Gerald S. Levey, MD.

While academic medical centers all over the country currently face challenging times, no area has been harder hit by managed care than California. The ruthless cost-cutting and competition for health care contracts dealt a severe blow to both public and private hospitals. While many physicians in that market are looking to relocate elsewhere, Gerald Levey recently returned from a top level position at Merck & Co. to helm the school of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to Merck, Levey was chairman of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, president of the Association of Professors of Medicine, and a member of the Board of Governors of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Now, as other Los Angeles hospitals are on the brink of closure, Levey has the formidable task of directing the UCLA Medical Center into the future. Interviewed in his office in sunny southern California, Levey reflected on UCLA's strategy in a highly competitive market and the cloudy horizon facing academic centers in the United States.

The National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower: XX. The changing demographics of internal medicine residency training programs.

Three annual physician workforce surveys of internal medicine residency programs from 1990-1991, 1991-1992, and 1992-1993 show that changes in the demographic characteristics of internal medicine residents detected in the period 1986-1989 have been sustained; specifically, more women and international medical graduates are entering internal medicine. Women and international medical graduates now compose 32% and 36% of internal medicine trainees, respectively. The percentage of U.S. medical graduates was lower in traditional 3-year (categorical) tracks (64%) and highest in preliminary tracks (1 year of internal medicine leading to another specialty) (87%). Approximately 1500 more first-year residents than positions offered through the National Residency Matching Program were reported in 1992-1993. This suggests that many programs concentrate their recruiting efforts outside the Matching Program. The data also show a continuing high subspecialization rate for residents who complete 3 years of training in internal medicine (approximately 60%), although about one third do not go directly into subspecialty training. We discuss the implications of these findings for the national goal of increasing the number of primary care physicians.

Treatment of hyperthyroid disease.

PURPOSE: To evaluate treatments for hyperthyroid disease. DATA SOURCES: Selected studies published during the last 20 years addressing the diagnosis, causes, and treatment of hyperthyroid disease. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were chosen based on their usefulness in addressing specific points in the treatment of hyperthyroid disease. DATA EXTRACTION: Various treatment principles extracted from the references form the basis for the conclusions and recommendations made here. RESULTS: Hyperthyroid disease is a common endocrine disease. Although Graves disease is the most common cause of thyrotoxicosis, other primary and secondary causes exist. With classic signs and symptoms accompanied by confirmatory laboratory measures of thyroid hyperfunction, the diagnosis can be established firmly. Radioiodine is the preferred method to treat Graves disease; however, recent data concerning treatment with a combination of propylthiouracil and thyroxine require further evaluation to establish its efficacy. Radioiodine is also the preferred treatment for the other forms of hyperthyroid disease; however, patient-specific considerations in both may require patient-tailored therapies. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperthyroid disease can be treated definitively for most patients. Palliative therapy with beta-adrenergic blockade is useful in some patients. Further studies are needed to determine whether more recently described treatments have improved efficacy and whether therapy directed specifically at the underlying immunologic cause of Graves disease can be used successfully.

Three-decade investigation of familial pheochromocytoma. An allele of von Hippel-Lindau disease?

BACKGROUND: Usually sporadic, pheochromocytoma can, on occasion, complicate genetic disorders, such as neurofibromatosis 1, von Hippel-Lindau disease, and multiple endocrine neoplasia 2; some families seem to have just pheochromocytoma, where it may have occurred by chance. The natural history of a large kindred believed to have an excess of pheochromocytoma 34 years ago was followed with the hypothesis that the predisposition was, in fact, present and that family education and surveillance would decrease mortality. METHODS: Prospective observation and diagnostic surveillance for pheochromocytoma were conducted on the inception cohort, defined as three branches of the kindred in 1960. Of 619 descendants of three (of 11) siblings of German origin, 333 were evaluated in person at least once in the three decades of surveillance. No pheochromocytomas were known to have occurred in the eight other branches. A total of 522 persons from the 11 branches were evaluated. RESULTS: Five of the eight initial patients with pheochromocytoma died of cardiovascular complications attributable to the tumor. In follow-up, eight additional relatives were newly diagnosed with pheochromocytomas (at an average age of 19 years), and others had additional or recurrent pheochromocytomas, meningioma, para-adrenal paraganglioma, and a functioning glomus vagale; none died. CONCLUSIONS: A continuing excess of pheochromocytoma seems present in the family. Whether the incompletely penetrant gene in this family is allelic to the von Hippel-Lindau gene on chromosome 3 or is a distinct locus remains to be resolved with molecular studies. Meanwhile, education and surveillance seem to decrease mortality from pheochromocytoma in this family.

