• Be med smart: Reconciling medications across the continuum of care
  With the rise of medication errors an alarming concern for health care organizations across the country, many hospitals — including the MGH — are putting into place or improving existing systems that monitor and track patients' medications throughout their health care experience. Ample evidence in medical literature shows that discrepancies exist between the medications that are documented by the health care providers and what patients actually use at home. Integrating these differences is a process called medication reconciliation.

• Durant fellow advances maternal health
  Members of the MGH community gathered in the Haber Conference Room March 31 to hear Susan Tredwell, MD, a physician with the MGH Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, share her experiences working to promote maternal health issues in Indonesia as one of the 2006 Durant fellows. Her presentation was entitled "Death in Childbirth: Indonesia's Struggle to Reduce Maternal Mortality."

• Be Fit team takes a spin
  The Clinical Care Management Unit team is determined to do well in phase five of the Be Fit program, so they recently organized a special spinning class. Sponsored by The Clubs and MGH Nutrition and Food Services, the Be Fit program is an ongoing competition to eat well, stay fit and live a healthy lifestyle.

• National Institutes of Health regional seminar
  The MGH and Harvard University co-hosted the bi-annual National Institutes of Health (NIH) Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration March 29 through 31 at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.

• Disparities Solutions Center highlights progress at open house
  The MGH Disparities Solutions Center hosted an open house March 30 in the East Garden Room to update the MGH community about its current work and progress during its first eight months of operation, as well as to share opportunities for future collaborations and partnerships with the center. The hospital-based center is the first of its kind in the country and is dedicated to developing and implementing policies and procedures as well as changing the delivery of care to help eliminate racial and ethnic differences — or disparities — in health care.

• Small gestures count most
  Many patients who appreciate the care they have received at the MGH give generous donations — large or small — to the hospital. Here is a letter from one such donor who is grateful for the care her mother received at the MGH Cancer Center.

• MGH Biostatistics Center celebrates 20th anniversary
  This year marks the 20th anniversary of the MGH Biostatistics Center, which was founded in 1986 with David Shoenfeld, PhD, as its director to provide statistical support for clinical and laboratory research at the MGH. Biostatistics involves the theory and application of techniques for describing, analyzing and interpreting health data from research studies.

• In memoriam: David Ross Calkins, MD
  David Ross Calkins, MD, of MGH Primary Care, died April 7 after a long illness. Calkins graduated from Princeton University in 1970 and went on to earn his medical degree from Harvard Medical School (HMS) and his masters in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1975.

• What's Happening

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