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Medicine grad helps form wellness, advocacy council by Cindy Abole Public Relations Providing a mechanism for medical students to turn to for help or responding to the aid of another suffering from personal impairments is the goal of the newly formed Medical Student Wellness and Advocacy Council.   Working with an ensemble of supportive medical student representatives and professional faculty members, the program is dedicated to providing compassionate care for students suffering from impairments due to alcohol, substance abuse or mental illness.           Members of the Medical Student Wellness and Advocacy Council include Drs. Robert Turner, left, Eli Penn, and Robert Mallin. No one is more passionate and enthusiastic about its success among students than Eli Penn, M.D., a graduating medical student, who has supported its mission on campus since day one.        Penn and Family Medicine associate professor Robert Mallin, M.D., teamed their efforts to collaborate with interested, professional faculty, select medical student representatives and a core of supporters from the College of Medicine’s (COM) Office of Student Affairs to address student concerns and form the council.   “The committee is designed for students and faculty to get involved in a supportive way,” said Penn, who himself sought help during medical school, but didn’t know where to turn.   Student support programs like the Counciling and Psychological Services (CAPS), while excellent resources, are limited in their ability to actually intervene on a less-than-willing student due to the constraints of patient confidentiality.   “What our students needed was a safe method of support that addresses a student’s personal needs who were in recovery or needed to be in recovery,” said Mallin, who is one of the developers of the Doctoring Curriculum in the college.   The council is organized to assist students on a case-by-case basis. More specifically, council members will meet with a student to help confirm there is a problem, discuss options and solutions and offer a wellness or treatment plan that may ultimately leads to recovery, according to Mallin. The committee monitors the student’s progress and treatment plan and can advocate on behalf of the student and depending upon their progress, coordinate their return to medical school and resume their studies.   “A unique thing about substance abuse disorders is that people don’t know they're in as much trouble as they really are,” Mallin said. “It often requires a gentle nudge or sometimes not-so-gentle push into treatment, and that’s why this committee was formed. Our goal is to help people when they can’t recognize that they need help or offer assistance when they do need it while keeping the door open to give them time to accomplish that.”   Established at MUSC in March, the council is modeled after Aid for Impaired Medical Student (AIMS) programs, which began in 1983 to provide compassionate assistance to impaired medical students at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Today, AIM programs are found at medical schools across the country and organized to be student-run with minimal faculty supervision and advisement.   “The formation of the new Medical Student Wellness and Advocacy Council provides help to students in need and acts in their best interest,” said Amy Blue, Ph.D., associate dean for curriculum and evaluation, College of Medicine. “In the past, students expressed their concern for peers suffering from personal impairment issues, but were cautious of getting involved. Through the council, students now have a method to refer peers or themselves to obtain proper guidance and professional support.”      Today, Penn graduates with the Class of 2006 College of Medicine. He married fellow medicine graduate Elizabeth Logan May 13 and will begin an internal medicine residency at MUSC in July.   “I hope this program opens communications between people and help students recognize that they can be proactive in helping others,” Penn said.      “One thing that has been proven continually with students and AIM programs is the success rate among recovering physicians and medical students because of their personal desire to succeed and practice medicine professionally,” Mallin said. “But in order to practice medicine, a student or medical practitioner must be able to return healthy and well. We don’t want to dismiss talented students like Eli or others because of an unfortunate situation. It’s important that we recognize the opportunity and create a method to allow students to get well and return so that they can succeed in medical school.” Medical Student Wellness & Advocacy Council’s Purpose Provide compassionate help to students experiencing difficulties and impairments before they reach irreversible harm Provides assistance that offers protective rights to students who receive treatment in strict confidence Enable students to progress through the medical school curriculum without stigma or penalty Protect patients and others from harm that impaired students may cause     Friday, May 19, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island papers at 849-1778, ext. 201.