Internal medicine and the training of international medical graduates: a time for open discussion and new approaches.

The number of foreign national medical graduates entering internal medicine residency training programs in the United States has doubled since 1986. A rigorous, standardized preresidency evaluation of the basic clinical skills and language abilities of international medical graduates should be implemented. Those found to have significant deficits should undertake a preparatory curriculum designed to meet special educational needs before entry into the formal training program. A relevant curriculum might include formal lectures, reading assignments, physical diagnosis sessions, language classes, patient encounter sessions, and a tutorial on U.S medical culture that includes medical ethics and the basics of the our health care system. All or only some of these may be required for any given individual. The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) could provide many of the methods needed for an evaluation program and work collaboratively with program directors. This new approach to training of international medical graduates will require an evaluation system to to measure its effectiveness. Important questions about the funding of graduate medical education for international medical graduates must also be addressed.

National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower: XIX. Trends in internal medicine residency training programs.

The National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower (NaSIMM) reports on the results of its 1989-1990 census of residency programs. The results are integrated into an organizational model identifying inputs, process, outputs, and environment of medical training programs. The number of residents entering internal medicine continues to grow at a relatively rapid pace. This growth is largely accounted for by foreign citizens who are graduates of foreign medical schools (AFMGs). Residents are spending an increasing proportion of their time in ambulatory care settings, but, thus far, this ambulatory care training has occurred primarily in hospital clinics and emergency rooms. The proportion of a program's residents entering general internal medicine was found in a multiple regression analysis to be negatively associated with the number of subspecialty programs located in the training hospital, the percent of AFMG residents in the program, and the presence of a preliminary track in the program.

Changing the curriculum for internal medicine residency training.

The academic leadership of internal medicine is considering fundamental changes in the curriculum for internal medicine residency training. The impetus to change the curriculum is derived from various socioeconomic changes during the past 10 years. These changes have resulted in a drastically shortened length of stay of patients in hospitals, an emphasis on outpatient care by reimbursement agencies, and a sharp decline in the numbers of U.S. medical graduates selecting careers in internal medicine. Curriculum change will mandate that we define the roles of general internists and subspecialists in the delivery of primary care and that we re-define how we train these two groups of internists. We must focus attention on the issue of service compared with education and must confront the issue of how best to train foreign medical graduates. Any curriculum change will also have to accommodate residents selecting careers in research in order to ensure an adequate supply of physician-scientists. Before implementing any change in curriculum, we must put into place a rigorous, prospective evaluation system. We must be able to accurately assess both positive and negative outcomes of these changes and make necessary midcourse corrections. The impetus for curriculum change in internal medicine will, it is hoped, ultimately benefit the public, the trainees, and the practice of internal medicine.

The inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of a clinical evaluation exercise.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the internal consistency and inter-rater reliability of a clinical evaluation exercise (CEX) format that was designed to be easily utilized, but sufficiently detailed, to achieve uniform recording of the observed examination. DESIGN: A comparison of 128 CEXs conducted for 32 internal medicine interns by full-time faculty. This paper reports alpha coefficients as measures of internal consistency and several measures of inter-rater reliability. SETTING: A university internal medicine program. Observations were conducted at the end of the internship year. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 32 interns and observers were 12 full-time faculty in the department of medicine. The entire intern group was chosen in order to optimize the spectrum of abilities represented. Patients used for the study were recruited by the chief resident from the inpatient medical service based on their ability and willingness to participate. INTERVENTION: Each intern was observed twice and there were two examiners during each CEX. The examiners were given a standardized preparation and used a format developed over five years of previous pilot studies. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The format appeared to have excellent internal consistency; alpha coefficients ranged from 0.79 to 0.99. However, multiple methods of determining inter-rater reliability yielded similar results; intraclass correlations ranged from 0.23 to 0.50 and generalizability coefficients from a low of 0.00 for the overall rating of the CEX to a high of 0.61 for the physical examination section. Transforming scores to eliminate rater effects and dichotomizing results into pass-fail did not appear to enhance the reliability results. CONCLUSIONS: Although the CEX is a valuable didactic tool, its psychometric properties preclude reliable assessment of clinical skills as a one-time observation.

