Transforming the educational experience
There are two great articles currently on GOOD: the first is about a new kind of classroom-less college for adult learners; and the second is about transformational schools that are working to create new notions of learning and teaching.
College Unbound is a new learning system that allows students to focus their education around a particular passion, interest or goal. Individualized plans are created for each learner, incorporating online seminars, technology and team learning, and an internship or job where the student gets to master and incorporate real-world skills into their educational objectives.
Some scary information from the article:
"How broken is the system? Over the past 20 years, the United States has fallen from first to 12th in the percentage of young people with postsecondary degrees. Tuition’s doubled in the past decade, rising faster than any other item in the Consumer Price Index since 1978. Student loan default rates are increasing. Only 56 percent of students complete a four-year degree in six years. And a nationwide study last year, using a test called the Collegiate Learning Assessment, found that 36 percent of students demonstrate no gain in learning between freshman and senior year."
I think we all know that the higher-education system is broken, and there are a lot of opinions out there right now about how to fix it. But sometimes it feels like people are just throwing ideas against a wall to see what sticks, and so many are being tested right now that it will likely be decades before any one design comes out on top. But it seems more and more as though "integrated, experience-based and outcome-based" strategies like College Unbound are coming into vogue, and I hope that (with increased funding) they can start to pull together the data they need to prove that it's a worthwhile system for many adult learners.
In a similar vein, educational activist Sam Chaltain is asking his readers (and the general public) to submit the names of schools they feel are "transformational", based on the Q.E.D. Foundation's Transformational Change model. The Q.E.D. Foundation states that truly transformational education is where students find the "skills and know-how to co-create their public world, to participate in their community and help shape the local and global decisions that will impact their lives". I enjoyed reading over the 22 traits of a transformational school (and learned a lot!), and am discouraged to hear that only two schools have so far met his requirements. I truly hope that more educators, parents, and administrators read the Transformational Change Model and start brainstorming ways to incorporate the ideas there into a more progressive system for students of all ages.
Surgeon assessment
The da Vinci robort is a devise that scales down a surgeons hand movement in order to allow him to perform operations using tiny incisions. This innovation allows for less tissue damage and a much quicker recovery period for patients. There are over 200,000 being used for surgical procedures today.
The newest innovation to the da Vinci Robot is the MScore which assesses the robot to more reliably predict whether new surgeons are ready to operate on patients. MScore compares the skills of novice surgeon to that of an experiences surgeon. This is a great tool for surgeon’s own assessment and continuing growth and skill.
3-D virtual anatomy
NYU School of Medicine designed a new and a more innovative approach for studying organs in cadavers. This approach involves a virtual cadaver projected on a screen in 3-D. With a simple click, all organs and veins are projected, allowing the capability to instantaneously navigate through the human body. The reviews of the virtual cadavers were mixed. Some students stated that dealing with a real human cadaver was difficult and often time neglects to cover all organs. The example given is dealing with a cadaver who has undergone multiple surgeries during its lifetime and is now missing its appendix and spleen. In this case the student is left without the knowledge of vital organ parts, while a virtual cadaver will always cover all organs and systems. Other students state that they believe that no computer will ever replace real cadavers. NYU administrators state that as of right now there are no plans to eliminate real cadavers as part of the curriculum but to simply use virtual cadavers to assist in the learning process.
Medical schools embrace social media
Social networking has altered medical school admissions in many ways. While not all medical schools have yet declared their roles in social media, many are participating in everyday interactions with potential students through the use of social networks. Communications between potential students have gained great popularity amongst medical schools through application statuses and updates via text message or social media sites. Some medical schools have utilized tools such as Facebook to conduct orientation for incoming students; this prevents costly coordination fees and provides convenience for students and staff. With proper regulation around privacy and professionalism; the use of social media in an academic setting has great potential for student engagement and health education improvement.
New social media tool for students and surgeons
Surgery Theater is the first online social media educational portal for all surgical procedures. The site can be used to watch live surgical procedures and conferences, medical document sharing, exploring new surgical techniques, and receiving information on the most up-to-date surgical innovations. This is a great medical education resource for students but can also be used for patients looking to get more information on upcoming surgical procedure. This is a great new educational tool for surgeons, students, and patients.
Mayo Clinic and Swedish Medical University join forces
Mayo Clinic and the Swedish Medical University are collaborating to improve research and education. Both are world leading research organizations that will work to expand research areas, health care innovation, and education programs. The two will be working together to share and develop innovations in education and train health care professionals and scientists worldwide. The two organizations hope to learn off of each other and join forces to advance medicine.
