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Surgery Conference Room, 4:00
p.m.
Present (underlined) were: Reid Adams, Eve Bargmann,
Robert Bloodgood, Anita Clayton, Gene
Corbett, Carl Creutz, Donald Innes (Chair),
Vern Juel, Howard Kutchai, Chris Peterson,
Jerry Short, Linda Watson, Bill Wilson,
Brian Wispelwey, John Bell, Sarah Jones,
Maria Meussling, Debra Reed (secretary)
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Electives and 4th Year
Academic Activities. A printout of electives chosen by
students in each period was distributed to the Committee.
Significant numbers of students take electives in periods 9 and 10
(>100 in @). Trends such as ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support)
being more popular in periods 8,9,10 and 11 and others selected in the
earlier periods were discussed along with the impact this has on future
curriculum development.
It was noted that the “4th year” has only 44 active weeks
as students are asked to finish by May 1st. Of the 44 weeks
32 are elective, ACE and Neurology. From the remaining 12 weeks come
approximately 4 weeks of “residency interview” time; 2 weeks for
USMLE-2CK study (anticipate an additional 2 weeks for USMLE-2CS) and
1-2 weeks for the 4th year Enhancement program, which leaves
~2 weeks of vacation.
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USMLE Step 2CS. A proposal
regarding graduation requirements and the Step 2CS exam was endorsed by
the Committee. The delay in requiring a passing grade on the Step
2CS prior to graduation will allow time for initial adjustments to the
test and for the School of Medicine to adjust the curriculum if
necessary.
This exam will be offered for the first time to the Class of
2005. Completion of the test is required for graduation for the
Classes of 2005, 2006 and 2007. For these classes, passing the 2CS exam
is required for licensure, but not for graduation. (This policy
will be reviewed after data from the first three years of experience
with the exam are available.)
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PDA Requirement. The
Committee endorsed a proposal to require third year students to
purchase a PDA (POM operating system) prior to beginning their
clerkships. Most of the current third years (~90%) already use
PDAs. Students will be cautioned that no identifiable patient
information should be stored on their PDA. The Committee expressed some
concern not about the tool, but rather how the tool is used – students
should be taught critical thinking with the PDA used only as a
tool.
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AAMC Meeting. Several
members of the Committee attended the November AAMC meeting in
Washington, DC. Our own Dr. Eugene Corbett was featured
at a session on Clinical Skills and participated in a panel discussion
at the meeting regarding the national Clinical Skills
Project. Dr. Innes encouraged members of the Committee
to present information regarding the new UVA curriculum projects at
future meetings of the AAMC.
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CCEC (Contemporary Clerkship and
Electives Committee). Bill Wilson reported
that the team working on CCEC with Meg Keeley as Chair has met once.
Each member was asked to examine their clerkships for core
objectives and determine the number of patients needed to impart core
knowledge and skills. The development team will begin by developing an
ideal curriculum and then work toward practicality. Notes from the
meeting are included:
Proposed curricular changes as described on curriculum web site were
presented. The role and opportunities for this committee were
discussed.
Reasons necessitating change in the clinical portion of the curriculum
were presented by Drs. Keeley and Wilson:
- Medicine has changed dramatically while the clerkships have
remained essentially unchanged for many years.
- There are new fields of medicine that are not currently explored in
our curriculum.
- The practice of medicine has changed and students may not need some
of the skills/experiences currently mandated in our curriculum.
- Legal constraints on patient care and documentation have changed
the clinical experience for students.
- Students are expected to make career choices earlier often before
experiencing some areas of medicine.
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Broad ideas for change were presented with the goal of adding more
flexibility and selection into the clerkship portion of the curriculum
and more structure into the elective portion. This could involve
shortening current clerkships then adding those weeks as two week
"selectives" which could be done during the third or fourth year.
This would allow Neurology to move back into the clerkship portion of
the schedule.
2 week elective/selective experiences were discussed. Several
specialities could develop two week experiences (Optho, Derm, ENT,
Ortho) that would increase exposure for the students while still
offering longer experiences for those students interested in entering
the field.
Multiple logistical issues were brought up that will have to be
addressed as we progress. Dr. Rein brought up the issue of
advising students with more selection in the third year and the group
suggested a core group of trained third year advisors as a possible
solution.
The role of medical students in the patient care team was
discussed. From evaluation data, students complain that they are
often on the sidelines in the patient management team.
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Funding Medical
Education. The Committee agreed that until more
accountability was made for educational funds the Curriculum renewal
will be challenging. A budget proposal for course directors and
administrators has been prepared and is to be sent to the Dean as a
first step toward an education budget with transparency and
accountability.
Donald Innes/dmr
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