University of Virginia School of Medicine

Curriculum Committee

Minutes 01.03.02

Pediatric Pathology Conference Room, 4:00 PM

Curriculum & Clinical Medicine Joint Committee Meeting

Present (underlined) were: Reid Adams, Robert Bloodgood, Victoria Camerini, Anita Clayton, Al Connors, Gene Corbett, Donald Innes (Chair), Nelle Linz, David Shonka, Jerry Short, Howard Kutchai, Bill Wilson, Debra Reed (secretary), (Clinical Medicine Committee Members) Allison Innes, Vern Juel, Karen Maughan, Michael Rein, William Herbert, Pamila Herrington, Gary Owens, Margaret Mohrmann, Susan Squillace, Mark Mikkelsen

1. Elective Program. The fourth year elective program will be considered a course with the course directors becoming members of the Clinical Medicine Committee (CMC). The CMC will become the Advisory Board for the elective course. The search is underway for a Clinical Director of this course. Suggestions of candidates for this position were solicited from the members of the CMC.
   
   
2. Advanced Clinical Elective (ACE). The creation of an Advanced Clinical Elective was discussed with the members of the CMC. A revised ACE criteria statement and list of course objectives was distributed. ACE is a required 4-week clinical experience involving the highest level of patient involvement allowed a medical student. Students will earn 6 credit hours for each ACE successfully completed. A minimum of one ACE per student will be required, however, if available, more may be selected by the student. Current AI's are currently offered in medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynecology, neurology, pediatrics and family medicine. To establish a new Advanced Clinical Elective, the guidelines outlined by the Curriculum Committee must be met and the course must be approved by the CMC. The possibility of a psychiatric medicine ACE was discussed. Student responsibilities for ACE should be distinctly different from those in the clerkship experience.
   
   
3. Review of preliminary findings from clerkship review:

   A) Assuring that all Clerkships are meeting LCME standard for equivalent education at all sites. Standardized tests and student evaluations within each clerkship should also be consistent at all sites.
   
   B) Resident teaching skills need development.
   
   C) Expectations (specific learning objectives) and schedules (documented) for students must be clearly communicated for each clerkship including each clerkship subunit.
   
   D) Teaching responsibilities and expectations for faculty, residents, nurses, and support staff must be made clear.

   E) Consistent and timely feedback must be given to students in all clerkships.

   Passports deemed worthwhile as a good first step in achieving this goal.

   F) Establishment of a formal curriculum in each clerkship

   Develop a set of specific objectives and goals for each clerkship, may be case based, lecture based etc. but must be consistent at all clerkship sites.

   G) Uniform clerkship evaluation forms

   This will be discussed at the next CMC meeting. Jerry Short will work on the WEB based evaluation with the CMC. The evaluation form should be consistent over all clerkships with space for free text for comments regarding clerkship specific items.

   H) Uniform methods and procedures for evaluation of student performance.

   Grades must be uniform at all sites. The evaluation should contain a narrative statement of the student's progress in the clerkship. This narrative will be used in the composition of the Dean's letter.

   I) Lack of clerkship support staff

   The possibility of hiring of a Clerkship support staff person to provide support to all clerkship directors was discussed. Duties could include such items as the student evaluation process, clerkship evaluation process.

   J) Improving resident teaching skills

   It was suggested that a program be implemented in each department with guidance from the Medical Education office to increase resident teaching skills.

Priorities...

Uniform clerkship student evaluation forms by Spring, 2002. Samples of various clerkship evaluations were distributed. Each report is in a different format and each contains variable evaluative data. In some cases the various sites from one clerkship are very different. This disparity must be corrected to meet LCME standards for uniformity. (Jerry Short will work with a subcommittee (e.g. Allison Innes, John Jackson...) of the CMC to devise a standardized form which will include information required from all clerkships and as well as data unique to a clerkship. Bill Wilson will acquire the latest versions of the evaluation forms from each clerkship (including all sites) and forward to the subcommittee. The subcommittee will present the form they devise to the CMC for evaluation and revision.

Improvement of resident teaching skills. Development of an incentive program to improve teaching skills of residents particularly at away sites should be implemented. Residents as Teachers (the RAT report) was mentioned and Howard Kutchai will provide a copy to Don Innes for review.

Standardization of the faculty evaluations for each clerkship (and conversion to to a web based system such as the one used during the first two years) should be implemented.

-Don Innes
-dmr