Medical student attitudes about internal medicine: a study of U.S. medical school seniors in 1988.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the attitudes of medical students toward careers in internal medicine. DESIGN: Cross-sectional national survey of U.S. medical school seniors. PARTICIPANTS: The 10,379 respondents to the 1988 Medical Student Graduation Questionnaire from the Association of American Medical Colleges. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Most men and women selecting internal medicine (n = 1931) as well as those switching from earlier preferences for internal medicine (n = 1606) made their final decisions about specialty during the third and fourth years of medical school. Almost 50% of students planning to be internists cited "intellectual content" as the most important factor in their choice of specialty. "Diagnostic challenge" was next most frequently cited. "Type of patient seen" and "role models" were more frequently cited as the most important factors in specialty choice for all other specialties than for internal medicine. Students who switched away from earlier preferences for general internal medicine cited the following most important factors in descending order of frequency: "too demanding of time and effort," "inconsistent with personality," "negative clerkship experiences," "don't like the type of patient," and "specialty chosen more fulfilling." The same five factors, in a different order of frequency, were given for switching from the subspecialties of internal medicine. CONCLUSIONS: Most medical students make their final choices about specialty during or after their clerkship year. Knowledge of these students' attitudes toward internal medicine could form the basis for the development of strategies to enhance the attractiveness of internal medicine among these students while they are making their final decisions about specialty.

National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower. XVIII: Subspecialty fellowships with a special look at hematology and oncology, 1988-1989.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the number and distribution of internists in subspecialty training and compare with data collected since 1976; to determine the distribution of activity of subspecialty fellows; and to focus on hematology and oncology. DESIGN: Repeated mail survey with telephone follow-up. PARTICIPANTS: All directors of subspecialty training programs in internal medicine in the United States. RESULTS: The 1988-1989 census identified 7530 fellows in training, 55 more than in 1987-1988. There are 24 more first-year fellows. Reports on the activities of subspecialty fellows show that, overall, 53% of fellows' time is spent in direct patient care, 20% on basic research, 15% on patient-related research, and 12% in teaching. CONCLUSIONS: The number of internists entering subspecialty training has risen at a considerably slower rate in the last 5 years compared with the 5 years before that. The length of subspecialty training has increased significantly since 1976. There has been a shift in subspecialty choice from hematology to oncology and toward joint programs offering both subspecialties.

Hyperthyroid myopathy and the response to treatment.

Hyperthyroidism is accompanied by significant dysfunction of both proximal and distal skeletal muscles. The purpose of this study was to quantitate the degree of muscle weakness in newly diagnosed patients with Graves' disease and to assess the response to treatment. Ten patients were prospectively studied with objective measures of strength and endurance of proximal and distal muscles while hyperthyroid (stage I), after 2 weeks of propranolol (stage II), and about 6 months later when euthyroid (stage III). Propranolol treatment for 2 weeks resulted in a subjective decrease in weakness, which was accompanied by a statistically significant improvement in grip strength (P less than 0.01), shoulder strength (P less than 0.02), and grip endurance (P less than 0.01) but not shoulder endurance. Muscle function further improved and attained control levels when the patients were chemically and clinically euthyroid. In contrast, a control group subjected to the same muscle testing protocol before and after 1 week of propranolol treatment showed no improvement in grip, shoulder strength, or shoulder endurance but had decreased grip endurance (P less than 0.01) and increased subjective weakness. These results confirm that muscle weakness commonly is associated with hyperthyroidism and can be quantitatively profound. In contrast to the effects of beta-blockade in normal controls, propranolol partially improves muscle weakness in thyrotoxic patients. We conclude that thyroid hormone and catecholamines in concert mediate the muscle dysfunction of hyperthyroidism.

National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower: XVII. Changes in the characteristics of internal medicine residents and their training programs, 1988-1989.

