Center for Maternal-Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment
Mychaliska says that, traditionally, obstetricians are the experts taking care of a pregnant woman carrying a fetus with an anatomic malformation, and pediatric surgeons are the experts who perform surgery once the baby is born. Fetal surgery involves the intersection of both disciplines and the orchestration of a multidisciplinary team. “That’s what is really exciting about this center,” Mychaliska says. “Here at the University of Michigan there is the tremendous collective expertise required to launch a maternal-fetal diagnosis and treatment center.
Mychaliska is also working to build a “robust clinical and translational research infrastructure to evaluate fetal therapy and develop innovative treatments.” He has already had opportunities to collaborate on several research projects. That research is one reason Mychaliska characterizes his short time at U-M as “exciting and productive.” He says, “I’ve been very impressed by the collegial spirit here at Michigan. I’m pleased that people are very collaborative and willing to work together toward a common goal. We’ve already made significant progress.” The center has continued to develop throughout 2005 and is moving closer to providing the full spectrum of interventions from the least invasive procedures to open fetal surgery (involving opening the uterus to operate on babies before birth). For more information visit www.pediatric.um-surgery.org
High Rankings for Mott Hospital
For more information about the rankings, visit www.med.umich.edu. Unique Program Teaches
A Standardized Patient Instructor (SPI) is a person who has been trained to accurately portray a specific patient role, assess the clinical skills of the student, and provide feedback on the learner’s performance. Established in 1989, the University of Michigan has one of the oldest and largest standardized patient programs in the country, and a long history of commitment to doctor-patient communication and its assessment. Utilizing this type of educational tool in the Department of Pediatrics’ curriculum on sociocultural medicine is a novel program. The sociocultural curriculum teaches the importance of cultural humility. Cultural humility involves the development of the attitudes and behaviors that allow physicians to acknowledge and examine their own biases, which may affect the care they give. “We are trying to teach house staff that we don’t expect everyone to know everything about every single culture,” Haftel explains. “We want people to provide individualized care, taking into account and working within a patient’s culture. The key is to know how to ask the right questions and to frame them in a respectful and collaborative way with patients and families.” |
When George Mychaliska, M.D., a pediatric and fetal surgeon, joined the faculty at the University of Michigan Health System, his arrival last November was the next step in the creation of U-M’s new Center for Maternal-Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment. This center is the first of its kind in the state of Michigan and one of only a handful of comprehensive programs in the country. U-M patients—both mothers and babies—have long benefited from the close proximity of services and the collaboration between providers, but now that care has gone a step further.
“All of the department chiefs were in agreement that U-M should invest in a comprehensive maternal-fetal diagnosis and treatment center,” he adds. “What we want to build here is a multidisciplinary, comprehensive center that can offer state-of-the-art prenatal diagnosis, accurate prognosis, counseling, and maternal-fetal intervention for select patients who may benefit from treatment before birth.”
Child magazine once again recognized that University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital has some of the top specialty areas in the country. The results of a highly competitive eight-month survey showed that Mott orthopaedics ranked fifth and cardiac care ranked seventh. “We are extremely proud to have Mott recognized among some of the best hospitals in the country,” says Frances A. Farley, M.D., Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at Mott Hospital. “The ranking further represents Mott’s national excellence in specialty services, emphasizing our strengths on a national level in musculoskeletal care of children.”
Estimates show that 50 percent of the pediatric population will be non-white by the year 2050, and pediatricians must learn to effectively and respectfully deliver family-centered medical care to an increasingly diverse population. Hilary M. Haftel, M.D., M.H.P.E., Director, Standardized Patient Program and Associate Director of Pediatric Education, University of Michigan Medical School, says, “Pediatrics has always stressed communication and negotiation with parents and families as essential to ensuring optimal patient care and the prevention of illness and injury.”
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