University of Virginia School of
Medicine
Curriculum Committee
Minutes 09.07.00
Pediatric Pathology Conference Room, 4:00 pm
Present (underlined) were: Reid Adams, Robert Bloodgood,
Anita Clayton, Al Connors, Gene Corbett , Joseph Dubose,
Joanna Goldberg, Donald Innes (Chair), Jerry Short,
Bill Wilson, Guest: Margaret Mohrmann, Debra Reed
(Secretary)
- Lunchtime Activities. Joey Dubose reported that the first
Meet The Faculty luncheon for the medical students was deemed a success
by both the medical students and this months sponsor, the Department of
Surgery.
- Course Self-assessment. A template drafted by Robert
Bloodgood, for the self-assessment of first/second year courses was
distributed to the Committee. Members were asked to be prepared to
discuss this at a subsequent meeting.
- Electives. Margaret Mohrmann, Chair of the Electives Board,
updated the Committee on the progress of the Boards review of electives
in the Medical School. The board has spent the last few months looking
at the elective curriculum, concentrating their efforts on content,
structure, and student feedback.
The Content Subcommittee of the Board was charged with examining the
content of the elective offerings at UVA.
Current 4th year elective offerings at UVA were reviewed; historical
elective subscription was reviewed; graduating and rising 4th year
students were surveyed to determine their experience with the current
4th year elective process; and peer institutions were surveyed to
determine the structure, content, philosophy and lessons learned
through their elective offerings.
An Elective Proposal/Description form has been drafted and was
distributed to the Curriculum Committee. This form will be refined and
sent to all elective coordinators for completion.
The major problem seems to be the time schedule for students selection
of residency programs and the unavailability of key electives prior to
that selection.
Currently, there are 185 electives offered. Students are free to create
electives with a supervising faculty member.
Current distribution of electives:
- 72% clinical electives
- 11% non-clinical electives
- 10% research electives
- 6% lab electives
- 1% teaching electives.
- Elective Subscription:
- 98 students took Radiology as an elective
- 65 students did away electives at LCME sites
- 60 students did away electives at non-LCME sties
- 45 students did an AI in Internal Medicine
- 26 students did a specially arranged elective
- 26 students did a research elective
- In a survey of the graduating and rising 4th year students
(1999-2000), Pediatrics-inpatient, outpatient, AI; OB/GYN infertility
AI; and MICU were high on the list (13 electives listed; 19 students
total) electives desired but not offered.
Dermatology; Radiology; AI Internal Medicine in 1st block; ID;
Emergency Medicine; GYN/ONC; and Anesthesiology were ranked highly in
the electives desired but filled (18 electives listed, 45 students
total).
The Board of Electives has formed a list of recommendations for
improving the electives process.
- Limited elective time in 3rd year. Two months out of 3rd
year devoted to electives - specifically the third specialty month in
medicine might include dermatology or radiology and the third specialty
month in surgery might include ER or anesthesiology.
- Early advising. Strongly recommend that panels of advisors
from each area guide students through their elective choices as well as
their individual advisors.
- Reduce class size. The Board recognizes that the most
problematic issues with electives have to do with the size of the class
and the size of the hospital/departments.
- AI Requirement. Most students are doing this already but to
maintain a well-rounded clinical education all students should be
required to participate in an AI. What constitutes this AI requirement
should be spelled out specifically.
- Encourage research. Make students aware of the availability
of the research electives as early as possible. Most students who
participate now seem to be attempting to fill residency requirements.
Make these electives more flexible to attract a larger audience.
- Compatible 3rd and 4th year scheduling. A draft of the
proposed 2002 Elective Calendar was distributed to the Committee. A
beginning date of July 2, 2001 was proposed. This date coincides with
the clerkship calendar.
- Plenary month. A month during which all students in the
class are in-house doing something similar - possibly the month around
Match. Topics relevant to all medical students without regard to
specialty, such as medical economics should be covered during this
month.
- On-line registration for electives. An on-line WEB based
registration system is being worked on so that students may register
for electives even while physically located at other sites.
-
-Don Innes
-dmr
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