Our
new students will find a medical school that is undergoing its own process of
renewal and transformation. In 2012,
USD SSOM was rated in the top ten schools in the nation in rural medicine and
in family medicine and was named one of the top ten most popular medical
schools in the country by US News and World Report. Our graduates have enviably high rates of
passing national boards and high median board scores, and the school recently
passed accreditation with flying colors.
Despite this great foundation, changes are afoot because we recognize
that the curriculum of the past will not adequately train physicians of the
future. .
Soon,
students will notice fewer lectures and more interactive small group
sessions. Basic science courses will be
coordinated with each other to provide a more vivid and memorable picture of
the function of the human body.
Clinical work will be more clinic-centered, because the outpatient
setting is where most diagnoses are made and where 75% of visits in the U.S.
occur. More time will be set aside for
electives and this will occur earlier in the curriculum to allow students to
gain more experience in an area of interest before they have to choose a
specialty. Our new Frontier and Rural
Medicine (F.A.R.M.) program will allow a select group of students to spend
significant time in a rural community of less than 10,000 people.
This
is a lot of change and we are not alone.
Virtually every medical school in the country is overhauling its
curriculum right now. In part this is
in response to the recent Carnegie report that pointed out that the structure
of medical education had not changed in more than a century. Medical education has simply not kept up
with educational theory. Long-term
memory is created when learning is interactive, uses multiple modalities, is
repetitive, and is directly related to patient care. Clearly, it is time for us to change. But how do we know that we are creating a
better system? The answer is that USD
SSOM is uniquely positioned because the Carnegie report cited the Avera Sacred
Heart Yankton campus of USD SSOM as a national model for educational
reform. This means that the school has
experience in delivering the modern clinical curriculum and has the outcome
data to show that students who go through this curriculum are highly successful
as measured in many ways including performance and test scores. Only a small handful of schools in the
country have this experience. Another
major asset in this process is the high quality of the teaching faculty in the
school. It is difficult to ask basic
scientists and clinicians to change the way they teach, yet they are not only
willing to do so but they are also highly engaged in creating the new
model. The best systems (and the best
people) are those that are flexible and responsive to changing needs. The
communities and health systems are strong supporters of medical education, and
we will continue to rely on these important partners. Our final important asset is the students
themselves, who provide critical input and advice to us at every stage of the
process.
The
new curriculum must be responsive to the medical needs of South Dakota and the
nation. It is always important for
physicians to provide excellent care in a face to face environment. However, there is an increasing need for
physicians to step back and consider the health of populations. The modern physician should insist that the
quality of care be measured and improved, leading the effort rather than
resisting it. Medical school needs to
provide the tools for young physicians to do this. Many diseases now are related to behaviors
and social factors that are not going to be influenced by medications or
tests. Modern physicians need the tools
to motivate behavioral change. Physicians
also need to be competent to practice in an increasingly multi-cultural
world. Finally, and perhaps most
importantly, physicians need to adhere to the highest standards of
professionalism. These are tall orders,
but they can be accomplished.
One
of the things I like best about academic medicine is the variety and change
that is inherent in it. We have the privilege of working closely with some of
the best minds and some of the nicest people in the country. Building on this foundation, we share our new
students’ sense of optimism and look forward to the future.
--Mary Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP is Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine
