The Department of Community and Family Medicine is housed at Truman Medical Center - Lakewood (TMC - LW) and is part of the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine (UMKC-SOM). The Lakewood location lends history the program, having been a facility serving the indigent since 1851, first as the Jackson County Poor Farm and, through the decades, changing into a modern medical care facility. The current campus boasts inpatient and outpatient programs, as well as an 188-bed long-term care facility. TMC-LW is an active component of the UMKC SOM teaching program, training medical students residents, and fellows at the site.
Medical resident teaching at TMC-LW was initiated by Jack Stelmach, MD, in 1975, primarily residents on rotation from the Goppert and Menorah hospital programs. In 1979, Thomas Nicholas, MD, was hired to establish a Family Medicine residency program and later became the first Chairman of the Department. The Department established its residency program in 1980, beginning with training six residents that year. The Department has grown over the years and four persons have served successively as Department Chair: Dr. Nicholas (1979–1989); Paul A. Williams, MD, (1989–2001); R. Stephen Griffith, MD, (2001 – 2010); Michael L. O’Dell, MD, (2010-present).
The Department trains UMKC medical students during their six-year combined BA/MD program. Faculty from the Department serve: as docents during years one and two; clinical faculty for a fourth-year and fifth-year rotation; faculty for various elective rotations and other teaching opportunities. We are extremely grateful to the number of volunteer community physicians that assist us in training students during student rotations. The Department trains 12 residents in family medicine each year. We offer fellowships that provide a certificate of added qualifications to two fellows each in both Sports Medicine and Geriatrics annually. We also provide a year-long fellowship in maternity care, where two fellows learn caesarean section skills and other advanced training in obstetrics.
The articles written by faculty in this issue of the Journal reflect some of the breadth of activity within the Department. Dr. Voran et al. write about work of engaging patients and physicians in using computers as tools during medical care and how to teach appropriate use to resident physicians. Dr. Hempstead et al. provide a summary of the detailed and extraordinary work of evaluation now being accomplished in training young physicians during their path to independent practice following residency. This should be of particular interest to those looking to add new associates. Dr. Griffith provides a clinically focused piece on common skin disease, an area of particular expertise for several of our physicians as dermatology consultation is hard to obtain for the population we serve. Dr. Shaffer has written a timely piece on our regions physician supply. I have added an article on Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Lastly, Dr. Gibson et al. provide knowledge to the readers of common sports supplements, their benefits, and misuses.
As a Department, we are grateful to Missouri Medicine for providing this opportunity to highlight some of our work and activities.
Biography
Michael L. O’Dell, MD, MSHA, FAAFP, MSMA member since 2010, is Associate Chief Medical Officer at Truman Medical Center and Professor and Chair of the Department of Community and Family Medicine at the University of Missouri - Kansas City.
Contact: odellm@umkc.edu
