*****
University of Washington School of Medicine
Online News
Vol. 11, No. 19
May 11, 2007
*****
To view an archived version of Online News on the UW
Medicine Web site, visit:
http://www.uwmedicine.org/Global/NewsAndEvents/somnews/index.htm
*****
This week's news:
* Forty percent of 3-month-old infants are regularly watching TV, DVDs, or videos, according to study by Children's Hospital and UW researchers
* UWMC bariatric surgery program recognized as Level 1A Center of Excellence by American College of Surgeons
* UW global health project holding fund-raising event May 18
* F. Daniel Duffy, expert on physician education and quality assessment, to speak at Education in Medicine lecture on Monday, May 14
* Save the date: Global health leader William Foege to speak June 7 at Bioengineering's annual Rushmer Lecture
*****
PARENTS LETTING VERY YOUNG CHILDREN WATCH TV DESPITE GUIDELINES
A large number of parents are ignoring warnings from the American Academy of Pediatrics and are allowing their very young children to watch television, DVDs or videos so that by 3 months of age, 40 percent of infants are regular viewers. That number jumps to 90 percent of 2-year-olds, according to a new study by researchers at the UW and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute. The findings were published May 7 in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals published by the American Medical Association.
The study is the first to look at the trajectory of media viewing in the first two years of life and to explore the content of what is being watched. The research also explores parents’ reasons for permitting it.
TV viewing takes away time from developmentally appropriate activities, like free play with dolls, blocks, or cars, the study authors said, and excessive viewing before age 3 is associated with problems such as attention control, aggressive behavior, and poor cognitive development.
Frederick Zimmerman, UW associate professor of health services and pediatrics, led the research. Dimitri Christakis, UW associate professor of pediatrics and a researcher at Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, were co-authors of the study.
The researchers conducted random telephone surveys of more than 1,000 families in Minnesota and Washington with a child born in the previous two years, and found the median age at which infants were regularly exposed to media was 9 months. Among those who watched TV, DVDs or videos, the average daily viewing time jumped from one hour per day for those children younger than 12 months to more than 1 1/2 hours a day by 24 months.
Many parents believe that they are providing educational and developmental opportunities by exposing their babies to 10 to 20 hours of viewing per week. Nearly a third of parents believed that TV, DVDs, or videos were educational or good for the child's brain. About 23 percent said viewing was enjoyable or relaxing for the child, while 21 percent used these media as an electronic babysitter so they could do other things.
*****
BARIATRIC SURGERY PROGRAM RECOGNIZED AS CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
The UW's bariatric surgery program has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1A Center of Excellence. The program, in the Department of Surgery, focuses on weight-loss surgery for obese patients.
Administrators, doctors, and staff in the program, the surgery department, and around UWMC worked for more than a year to secure the ACS accreditation. The bariatric surgery program can now accept the state's Uniform Medical Plan, as well as Medicare, patients.
The bariatric surgery program at the UW performs both laparoscopic gastric bypass and laparoscopic adjustable band procedures. The program is also a major research center for bariatric surgery: the UW has a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study this type of surgery, learn more about the mechanisms of weight loss after gastric bypass, and determine how to improve outcomes in bariatric surgery. The program is also one of six centers in the country taking part in a study called LABS, the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery.
For more information about the UW bariatric surgery program, visit:
http://depts.washington.edu/surgery/patientcare/bariatric.html
*****
UW PROJECT TO HELP KENYANS WITH HIV/AIDS HOLDING FUNDRAISER MAY 18
The UW School of Medicine's International Health Group is holding a fundraiser this month for the Tumaini Project, which provides medical care and outreach to people in Kenya with HIV/AIDS. The event, A Celebration of Hope, will be held from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday, May 18, in the Vista Room of the UW's Foege Building, 1705 NE Pacific St.
The fundraiser will include a silent auction, wine and cheese pairings, a musical performance, and a keynote address by Stephen Gloyd, professor of health services, director of the UW International Health Program, and executive director of Health Alliance International. The minimum donation for attendees is $75, or $35 for students. To RSVP for the event, or to donate to the Tumaini Project without attending, contact Hollie Sexton, hesexton@u.washington.edu, or Xaviera Ortiz, ortizx@u.washington.edu
The Tumaini Project is a joint effort by the UW and the Slum Doctor Programme, a non-profit organization aimed at helping deal with AIDS in Africa. The Tumaini Project, named for the Swahili word for hope, benefits the Hope Center for Infectious Diseases, in Nairobi, Kenya, which provides free medical care for Kenyans living with AIDS.
About 2.5 million Kenyans, or 7 percent of the country's population, are infected with HIV, and about 1.5 million Kenyan children have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS. Most Kenyans cannot afford medical treatment for HIV/AIDS. The Hope Center offers a wide range of services, including counseling, social work, nutrition, clinical care, and pharmacy services. Through the Tumaini Project, UW students have contributed to many different health outreach projects in Kenya. Last year, for example, students established a cervical cancer screening clinic by getting donated gynecology equipment and training local nurses to perform the screenings.
For more information about the Tumaini Project, visit:
http://www.scn.org/ncata/tumaini.html
And for more information about the Hope Center, visit:
http://www.slumdoctor.org/hope.html
*****
DUFFY TO SPEAK AT EDUCATION IN MEDICINE LECTURE, MONDAY, MAY 14
F. Daniel Duffy, a former executive at the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and an expert in physician education and quality assessment and improvement, will deliver this month's Education in Medicine lecture, Monday, May 14. The lecture will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in Hogness Auditorium, Room A-420 of the UW Health Sciences Center.
Harry Kimball, senior advisor to the dean of the School of Medicine, will provide a special introduction. Duffy's lecture will address the changing role of medical specialty boards and how specialty board certification promotes lifelong learning and continuous improvement.
Duffy is adjunct professor of medicine and director of the Community Track at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine – Tulsa, and senior advisor to the president of the ABIM. He previously served as an executive vice president at the ABIM. While serving on the staff there, Duffy led the introduction of a new process for physicians to maintain certification based on evaluation of performance in practice.
This lecture is open to all faculty, staff and students. No registration is required. The lecture will also be simultaneously televised to the following locations:
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Room M-305
Harborview Medical Center, Research and Training Building, Auditorium
VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Bldg. 1, Room 518
*****
SAVE THE DATE: WILLIAM FOEGE TO SPEAK AT UW BIOENGINEERING LECTURE JUNE 7
Prominent humanitarian and global-health leader William Foege, the namesake for the new Genome Sciences and Bioengineering Building at the UW campus, will deliver the Department of Bioengineering's annual lecture on Thursday, June 7. The Robert F. Rushmer Lecture will be held from 4 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. in Hogness Auditorium, Room A-420 of the UW Health Sciences Center. A reception and student poster session will be held immediately after the lecture, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Foege Building Bioengineering Seminar Room, N130A, and the lobby.
Foege will speak on "Combining Art and Science for a Rational Future." He is best known as one of the leaders of the effort to eradicate smallpox. Foege is a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a fellow at the Carter Center, senior fellow of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and executive director of the Task Force for Child Survival.
For more information about the lecture, please contact Shirley Nollette at peters2@u.washington.edu or 206-685-2001.
*****
Justin Reedy, editor:
206-685-0382, jreedy@u.washington.edu
Online News is copyright 2007. All rights, including electronic
redistribution, are reserved.
*****