With two such powerful organizations working together, we hope that the quality of our health care truly improves and our healthcare issues are addressed.
Integrating the humanities into medical education
Hand and Leaf Vasculature, by Ryan James Bender
At the AAMC annual meeting this year, I attended a session put on by two faculty members from the Anschutz School of Medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver. They were discussing the integration of humanities education into their med school curiculum: the required and elective courses, sample lesson plans, and examples of the students' writings and projects. My interest in this topic was twofold: first, I have a personal love for the arts and humanities; and second, I had never heard of a med student who would gladly and gratefully take a required art, film or creative writing course. But they convinced me that such students exist, and that they are both talented and prolific!
Many of the lesson plans discussed had only peripherally to do with medicine; but instead focused on teaching the students how to deal with difficult emotions, how to craft quality narration and self expression, how to continue to develop their imaginations well into adulthood, and how to craft a set of core values based in humanism and compassion. When framed in that way, how could anyone doubt that the humanities have a place in health care? At its core, medicine is the interaction of two or more humans, with the goal of health or healing. A more human experience can scarcely be imagined, and the in-depth exploration of the intellectual, emotional and creative facets of that experience should not be ignored.
You can read a summary of the Anschutz Humanities program here. Some other links worth checking out:
- Some examples of stories written by Anschutz med students, based on their Anatomy course cadaver as "first teacher"
- An open lecture series involving the arts in medicine
- The school publishes a journal entitled the Journal of Medical Humanities, which you can read online
- They publish an annual curated anthology of medicine-related art and writing
- The medical school library includes a collection of medical humanities books and film
- Lists of the elective and required humanities courses
As a patient, I would be pleased to find a doctor who had studied this kind of curriculum in medical school, and if I knew there were a number of humanities-oriented doctors out there, I may even seek them out. I can imagine that a physician who thinks about patients and medicine in this way would be an innovative, creative and thoughtful provider.
New approach to medical school education
Western Michigan University is seeking to carry out a new approach to medical school education. The dean suggests that the traditional two year classroom and two year clinical training is no longer the appropriate path to take in terms of educating the best physicians. The dean suggested that more hands-on clinical experience, starting with the first year of medical school, will give future physicians a better medical education than spending half of their education in a lecture hall. The plan is to receive their accreditation from the LCME and then begin the application process for the class of 2013. While this approach seems logical in terms of the hands-on experience medical students will be receiving, the assessment of such a program is vital to test whether this is in fact a better approach to medical education.
Friday roundup
A diverse set of interesting articles I've come across recently:
An article describing various viewpoints on taking care of Jehovah's Witnesses in life-threatening situations. I like the idea of talking openly and honestly about sympathy, empathy, and the role of the physician in terms of the patient's personal or religious beliefs. This is a touching and insightful piece that may be a challenging read for some, but highlights the very important topic of cultural sensitivity, and how healthcare professionals can frame religion and culture within the world of medicine.
A thought-provoking piece illustrating some of the thoughts of Seth Godin regarding the future of education. He posits that the "Harvard model" is dead: high-priced institutions that hold classrooms of 15-300 students, being lectured to by professors on the "accumulating credits" system. Instead, he envisions a future of online, collaborative education where students can also be instructors, and physical space is replaced with digital space. He mentions the modern notions of online communities and the free sharing of and expansion upon data and ideas.
The AAMC has released the published responses to their 2011 "Question of the Year": "What improvements in medical education will lead to better health for individuals and populations?" The replies run the gamut from nutrition to financial incentives to competency-based education and beyond. Other topics include diversity, health disparities, leadership, professionalism and global health. Must-reads for anyone interested in medical education, public health, reforming healthcare, professionalism/humanism, patient safety, and pretty much any other healthcare-related topic.
An intriguing summary of the future of computing and IT points out the importance of Natural Language Processing programs, and where they are headed. When thinking about what the next generation of computers and applications will need to do, the ideas of detailed data analytics, human-like "thinking", situation/information comprehension, and insight into users/consumers are top on the list. Sentiment analysis, contextual understanding and those kinds of data manipulation and analysis are already being researched and developed at a frenetic rate (and with astronomical sums of money). Considering the ever-increasing amounts of data being created on a daily basis, it is no surprise that the next wave of computer innovation is going to revolve around making sense of it all.
Increase in medical school applicants
First time applicants to medical school reached an all-time high this year. A 2.6 percent increase was reported by the AAMC. There were also gains across most of the major racial groups. Hopefully, this rise of medical school students will help fill in the gaps in states where there is a shortage of physicians. With this increase in applicants, more positions for residency training must open as well. This is a great time for medical school applicants to increase due to the challenges our health care system faces.