8A
Wednesday, January 31, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Med Center students examine reality
Watkins offers experience to physicians of the future
Steve Puppe / KANSAN
By Teresa Veazey Kansan staff writer
Get out of the classroom and into the examing room. For some sick KU students, the doctor's office isn't any more fun than school. But for University of Kansas Medical Center students who are working with patients for the first time, the trade-off is necessary.
And Watkins Memorial Health Center is the place for them to learn, said Charles Yockev. Watkins physician.
"This is where we learn to do a health history and a physical exam," said Jeff Jennings, second-year medical student. "This is the first time we're actually involved with patients."
As part of his year-long class, Medicine 850 Physical Diagnosis, Jennings said he and other medical students were sent to different places in the Kansas City area, including Lawrence, to practice working with patients.
"This is the very beginning of our clinical experience," said Ben Biermann, second-year medical student and class member. "I think it's to prepare us for when we work at clinics at the Med Center."
As part of their classwork, which will involve 10 sessions at Watkins, Jennings said he and other students practiced giving physical exams.
Son Van Truong and Jillian Stephens, KU med students examine a patient. Watkins Health Center gives the med students a chance to get involved with the patients.
Specific exams, such as breast or pelvic exams, are not included because the students don't have enough training.
Biermann said that during the first two years of medical school, students studied basic sciences, such as anatomy and pathology, which is the study of disease and its causes. Last semester the class spent several evening sessions practicing on one another.
But there's a difference between practicing a physical exam and actually giving one, he said.
"Doing a physical exam on someone is a personal examination," Biermann said. "I wanted them to feel comfortable and wanted to make sure I didn't miss something."
Physical examinations that are school-related, such as studying abroad, are included in a health fee. Students who need physicals for a job or insurance normally pay $30 to $45, but there is no cost if they are examined by one of the medical students, Yockey said.
"Students benefit because they get a free physical, and the med students benefit because they get the practice," Yockey said. "It's not taking away staff time. We're just giving them a room."
After the exam, students can refer patients to Watkins staff if the patients have a question or need a prescription. The medical students also have the opportunity to talk with Watkins staff about the examination.
"The one thing we have to offer is that we're adequately staffed, so we can spend time with them," Yockey said.
Biermann said he thought that he and Jennings were
fortunate to be practicing at Watkins rather than other health care centers.
"I think we're getting an opportunity to do more here," Biermann said. "Some others in our class aren't getting to do much, other than watch, because the doctors are so busy."
Home pages dress down, build speed
Kansan staff report
Elaborately designed home pages on the World Wide Web may be interesting, but they are sometimes impractical and take too long to transmit.
As a result, some KU students are finding a market for designing simpler yet attractive home pages.
the department originally had used a graphic designer,
Tracy Atteberry, Cozad, Neb., graduate student,
is one such student. Atteberry was hired by the
department of mathematics to redesign its home
page.
Ben Leimkuhler, assistant professor of mathematics, said the problem with the original page was that its design was so large and detailed that it took too long to travel through the wires to the modem.
Eventually, the department decided not to use the design because it took so long to transfer information, he said.
Atteberry designed a new page that was simpler in design.
Instead of large background pictures, Atteberry used tiled backgrounds. He also limited the length of the Web page to about the size of a computer screen.
"It is important to break things up into smaller chunks, rather than having a Web page that goes on forever," he said.
Jay Vidheecharoen, St. Louis senior, also designs Web pages using simple graphics. He designed Continuing Education's fire-safety Web page.
Instead, Vidheecharoen said he tried to make simple, attractive graphics that serve the same purpose.
"Because I have had experience on the Web, I know to avoid making graphics too detailed," he said.
But Vidheecharoen warned that it was important not to make Web pages so plain that they were not interesting and didn't attract attention.
"A lot of the pages that I have seen on the Web have been disappointing," he said.
BRIEF
Officer: Arson suspect appeared calm at fire
The Associated Press
Prairie Village police Sgt. Steve Hunter said he arrived at the home of Debora Green early on the morning of Oct. 24.
He testified at Green's preliminary hearing in Johnson County District Court that he had found the house ablaze with two children trapped inside. Green and another child, Kate Farrar, now 11, were barefoot and in nightclothes on the driveway.
OLATHE — A suburban doctor charged in the arson deaths of two of her children appeared calm and cool when authorities arrived at her burning home last fall, a police officer testified yesterday.
Hunter said Green appeared calm. He pointed to her in the courtroom and said, "About like today."
Hunter said he and other officers tried to enter the house but found all the doors blocked by flames or locked.
Kate, however, was jumping up and down, screaming that her brother and sister were in the burning house, Hunter testified. He said she yelled: "Please save them. Please don't let them die."
Tim Farrar, 13, and 6-year-old Kelley Farrar died in the blaze.
Green, 44, is charged with aggravated arson and two counts of capital murder.
She also is charged with two counts of attempted capital murder — one in connection with Kate, who escaped the fire by crawling out a window, and the other with an alleged attempt to poison her estranged husband, Michael Farrar, 40.
Lighting up may get harder for underage smokers
Legislative panel working on bill that would restrict access to vending machines
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — The war against tobacco continued in the Statehouse yesterday with a legislative panel beginning work on a bill that would make it much more difficult for young people to buy cigarettes.
"Smoking is more and more frequent in schools," 13-year-old Emily Broxterman of Overland Park told the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee during a hearing.
"Many of my classmates smoke," she said. "They do it to be cool."
She also said her smoking classmates knew where they could buy cigarettes from vending machines.
"The tobacco industries know that if they can get young teens to smoke, they will basically have them hooked for the rest of their lives," she said. "The tobacco
industry is controlling us."
The bill would prohibit the sale of any tobacco products, such as cigarettes.
tobacco, from vending machines, unless the machines are in a place not open to minors, such as bars.
Some exceptions would be made. For example, a cigarette vending machine could be maintained in a commercial building or factory if it were in a part of the building that the public could not access.
cigarettes out of the mouths of minors.
The bill also would make it illegal for a
People attending the meeting included students and lobbyists. Supporters of the bill wore stickers that read: "Stop the
Emily Broxtorman Overland Park 13 year old
minor to possess cigarettes. Now, it is illegal for youths to buy cigarettes, but it is not against the law for them to possess cigarettes.
The intent of the legislation is to keep
Sale, Prevent the Addiction."
Betty Dicus, representing the American Cancer Society, said the most common starting age for smoking was between 11 and 14 years of age.
"By the age of 13, they are frequently daily smokers," she said.
age 21, she added.
Almost everyone who becomes a full-fledged smoker does so before reaching
The committee was told that children learned to smoke by imitating others.
Chaniquia Fleming, a Junction City High School student, told the lawmakers that
her three younger sisters "mimic everything I do."
"If I smoked, and if my mother didn't kill me first, I know eventually my little sisters would, too," she said.
Selling cigarettes to a minor would carry penalties of a fine up to $2,500 and a year in jail.
The bill would let retailers off the hook if they sold cigarettes to minors with false picture identifications that indicated they were 18 or older.
Bob Conant, director of the Alcohol Beverage Control Division, which also regulates cigarettes, said such a provision is necessary because even the most conscientious store clerk can sell cigarettes to a minor with false ID.
"Awareness is the key," he said. "There is a need for education. Most retailers with cigarettes or liquor would prefer not to break the law and would prefer not to sell to minors."
The measure also drew the support of Smokeless Tobacco Institute and also the Kansas Oil Marketers Association, which represents independent convenience stores.
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