LECOM Bradenton and Manatee Glens Hospital Partner to Teach Medical Students

 Bradenton added a specialty hospital to its list of Florida-based teaching affiliations when the college signed an agreement with Manatee Glens Hospital this month. This is the eighth hospital in Florida to partner with LECOM Bradenton to serve as a training site for medical students.

Third year medical students will gain hands-on medical training in mental health and addiction assessment and treatment through clinical clerkships at Manatee Glens starting in December 2005 when students from the main campus in Erie, Pennsylvania arrive to begin their clinical rotations. LECOM Bradenton’s first class of students will begin their clinical training the following year.

Clinical clerkships are an integral part of the training that all medical students receive during the third and fourth years of their medical education. Psychiatry and Behavioral Health is one of eight, core areas that students experience through physician offices, clinics, and hospitals. The others are Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, and Ambulatory Medicine.

A clerkship in mental health is a good choice for a medical student to make according to Robert George, D.O., Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the medical school. “Even students who plan to practice in an area of medicine besides psychiatry need to become familiar with mental health intervention,” said George. “All physicians, regardless of specialty, must be able to recognize mental health issues in a patient and be prepared to treat or refer them for appropriate treatment.” One of the goals of this rotation is to make the student aware of the behavioral health services in his or her community.

A rotation at Manatee Glens Hospital will last four weeks. LECOM students will gain experience providing comprehensive health services within a hospital setting.

“We are very excited for the opportunity to work with LECOM in training medical students in behavioral health disorders. These disorders are among the top four reasons for death and disability in the United States. ,” said Jose Zaglul, M.D., Medical Director for Manatee Glens. “Manatee Glens’ collaboration with a quality medical school such as LECOM furthers our goal of becoming a recognized teaching and research facility.” Manatee Glens currently serves as a training ground for pre- and post-doctoral psychology students from across the nation and abroad, as well as for local nurses and social workers.

Manatee Glens, which is celebrating its fiftieth year of nonprofit service to the community, provides care to over 10,000 children and adults a year and has six major mental health and addiction treatment centers offering inpatient, outpatient and residential services. Manatee Glens Hospital is located in eastern Manatee County on a campus with 85 acute and subacute beds. The Hospital provides twenty-four hour behavioral health triage, crisis stabilization and detoxification.

LECOM Bradenton is a branch campus of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, Pennsylvania. LECOM is one of 20 colleges of osteopathic medicine in the country. Osteopathic medicine is a distinctive form of medical practice in the United States. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) provide all of the benefits of modern medicine including but not limited to prescription drugs, surgery, and the use of technology to diagnose disease and evaluate injury.

Osteopathic physicians are fully licensed doctors practicing in all fields of medicine. They also offer the added benefit of hands-on diagnosis and treatment through a system of therapy known as osteopathic manipulative medicine. Osteopathic medicine is based on whole-person health care. The D.O. emphasizes helping each person achieve a high level of wellness by focusing on health education, injury prevention and disease prevention.