Project Medical Education
Success Story: Fred Friendly Seminar
Thirteen health care specialists came together September 8, 2000,
in Washington, D.C., to discuss the case of Bobby Taylor, a four-year-old
being treated for leukemia at an academic medical center. The case
was hypothetical, but the issues surrounding it were not. The discussion
was part of a Fred Friendly seminar produced for public television
broadcast, exploring the complex financial and ethical challenges
facing medical schools and teaching hospitals everywhere.
 Grants
from the Commonwealth Fund and the AAMC helped fund the Fred Friendly
produced PME seminar, "The Price of Medical Excellence: The
Future of America's Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals."
The seminar used the Socratic Dialogue format developed by Fred
Friendly Seminars, Inc., a company with over 20 years of experience
in producing videos and public television programs.
In the seminar, Harvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree led panelists
from medical centers, patient advocacy groups, Congress, insurance
plans, and the media in discussing Bobby's case. As the panelists
wrestled with the complicated issues surrounding his care, they
touched on sensitive and complex financial and ethical issues affecting
all health care providers and the public.
 Nearly
a year in the making, the seminar was organized with the assistance
of Columbia University, where the Fred Friendly Seminar concept
originated. In the studio audience were representatives of medical
schools and teaching hospitals, congressional staff and other invited
guests.
PME partners and selected member institutions of the Association
of American Medical Colleges received the videotape and a communications
kit with ideas on how to market the program to local television
stations and other potential audiences. An educational workbook
included in the kit was used to facilitate further discussion tailored
to audience and community needs.
UNC-TV, North Carolina's public television station, in partnership
with Project Medical Education premiered "The Price of Medical
Excellence" throughout the state on June 11, 2001. UNC-TV also
promoted the broadcast to the National Educational Telecommunications
Association and the Association of Public Television Stations. NETA
and APTS members (most PBS stations) were able to record the program
free and broadcast up to four releases between July 14, 2001, and
June 30, 2002.
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