University of Virginia School of Medicine
Systems Leadership Community
August 10, 2011

Medical Education Building, Learning Studio, 4:00 p.m.

Minutes

Present (underlined) were:  Dela Alexander, Brian Behm, Alan Binder, Robert Bloodgood, Elizabeth Bradley, Megan Bray, Mary Bryant, Addeane Caelleigh, Randy Canterbury, Eva Casola, Anne Chapin, Bobby Chhabra, Pam Clark, Bruce Cohen,  Eugene Corbett, Alan Dalkin, John Dent, Terri Ellison, Allison Innes,  Don Innes, John Jackson, Kim Joyce, Kambiz Kalantarinia, Karen Knight, Darci Lieb, Stuart Lowson, Jen Marks, Jim Martindale, Melanie McCollum, Veronica Michaelsen, Mo Nadkarni, Bart Nathan, Selina Noramly, Sabrina Nuñez, Dick Pearson, Chris Peterson, Sue Pollart, Ellen Ramsey, Barbara Rogers, Mitch Rosner, Mark Russell, Neeral Shah, Allan Simpson, Nassima Ait-Daoud Tiouririne, Jonathan Truwit, Keith Underwood, Linda Wagoner-Fountain, Mary Kate Worden, Elizabeth Wright, Zhen Yan.  Student Representatives:  Richard Rueb (2012), Kaitlyn Snyder (2013), Michael Hrdy (2014 ) 

Convener:  Bart Nathan

1. New staff and changes in Office of Medical Education Support.  John Jackson, now interim Associate Dean for Instructional Support, presented an update on hiring new staff and other changes.  Three new instructional support members will join the staff to work with System Leaders:  one half-time person very soon, an offer has been made for a full-time position, and a search is beginning for another full-time position.   Staff members are shifting offices so that clusters of staff members will be located together:  on McKim 1^st floor, HS Library 1^st floor, and MEB 3^rd floor.  An offer is also being to an instructional designer to work with Kim Joyce.  Darci Lieb will manage all short courses (C2S, Mini Med School), the clerkships, and financial affairs for the office. 
   
   
2. Curriculum change at University of Miami School of Medicine.  Priscilla Potter, M.D., former Associate Dean for Curriculum at Miami, outlined the process and lessons learned from its curriculum change when she was there.  A six-member Executive Committee set policy and oversaw the curriculum.  The change took five years, and in the early years there was considerable unhappiness, especially among science faculty.  Overall, the problems were (a) resistance to change, (b) the chairs’ sense of loss of ownership for content, and (c) and students in both the former curriculum and the new one felt short-changed.  The outcomes, overall, were that (a) students started clerkships earlier, (b) clerkship directors thought that students from the new curriculum understood better, (c) students were formally encouraged to conduct research, and accommodations were made to permit more research, (d) at the end of the change, the faculty were happier because of greater contact between clinical and basic science faculty and less required teaching, (e) Board scores went up, (f) students continued to have trouble with Microbiology and Pharmacology, and so greater exposure was created in small groups.
   
   
3. Form for feedback to individual faculty.  Elizabeth Bradley distributed a feedback tool that Chris Burns found on Med Ed Portal.  System leaders are formally responsible for giving feedback on teaching performance to individual faculty.  She asked for feedback from the System Leaders about the usefulness of the form.  There was discussion of the need for training to use this (or any) feedback tool and the need for policy as to who is expected to fill it out and what use is to be made of it.
   
   
4. New policies.  Don Innes presented the final policies in three areas.
   
   

   *	Change to schedule for SMD 2015.  The first summative assessment has been moved, to better apportion exams through MCM and to better balance exams for the two different classes.
   *	Mandatory/Not mandatory status of types of activities and which are recorded.  Considerable discussion highlighted the following issues:  (a) different systems applying the recording policy differently for SMD 2014, leading to a rash of complaints when new systems begin, (b) the problem of sessions being labeled as engagement activities (which are not recorded) but the faculty delivery straight lectures, which the student expect to be recorded.
   *	Attendance policy and make-up policy for missed activities.  There was considerable discussion of how to know when students miss mandatory activities and what actions to take when they do.  The policy states that missing more than two mandatory activities will result in a Concern card, but it seems that this is not being enforced, partly because no attendance is taken.  In response to a question, it was confirmed that formative assessments may be taken anywhere but that summative assessments must be taken in the HS Library.

Next meeting.  The next scheduled meeting is Wednesday, September 14, 2011, at 4:00, in the Learning Studio of the Medical Education Building.

Attachment:
RIME peer evaluation tool