Joedrecka S. Brown Speights, M.D., professor and chair of the FSU College of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, wrote an article on physician mental health that was published in the latest edition of Florida Family Physician, the official publication of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians (FAAFP).

“Practicing medicine is wrought with complexities and challenges that detract physician well-being,” Speights wrote in the article titled ‘Physician Burnout – Organizational Solutions for Well-Being.’

She outlines individual-level and organizational or systems-level intervention strategies to combat burnout, accompanied by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Well-Being Report recommendations.

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Thirteen students in the M.D. Class of 2024 are the newest members of the FSU Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation of Humanism in Medicine defines humanism as the link between compassionate and scientific competence. Humanism in medicine fosters relationships with patients and other caregivers that are compassionate and empathetic. It describes attitudes and behaviors that are sensitive to the values, autonomy, cultural and ethnic backgrounds of others.

Students selected for the Class of 2024 are listed alphabetically and include their respective regional campuses. They will be formally inducted Aug. 4 in conjunction with the M.D. Class of 2027 White Coat Ceremony at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall.

•    Morgan Bradley (Sarasota)
•    Rachel Carr (Sarasota)
•    Sheena Chege (Sarasota)
•    Bailey Creighton (Pensacola)
•    Emily Gansert (Daytona Beach)
•    Amelia Hartje (Daytona Beach)
•    Sarah Hicks (Orlando)
•    Khari King (Daytona Beach)
•    Jeremy Kuder (Pensacola)
•    Barbara Pierre Louis (Fort Pierce)
•    Kayla Schusterman (Tallahassee)
•    Nicholas Thomas (Daytona Beach)
•    Jemma Thompson (Tallahassee)

“It was encouraging to see so many of our students recognized by faculty and staff from across all four years of the curriculum, and their classmates,” FSU Chapman Chapter faculty advisor Casey Rust wrote in an email announcing the selections. “These students rose to the top as true exemplars of humanism by receiving multiple nominations from faculty, staff and peers in every category, demonstrating clinical excellence, service to others, patient-centered approach to care and compassion.”

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation defines the humanistic doctor as one who demonstrates the following attributes (I.E., C.A.R.E.S.)
•    Integrity: the congruence between expressed values and behavior.
•    Excellence: clinical expertise.
•    Compassion: the awareness and acknowledgement of the suffering of another and the desire to relieve it.
•    Altruism: the capacity to put the needs and interests of another before your own.
•    Respect: the regard for autonomy and values of another person.
•    Empathy: the ability to put oneself in another’s situation, e.g., physician as patient.
•    Service: the sharing on one’s talent, time and resources with those in need; giving beyond what is required.
 

The World Health Organization said Friday that the sweetener Aspartame could possibly cause cancer. Pradeep Bhide at Florida State University joined LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow to discuss the findings.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - It’s found in thousands of foods and drinks across the globe. Aspartame has been a staple in the American diet since the 1980s and has been the subject of scientific study for just as long.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization made waves after a committee declared aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic,” citing several studies showing the sweetener could be linked to cancer.

Pradeep Bhide, director of the Center for Brain Repair at Florida State’s College of Medicine, said the WHO’s announcement was not shocking to him.

“I was not at all surprised,” he said.

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Angelina Sutin, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, was interviewed for an article titled "Loneliness can kill you" that recently was published in The Independent. It details a Ugandan study that confirmed an association among social isolation, loneliness and mortality.

She was not involved in the research; the results were published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Sutin's research addresses how personality traits are associated with physical and mental health..Read the article, including her comments, in The Independent.

A Florida State University College of Medicine faculty member, two third-year medical students and a medical school librarian recently published an article in Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.

Shermeeka Hogans-Mathews, M.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, medical school librarian Roxann Mouratidis and students DanTasia Welch and A. Lisa Kurian (both M.D. 2025) built upon a previously published article that discussed the correlations between poor sleep and the two-dimensional perfectionism model of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns.

“Perfectionism has been shown to manifest in medical students and medical educators, as the medical field recruits and rewards high achievers,” they wrote. “Maladaptive perfectionism cultivates a cycle of dysfunctional thoughts, negative feelings, and emotional distress.”

Their cross-sectional study of first- and second-year medical students showed elevated levels of stress were associated significantly with poor sleep quality. Further, a cross-sectional study of practicing physicians showed two types of burnout were predicted by high levels of self-perfectionism.

For more on their findings, their conclusions and recommendations, read their article at Elsevier’s ClinicalKey.