HJNO May/Jun 2019

32 maY / JUN 2019  I  Healthcare Journal of New Orleans   Healthcare Briefs the way to celebrations with their families and friends. Medical students list their choices for residency programs, and the academic health centers and hospitals list their choices of students to fill them. All selections are fed into a computer, and matches are made. Match Day is when the students and their families find out where they matched and where they will go to complete their graduate medical education. A residency program is a period of education in a chosen specialty that physicians undergo after they graduate from medical school. Most resi- dency programs last from three to seven years, during which residents care for patients under the supervision of physician faculty and partici- pate in educational and research activities.When physicians graduate from a residency program, they are eligible to take their board certification examinations and begin practicing independently. Residency programs are spon- sored by teaching hospitals, academic med- ical centers, healthcare systems, and other institutions. Since statistics show that themajority of physi- cians remain in the communities and set up prac- tice where they’ve done their residencies, Match Day also reveals important information about the supply and types of physicians the New Orleans area and the state of Louisiana will have.The sup- ply of physicians practicing here not only affects access to care, but also local economies and the larger state economy. LSU Health New Orleans educates the majority of Louisiana’s physicians.  The National Resident Matching Program was established in 1952 to provide an orderly and fair mechanism to match the preferences of appli- cants for U.S. residency positions with  residency programchoices of applicants.The programpro- vides a common time for the announcement of the appointments, as well as an agreement for programs and applicants to honor the commit- ment to offer and accept an appointment if a match results. Residency programs begin on July 1, 2019. NewUndergraduate Public Health Degree Program at LSU Health NO Taking Applications LSUHealthNewOrleans School of PublicHealth is now taking applications for its new Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) degree pro- gram. It is the first bachelor of science in pub- lic health program at a public university in Loui- siana. It is a 2 + 2 program. Students complete 60 hours of prerequisite course hours.Admitted students complete their undergraduate train- ing (an additional 60 course hours) and gradu- ate from LSU Health New Orleans. Admission to the BSPH degree program at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health is open to all applicants whomeet the admission requirements and qualifications. The application deadline for the Fall 2019 class is August 1, 2019. The program has the added benefit of residing within a health sciences center that also trains and provides a home for students and faculty in the allied health professions, dentistry, med- icine, nursing, and graduate studies within the context of an urban, multicultural location. This makes the programunique in the Southeast.This environment enhances the opportunity for inter- professional education and mentoring, student worker positions, and applied experiences in the other schools, and is likely to influence the path of students interested in advanced degrees. LSU Health New Orleans’ Bachelor of Science in Public Health provides a substantive introduc- tion to the concepts, principles, skills, and meth- ods used in public health practice while allowing flexibility through the use of directed and focused electives. Because communication skills are vital in addressing public health issues, the curriculum specifically incorporates communication skills into many of the required courses. Hands-on training is also critical to robust preparation for a career in public health. The BSPH curriculum includes a learning experience consisting of a service learning or volunteer experience with a didactic component. Service-learning experi- ences provide students experience in working with community-based organizations to address public health issues. Louisiana is often ranked near the bottom in public health rankings. United Health Founda- tion’s America’s Health Rankings (2016) placed Louisiana 49th for the overall population and 47th for seniors. Many factors working at multiple lev- els account for these rankings; clearly, opportu- nities abound to discover and apply solutions to improve the health of Louisianans. Improving the public’s health generates a healthier work- force, reduces absences from work and school, and lowers medical costs. A healthier workforce will benefit the state’s economy; healthier chil- dren will mean a future of intellectual and eco- nomic growth, and a healthier older population will mean fewer hospitalizations and better qual- ity of life, resulting in increasing economic activity. The 2014–2019 Strategic Plan for the Louisiana Office of Public Health emphasizes the continual and growing need for a well-trained and educated public health work force. LSUHealth Dentistry Provides Free Oral Cancer Screenings LSU Health New Orleans School of Dentistry faculty and students offered free screenings to detect oral cancer every Wednesday in April, which is Oral Cancer Awareness Month. LSU Health New Orleans dental and dental hygiene students performed the screening exams under faculty supervision at the LSU Health New Orleans Dental and Medical Primary Care Clinic, 1111 Florida Avenue. Screening to detect oral cancer early improves both treatment options and survival. Oral cancers include cancers in the larynx, throat, lips, mouth, nose, and salivary glands. These cancers are more than twice as common among men as they are among women. There were an estimated 51,540 oral cancers diagnosed in 2018 with 10,030 deaths. LSUHealth NewOrleans’LouisianaTumor Reg- istry data showed that from2010 to 2014, Louisi- ana had the third highest incidence rate and the second highest death rate from oral cavity and pharynx cancer of any state in the nation. Tobacco use, heavy alcohol use, and infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) increase the risk of oral cancers. HPV has become increas- ingly recognized as a risk factor for oral cancers. HPV infects an estimated 12,000American peo- ple aged 15-24 a day. The fastest growing popu- lation developing oral cancers is young, healthy, nonsmoking people.         Symptoms may include a lump or a sore that does not heal, a sore throat that does not go away, difficulty in swallowing, and a change or hoarseness in the voice. Symptoms specific to