Christmas in July Event Serves Over 1,200 Citizens
 
It was a sweltering summer day in Miami, but it did not discourage the 1,200 – plus attendees from enjoying live entertainment, warm food and free health services provided by the Miami Rescue Mission (MRM) and Miami Dade College’s Medical Center Campus (MCC). Local high school students, church groups, as well as other community groups contributed to this very special event as “Giving” was the theme of the day.
 
Each year, the Christmas in July event creates opportunities that help make a difference in the community and in an individual’s health and well being. On the day of the event and before the event officially opened, lines of men and women waited patiently for free blood pressure readings, glucose tests, and general health counseling provided by MDC’s Physician Assistant and Nursing students. A hot lunch was served by local high school students while live entertainment filled the air.
 
To accommodate the large number of citizens and participants that provided care for this event, tents were erected to create additional space. Since the clinic opened its doors to the community on May 14, 2009, local citizens have received full medical services from the Miami Rescue Mission clinic where Medical Center Campus students routinely serve and provide care.
 
The Miami Dade College Medical Center Campus (MCC) and the Miami Rescue Mission (MRM) have a long history of collaboration. Located less than one mile apart, hundreds of MCC Nursing and Health Sciences’ students and faculty have provided services to the men, women, and children served by the Mission over the years; and many Mission graduates have enrolled and earned degrees from MCC. As part of this partnership, the MCC School of Nursing and the leaders of the MRM created “The Mission Project” in 2000 with the goals of improving student achievement and clinical skills, cultivating civic responsibility, expanding awareness of health needs, and especially, improving the health of the community’s homeless. A long-term goal of The Mission Project had been to establish an on-site clinic at the Miami Rescue Mission which will serve the primary needs of those at the Mission and in the surrounding neighborhoods and be partly staffed by students and faculty from MCC Nursing and Health Sciences programs.
 
The area of the MRM is designated as a “Medically Underserved Area/Population” and as a “Health Professional Shortage Area” by the Department of Health and Human Services and serves approximately 1,000 men, women, and children a month. Many of these individuals have little or no access to health care. The new clinic serves the clients of the MRM and residents of the surrounding community.
 
MRM is the host agency and site of the clinic. Dr. Peter Gutierrez, MD, MMS, PA-C, serves as the Dean of MCC’s School of Health Sciences, and provides medical direction for the clinic. Annette Gibson, MSN, MEd, RN, Professor, School of Nursing, coordinates education and outreach service-learning programs involving MCC Nursing and Health Sciences students and faculty. The clinic serves as a clinical site for Physician Assistant students. MCC students and faculty from Nursing and Health Sciences support the clinic, as well as students from other South Florida colleges.
 
 


The University of Miami School of Business Administration is planning the expansion of its Physician Practice Management Certificate Program. Developed in conjunction with the Florida Medical Association (FMA), the UM certificate program is one of the only programs of its kind in the nation.
 
Plans are being finalized to offer the Physician Practice Management Certificate Program as a standalone program in select cities in Florida. This management certificate program helps clinicians and office managers develop business skills that are essential to running an effective practice.
 
"As the health care industry evolves, physicians are not only joining small and large multimillion-dollar practices, they’re running these organizations," said Steven Ullmann, a professor of management and director of the School’s programs in health sector management and policy. "Today’s doctors must understand how to negotiate contracts with medical suppliers, maneuver through Medicare and Medicaid systems, negotiate with insurance and managed care companies as well as hospitals, understand cost structure pricing and financing, and manage a professional staff."
 
The program is designed for small and large physician practice groups as well as sole practitioners who seek to more effectively and efficiently manage and operate their organizations. Practitioners gain a better understanding of government health care policies and future trends, incentive structures, insurance and managed care relationships and negotiations. Techniques associated with recruiting, staffing, managing personnel, budgeting, medical supply and equipment contracting and negotiations are also explored.
 
The program is modeled after the business school’s internationally-ranked Executive MBA in Health Sector Management and Policy program, which has been offered at UM for almost 35 years and is currently ranked fourth in the nation by Modern Healthcare magazine. It is also dually accredited by AACSB International, the premier accrediting agency of collegiate business schools, and CAHME, the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education.
 
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with FMA to deliver a program that is timely and important for clinicians to maintain a competitive advantage and enhance their business practices, especially as health care reform moves forward,” said David Lecón, director of executive education programs at the UM School of Business.
 
The two-day program consists of five modules including: Human Resource Management, Legal/Regulatory Issues, Tools for Investment and Finance Decisions, Improving the Patient’s Experience, and Current and Future Trends in Health Care. Classes are taught by the School’s regular world-class MBA faculty.
 
"The FMA is an ideal partner for the School of Business as we expand our health sector programs," said Ullmann. "We look forward to providing its members with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully navigate the increasingly complex business of health care."
 
Participants who successfully complete the two-day program will earn the Physician Practice Management Certificate from the University of Miami School of Business Administration. The school also offers a joint MD/MBA program in partnership with the University’s Miller School of Medicine, as well as an undergraduate major and a minor in health sector management and policy.


