Columbus’ Dr. Zadina receives Koefoot award

Milton Zadina, M.D., second from left, a family practice physician in Columbus, with the three students he precepted in 2007, from left, Joe Citta, Jewelia Grennan and Lucas McKnight.

Patient, friendly, kind.

That’s how Columbus, Neb., family physician, Milton Zadina, M.D., is regarded by the numerous students who’ve had the opportunity to precept under him.

“He’s very approachable, very interested in his students,” said Lucas McKnight, a fourth-year medical student at UNMC who spent eight weeks with Dr. Zadina in the summer of 2007.

It’s this style of teaching that has earned Dr. Zadina the Marion D. and Theodore H. Koefoot, Jr. M.D., Outstanding Preceptor in Rural Family Medicine Award.

“I’m very happy for him,” McKnight said.

The Koefoot award recognizes outstanding teaching and mentoring by a UNMC family medicine volunteer community preceptor.

A 1977 graduate of Creighton University, Dr. Zadina began precepting in the mid-1980s.

At first it was just occasionally with students who had ties to the area and who had asked to come to the Columbus Family Practice office for their rotation.

Then, in 1998, Dr. Zadina was formally approached by UNMC.

He agreed and has had a steady stream of students in and out of his practice ever since.

About Dr. Koefoot Theodore H. Koefoot Jr., M.D., was a family practice physician in Broken Bow, Neb., for 30 years. A 1943 graduate of the UNMC College of Medicine, he served as an assistant professor of family practice and on the UNMC Admissions Committee. Dr. Koefoot also was a charter member of the American College of Family Physicians and a member of the American Academy of Family Practice. The Marion D. and Theodore H. Koefoot Jr., M.D., Outstanding Preceptor in Rural Family Medicine Award was established in 2005 through a gift made to the University of Nebraska Foundation by Dr. Koefoot’s wife, Marion, and his family, Nick and Gretchen Vondrak, Sarah and Gary Gernhart, Nicholas and Stephanie Vondrak and Suzanne and Brett Balak. Memorial gifts given by friends and patients following Dr. Koefoot’s death in 2004 also contributed to the establishment of the award.

“I really enjoy watching the students grow while they are here,” Dr. Zadina said. “The students who come to Columbus early in their third year generally do not know how to interview a patient. They struggle with what kind of questions to ask to get to the heart of a patient’s problem. By the end of their third year these students are pros.”

Dr. Zadina said he tries to expose the students to more than just the clinic by taking them to the local hospital where they learn how to use the dictating system and how to find and record information in the medical records system.
“I try to expose them to the other physicians in town, who are subspecialists, to teach them about doctor to doctor relationships,” he said.

Dr. Zadina also sends the students into the community, to the local schools and health fairs, to interact with the public and learn what it is like to be a family doctor in a smaller community.

“By the time they are done with their rotation they are very comfortable with the town and the patients,” he said.

McKnight said he enjoyed his time working with Dr. Zadina.

“One of the things I really like about Dr. Zadina is he would always stop and ask me if I was learning anything or if I had any questions, even if he was really busy with a patient. I learned a lot at his clinic,” he said.

While the Columbus Family Practice is multi-generational there are many geriatric patients who come through the doors, McKnight said.

“Those patients were always very happy to see the students and very welcoming,” he said.

Dr. Zadina said he encourages students to consider primary care or a career in geriatrics as their career.

“Of course, I always invite them back in hopes that they will consider practicing in a smaller community,” he said.