UMHS students Kirsten Fill, James MacGregor and Andrew Victor published an article in the December 27, 2016 issue of Emergency Medicine News titled “The Case Files: How Low Can You Go?” The article talks about a patient that suffered from low hemoglobin levels, was found unconscious, rushed to the emergency room but did not survive. The article helps raise awareness about low hemoglobin in relation to alcoholism and organ dysfunction.
The UMHS Endeavour spoke to Andrew Victor (currently in clinical rotations) about the article.
UMHS Endeavour: Tell us a little about the article published in Emergency Medicine News. How did you and the two other UMHS students get to work on it?
UMHS student Andrew Victor. Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Victor
Andrew Victor: The article idea was brought to us by our preceptor Dr. Ahmed Raziuddin at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago. At the time, James MacGregor and Kirsten Fill were rotating with him, I had already completed my rotation with him but was still in the hospital assigned to another preceptor. I had previously published an article with Dr. Raziuddin a few months before in Emergency Medicine News with another student from our school, Sefako Phala, and a student from Xavier. So when Dr. Raziuddin had this case idea that he had seen and treated, he offered it to the three of us to write up and attempt to publish it. We were all friends from before through med school and funnily enough we're all Canadian, too.
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What did you hope to accomplish with the article?
What we hope to accomplish with the article is honestly just presenting a very interesting case to the medical community and being able to explain that functional human life is sustainable while having an alarmingly low hemoglobin level.
What should people know about low hemoglobin levels?
Low hemoglobin levels is that that term is defined as anemia. Anemia can be life-threatening and can make you very symptomatic if critically low. Anemia typically is more common in women than in men, and iron deficiency anemia is the most common form of it. This article explores a different cause of anemia with regards to alcoholism and organ dysfunction. Regardless, all it takes is a simple blood test for anyone to find out what their hemoglobin level is with any Primary Care doctor.
Is there anything else you’d like to say about getting published in Emergency Medicine News?
Emergency Medicine News is a very interesting journal, catered to emergency room practitioners and emergency room cases/standard of care. We are all very grateful to now have been published twice in this journal and hope to continue in the future as new and interesting cases happen every day in our career.
Are you all still busy with clinical rotations?
Yes, I am in clinical rotations currently. James is as well and he is finishing. Kirsten has completed her rotations and is awaiting the Match.
Photos of two other students who worked on the article (below, top & bottom: James MacGregor & Kirsten Fill).
Read the article in Emergency Medicine News
(Top photo) EMERGENCY MEDICINE NEWS: 3 UMHS students published an article on low hemoglobin levels in this medical journal. Photo: Courtesy of Emergency Medicine News
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Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciencesfocuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, “personalized medical education,” and it’s what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada. UMHS is challenging everything you thought you knew about Caribbean medical schools.
Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.