The National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower (NaSimm) has been surveying program directors of internal medicine about their programs and residents for 13 years. The 1988-1989 survey results, when compared with the results for 1987-1988, show an increase in both the number of residency positions offered in internal medicine and the number of residents in internal medicine programs. Although the proportion of graduates from U.S. medical schools who choose internal medicine is not changing (34%), the proportion of U.S. medical school graduates who continue training in internal medicine after their first year is decreasing. The composition of the residents in internal medicine by medical school graduated is also changing. Almost 25% of the first-year residents (R1s) in internal medicine are now graduates of foreign medical schools (FMGs) compared with 14% in 1976. The proportion of first-year female residents in internal medicine has increased to 30%, whereas the proportion of both first-year blacks and Hispanics has remained constant at 5% each. In nearly 25% (109 of 440) of the residency programs, more than 50% of the R1s are FMGs. Hispanics, Asians, and blacks were found to be over-represented in the programs training larger proportions of FMGs. This over-representation is attributable, in part, to the fact that Hispanics and Asians may be FMGs. Training issues of concern to program directors continue to be the provision of ambulatory and primary care experiences and the scheduling of nights on call. The survey results show that many residency program directors have reported a reduction in the number of nights on call and an increase in the amount of time residents spend in ambulatory training.

Catecholamine-thyroid hormone interactions and the cardiovascular manifestations of hyperthyroidism.

The spectrum of classic symptoms of hyperthyroidism suggests that in addition to the effects of increased thyroid hormone, affecting various organ systems, there is also a hyperadrenergic state. Despite this clinical impression, direct measures of serum levels of catecholamines and their urinary metabolites demonstrate values that are equal to or less than normal. In contrast, the hypothyroid patient who clinically manifests signs of decreased adrenergic stimulation can be expected to have increased levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and its metabolites. This review discusses possible mechanisms to explain this seeming paradox. Treatment of hyperthyroidism includes the rapid reversal of many of the adrenergic symptoms with use of beta-blocking drugs. Return to a clinically and chemically euthyroid state, however, requires antithyroid therapy accomplished over a longer period of time. A knowledge of the interaction of the cardiovascular and extracardiovascular manifestations of hyperthyroidism and the role of the adrenergic nervous system is important in the rational management of these patients.

Comparing research activities of women and men faculty in departments of internal medicine.

The findings from a questionnaire prepared by the Association of Professors of Medicine and the Association of American Medical Colleges were published in two reports in 1986 and 1987. These reports assessed the research activities of full-time members of departments of internal medicine in 1982 and 1983. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the data of the earlier reports in order to compare the research activities of women and men who were full-time faculty in departments of medicine during the time period originally surveyed. More than half of the faculty women who responded (52%) were less than 40 years old, compared with 23% of the faculty men. Sixty-seven percent of the women held the rank of instructor or assistant professor, in contrast to 40% of the men holding these ranks. Although the faculty of both genders reported generally the same proportions of time devoted to research, the women researchers with M.D. degrees had significantly less National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant support than did their counterparts who were men. Since this difference may have been a function of age, the authors compared NIH grant support of the faculty men and women with M.D. degrees who were 40-59 years old. Even in this older group, significantly fewer of the faculty women had NIH grant support than did the men (16% versus 30%). Furthermore, the percentage of designated laboratory space was significantly lower among the faculty women, regardless of degree (M.D., M.D./Ph.D., or Ph.D.). Further investigation is warranted to monitor the progress of women attempting to develop their research careers and to assess their overall clinical teaching and administrative roles in departments of medicine.

Graves' disease: an analysis of thyroid hormone levels and hyperthyroid signs and symptoms.

PURPOSE: Assessment of disease severity for patients with hyperthyroidism involves clinical evaluation and laboratory testing. To determine if there is a correlation between symptoms and thyroid function test results, we prospectively studied hyperthyroid patients using a standardized symptom rating scale and serum thyroid function parameters. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We examined 25 patients with untreated, newly diagnosed Graves' disease using the Hyperthyroid Symptom Scale (HSS) and serum levels of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3) relative insulin area (RIA), and estimates of free thyroxine index (FTI). In addition, we compared thyroid hormone levels with standard measures of depression and anxiety in these patients. RESULTS: When regression analyses controlling for age were performed, none of these symptom ratings were associated with FTI or T3 RIA. The HSS was correlated with goiter size and anxiety ratings and was inversely correlated with age. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that there is no relationship between the clinical assessment of disease severity and serum levels of thyroid hormone in untreated Graves' disease.