“The diversity of experiences that community faculty bring cannot be overstated, “ says Guadagnoli, who also notes that without such volunteerism by professionals at medical schools educational opportunities would be severely limited. “Having so many full time medical professionals on your staff just wouldn’t be financially possible. It would bankrupt a school.”
The more you talk with members of the community faculty, the more you realize that the chance to transform the practice of medicine in Las Vegas is a major motivating factor.
“I get annoyed when people go to Utah or California for the medical care,” says Dr. Carrie E. Bedient, a physician with the Fertility Center of Las Vegas who also serves as a clinical assistant professor with the medical school. “I want to do this so my little kids can get what they need, so I can bring my parents here and know they’ll get excellent care...It takes a village to raise a child and a village to raise a doctor. The more docs we can raise here, the more we can keep and the more likely I’ll have someone to take care of me when I’m old and gray.”
Dr. Bedient, who completed a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, has had her research published in peer-reviewed publications that include the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology and Fertility and Sterility.
Dr. Haycocks says Dr. Bedient “fills a critical need in our curriculum. She possesses an intricate knowledge of the female reproductive system, down to the level of cellular and molecular biology. She builds a wonderful rapport with the medical students , and has always stood ready to help our education program any way she can. No doubt many future physicians will be grateful for the time they spent with her.”
Dr. Bedient doesn’t have to go far out of her way to speak to another member of the community faculty. Her husband, Dr. Mark Christopher Dugan, who completed a fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine at Emory University, also volunteers his expertise at the medical school by teaching UNLV residents at the University Medical Center Children’s Hospital where he is on staff. “Las Vegas is a growing community,” he says. “The teaching of the physicians of tomorrow is critical. It’s important to me to continue to work with students and residents.”
His involvement includes working with residents from both the emergency medicine and pediatric residency programs. “I interact with one resident from each program as they are doing their pediatric ICU rotation,” he says. “For example, a normal day of me being on service at UMC involves evaluating each child hospitalized in the ICU with the resident, helping them come up with their own plans for each critically ill child, observing them performing histories and physicals on those children admitted to the ICU, supervising the residents performing procedures, and teaching regarding critical care concepts.”
It is work, says Dugan, that he finds particularly satisfying.
“Part of the joy of pediatric intensive care is that I get to be a jack of all trades, so one day I might teach about the respiratory system, the next we might talk about head trauma, and the next we might be talking about cardiovascular pathophysiology,“ says Dr. Dugan, whose research has appeared in several peer-reviewed publications, including Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Pediatric Emergency Care. “I also coordinate and facilitate a monthly conference with the pediatric residents that is a case-based conference, where we discuss the management in detail of a critically ill child, with a resident selecting a case that interests them from their month in the pediatric ICU. This is a dynamic, interactive conference that has different goals and objectives each month.”
Dr. Kate Martin, the associate dean for graduate medical education, is a true believer in the UNLV School of Medicine’s community faculty.
“Community faculty selflessly volunteer their time and expertise all year long to make sure our residents and fellows receive a well-rounded education,” she says. “They provide the resident with perspectives and experiences that complement their training through exposure to specialized areas of medicine, practice types and parts of the community our residents would not get to see without their help.”
