy.

Source: American College of Physicians