Keiser University has been identified as the 2nd largest producer of two-year degrees for health professionals (up from 3rd last year) in the nation, and 3rd for registered nursing degrees (up from 10th last year.) The regionally-accredited, not-for-profit university was also ranked highly in several other degree producing categories by Community College Week.
 
“We are pleased to be recognized consecutively for our contributions in the production of associate degree graduates by Community College Week,” said Belinda Keiser, Vice Chancellor and former Workforce Florida Chair. “These statistics effectively demonstrate our mission to prepare career minded students for in-demand job fields, and help fill the need an educated and well-trained workforce allowing our country to be globally competitive.”


FGF23 is a protein hormone produced by bone cells that can decrease the production of 1,25 (OH)2 Vitamin D and can increase the excretion of phosphate in the urine by the suppression of proximal tubular phosphate reabsorption. There are evidences of these actions in experimental studies (1) using Wistar-Kyoto rats with progressive nephritis explaining early stage of chronic renal disease (CRD). In these studies the increase of FGF23 is related with the reduction of active Vitamin D and its consequences: Hypocalcemia and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Recent published clinical studies have considered FGF23 an independent risk factor for mortality in early CRD as well as cardiovascular disease, allograft loss, and death in kidney transplant (2,3).
 
The Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study is a multicenter, prospective observational study (3) of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, progression of CRD, and mortality in adult patients with an estimated GFR of between 20 and 70 cc/min/1.73 m2. In this study FGF23 correlated negatively with estimated GFR and hemoglobin, and correlated positively with cystatin, serum phosphate, parathyroid hormone, and fractional excretion of phosphate. Apart from these results FGF23 is considered not only a marker to define the severity of CRD, but it could also act as a toxin to explain the mortality risk associated with cardiovascular injuries (3,4).
 
Children older than 9 years old in hemodialysis with a single pool of urea kinetic (Kt/V) of 1.3 or greater, using not reused polysulfone dialysers, were recently studied observing a significant higher value of FGF23 and serum phosphorus in those patients with coronary calcifications (5).
 
Levels of FGF23 have been also found increased in calcium nephrolithiasis being specifically more important in the recurrent condition. The increase of phosphates in the urine produces urinary calcium saturation, but it has not been explained why nephrolithiasis in patients with phosphaturia is associated with higher FGF23 levels (6).
 
More experimental studies and prospective clinical studies are needed to define the relation of FGF23 with other bone markers, with mineral metabolism, and with Bone Mineral Density Z scores to explain better its activity in CRD. FGF23 will only be considered a useful biomarker with a clear understanding of the pathophysiology associated to this hormone. 
 
 


The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded Barry University’s Division of Nursing $643,892 for nursing students.
 
The loan program is geared toward helping close the gap in the nation’s nursing shortage by allowing nurses wanting to continue their education and return to school to earn their master’s or doctoral degrees in nursing education.
 
A nurse accepted into the Nurse Faculty Loan Program can expect an 85 percent forgiveness policy, meaning only 15 percent of the loan would be paid back, if they begin teaching as a full-time faculty member at any college or university, including Barry, for five years after graduation.
 
Since 2009, the HRSA grant has allowed 40 nurses to return to school for their PhD who would otherwise not have been able to. This year another dozen will be afforded the same opportunity.
 
Barry’s Division of Nursing began admitting students to its Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (DNP) program in 2008 to prepare students for advanced nursing as qualified clinical preceptors, for undergraduate and graduate nursing students as well as for academic faculty positions. In 2010, the division began admitting post-baccalaureate students to its DNP program and in the fall 2011 semester, the DNP program will be offered online as well.
 
“The key to addressing the nursing shortage in the state of Florida is the production of nursing faculty,” said College of Health Sciences Associate Dean and Division of Nursing Chair Claudette Spalding, PhD, ARNP. “This loan program makes the difference in the recruitment and production of nurses who will become the faculty needed by all of Florida’s nursing programs.”
 
Continuing a nursing tradition
The nursing program at Barry University has a more than 50-year tradition nursing education excellence. The mission of the Division of Nursing is to produce professional nurses who possess a solid foundation of nursing scientific knowledge and are prepared to assume leadership positions in academia, health care institutions, or research settings. The programs are designed to help students become advocates, role models, liaisons, and change agents for the nursing profession.
 
The Division offers the Master of Science in Nursing program, which includes specializations in acute care nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner, nursing administration, and nursing education. It also offers the traditional PhD in Nursing, along with the Post-Master’s and Post-Baccalaureate DNP programs.
 
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree is available in a traditional format for freshmen, transfer students, and qualified licensed practical nurses, along with an accelerated format for non-nurses who already hold a bachelor’s degree in another field.
 
Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, is the second-largest private, Catholic university in the southeastern United States. Students can choose from more than 100 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, health care, human performance and leisure sciences, law, podiatric medicine, public administration, and social work.
 
In addition to nursing, Barry University also houses more than 50 health care programs in a variety of fields, including anesthesiology leading to the certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) designation, clinical biology, counseling, health services administration, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and podiatric medicine.