MARCH 16 • 2012 The Weekly theweekly.usc.edu PUBLISHED FOR THE USC HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS COMMUNITY VOLUME 18 • NUMBER 8 U.S. News ACGME honors two from Keck School boosts ranking By Amy E. Hamaker 2012 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead staff,” said Keck School Dean Carmen The Accreditation Council for Awards. The award honors outstanding A. Puliafi to. “Congratulations to both of HSC schools Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) designated institutional offi cials, who Dr. Opas and Nancy Curtiss on these recently honored two individuals at the are in charge of all residency programs at well-deserved honors. I know that they By Leslie Ridgeway Keck School of Medicine of USC for sponsoring institutions. will continue to provide an outstanding The Health Sciences campus their dedication to advancing the quality Nancy Curtiss, student programs advi- experience for our residents.” fared well in the 2013 U.S. News of USC’s resident physician education. sor with the Department of Anesthe- The Courage to Lead Award that & World Report’s Best Graduate The Keck School of Medicine provides siology, won one of fi ve 2012 Graduate Opas received acknowledges the Schools guidebook, with USC’s rigorous training for medical residents to Medical Education Program Coordinator leadership and commitment of offi cials Division of Biokinesiology and help prepare them for board certifi cation Excellence Awards. who foster an excellent environment Physical Therapy ranked No. 1 and medical practice. “The Keck School of Medicine of for resident education. This includes in the annual listing—a ranking Lawrence M. Opas, associate dean USC’s comprehensive medical residency encouraging program directors, improv- it has held since 2004—and the and director of the offi ce of graduate program is thriving thanks to the hard ing performance and innovation among USC Division of Occupational medical education, received one of three work and dedication of our faculty and See ACGME, page 4 Therapy also ranking fi rst in the nation. The USC School of Pharmacy Pampering patients: New salon services come to Keck Medical Center ranked 10th in a four-way tie with the University of By Sara Reeve Arizona, University of Utah Patients and family and University of Washington, members dealing with moving up from a rank of 15th. long hospitalization The Keck School of Medicine often crave a sense of of USC improved its ranking normalcy in a hospital by two spots from the 2012 room—something to rankings, placing it at 34th take them out of their among research-intensive day-to-day reality. medical schools. A little pampering The 2013 rankings will can sometimes work appear in the April 3 issue of wonders, and it is now U.S. News & World Report and just a phone call away are available online at http://bit. for patients at Keck ly/mSHrG. Medical Center of James Gordon, associate USC. dean and chair of the Division Thanks to a new of Biokinesiology and Physical initiative of the ‘These are basic Therapy, hailed the rankings, medical center’s saying, “This recognition Patient Experience services we take refl ects the incredible Department, patients dedication and hard work of all and family members for granted, but our faculty, staff and students.” can make appointments Established in 1945 to for in-room services when you are train physical therapists at from a certifi ed Aveda the undergraduate level, the cosmetologist. in the hospital, division was one of the fi rst Members of the physical therapy programs in Patient Experience you can’t care the nation to award the doctor Department began of physical therapy degree, in the process to bring Chatila Tania for yourself the 1998. these services into Keck Hospital of USC patient Louise Ball gets her hair shampooed by Tiff any Lopez, a The data for the rankings the hospitals back certifi ed Aveda cosmetologist, as part of a new salon services program at the hospital. same way.’ came from surveys of more in October 2011, than 1,200 programs and when they spoke pedicures, among others. are available on Tuesdays nearly 15,000 academics and with patients about their The price for the services only at this time, and professionals, conducted during perceptions of their care at varies, from $12 for a hand require 24-hour advance —Sevanne Sarkis, the fall of 2011 and early 2012. Keck Medical Center. and leg massage to $45 for a reservations. Patients are Every year, U.S. News & World “We met a woman who woman’s haircut. advised to communicate administrative Report ranks professional school had several inches of gray For Keck Hospital of with their nursing team programs in medicine, business, roots, and when we visited USC patient Louise Ball, before appointments, director of patient education, engineering and law. her again a week later, a having her hair washed and as physician approval is The rankings are based on two nurse