Pamela Huang Wins Award at National Anesthesiology Conference

COM-Pamela_HuangPamela Huang, a fourth-year medical student at BUSM, recently received the “Best Scientific and Educational Award” at the 2017 PostGraduate Assembly in Anesthesiology in New York for her presentation on patient safety that combines the use of a book with high-definition video.

Her exhibit, “Lessons in Patient Safety: Stories, Analogies and the Multimedia Effect,” shared a new approach to teaching complex concepts in patient safety using high-definition video. The video stories accompany an upcoming not-for-profit book on patient safety developed in conjunction with Boston Medical Center. The stories offer techniques and strategies aimed at preventing errors before they occur and are applicable to all specialties and healthcare settings. A group of medical students, many of whom are pursuing careers in anesthesiology, have participated as chapter co-authors and assisted with the development of the multimedia elements of the book.

“Learners expect content to be not only visually engaging but personally relevant,” Huang said. “We hope this publication and its accompanying digital content will help reduce errors in patient safety.”

A native of San Francisco, Huang received her undergraduate degree in molecular and cell biology/neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied anesthesia’s effects on memory formation. She is a co-founder of the Brain Enrichment Program, which allows medical students to deliver brain-related lectures to residents at assisted living facilities. As a medical student, she co-authored two chapters of the upcoming patient safety book.

“Our recent award at the PostGraduate Assembly is a collaborative effort made by many outstanding individuals, of which I am only one of the medical students,” she said. “I want to highlight the extraordinary work spearheaded by Dr. Rafael Ortega, Dr. Keith Lewis, Dr. Robert Canelli and the multimedia laboratory.”