had dyed the patient’s dried while in the hospital required. experience types of data: Expert opinions hair and the patient was was a real treat. “A lot of long-term about program excellence very pleased and felt much “This is really patients have been using and statistical indicators that better about herself,” outstanding,” Ball said. these services,” said Sarkis. measure the quality of a school’s said Sevanne Sarkis, “It’s essential to have “One family member noted faculty, research and students. administrative director these kinds of services for that this was an integral U.S. News also periodically of patient experience. patients. It’s bad enough part of the healing process. ranks programs in the health “Around the same time we that we’re lying here in a These are basic services we arena, sciences, social sciences, met another patient who hospital bed, somewhat take for granted, but when humanities and many other had gotten a manicure from helpless. To be able to do you are in the hospital, you areas based solely on the ratings another nurse. Both women something like have your can’t care for yourself the of academic experts. The were so touched by these hair washed professionally, same way.” health rankings for physical simple acts and it made like you would in a salon, For more information therapy, occupational therapy them feel so much better makes a difference.” about the salon services and pharmacy are all based on during their stay with us.” Patients can call offered at Keck Medical experts’ ratings. Available services include Concierge Services to make Center, call Concierge haircuts, manicures and an appointment. Services Services at (323) 442-8787. MARCH 16 • 2012 Depo-Provera may increase diabetes risk for obese women By Alison Trinidad appeared in the January 2012 issue of the The researchers found that both normal- Obese women may increase their journal Contraception. weight and obese women became more ‘We don’t want risk for developing type 2 diabetes by Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate insulin resistant after receiving DMPA, using the birth control shot marketed as (DMPA) is a progestin-only contraceptive which means that their bodies became to prescribe a Depo-Provera, according to a small study that is administered by injection every less effective at lowering blood sugars. contraceptive by researchers from the Keck School of three months. DMPA and other progestin- However, it appears that the normal- Medicine of USC. only methods are the only hormonal weight women were able to compensate that will push The fi rst to examine the drug’s effect on contraceptives recommended by the by producing more insulin. The data obese women, the study suggests that other American Congress of Obstetricians and suggest that weight gain, an increase in women from forms of long-term birth control, namely Gynecologists for obese women older insulin resistance, or both play a role in the borderline intrauterine contraception, may be a more than 35. Because most oral contraceptives increased susceptibility for diabetes among effective choice for overweight women. increase the risk for developing blood obese women who use DMPA. hyperglycemic to “Obese women have a higher risk of clots, they are not recommended for obese Co-authors include Anny H. Xiang, diabetic.’ developing type 2 diabetes and other women, who are more susceptible to clots Richard M. Watanabe, Enrique Trigo, cardiovascular diseases. They also have an than normal-weight women. Frank Z. Stanczyk, Xinwen Liu, Ronna increased risk for pregnancy complications. For the study, researchers compared the Jurow and Thomas A. Buchanan, all of the —Penina We don’t want to prescribe a contraceptive insulin sensitivity, body mass index, blood Keck School. The research was funded by Segall-Gutierrez, that will push these women from sugar and cholesterol levels of 15 women an anonymous donor. assistant professor borderline hyperglycemic to diabetic,” said (fi ve of normal weight and 10 who were Segall-Gutierrez, P., Xiang, A.H., Watanabe, Penina Segall-Gutierrez, assistant professor overweight) before injection and 18 weeks R.M., Trigo, E., Stanczyk, F.Z., Liu, X., Jurow, of clinical obstetrics of clinical obstetrics and gynecology, and after. The participants, recruited over a R. & Buchanan, T.A. (2012). Deterioration and gynecology, family medicine at the Keck School. seven-month period at the Women’s and in cardiometabolic risk markers in obese and family medicine Segall-Gutierrez led the study, Children’s Hospital of the Los Angeles women during depot medroxyprogesterone at the Keck School “Deterioration in cardiometabolic risk County+USC Medical Center, received an acetate use. Contraception, 85(1), 36-41. markers in obese women during depot injection of DMPA upon acceptance into Published online June 11, 2011; doi:10.1016/j. medroxyprogesterone acetate use,” which the study and another 12 weeks later.