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YOU SAID, WE DID. HelPing us achieve excellence. Volume 2 - #2 - October 15, 2021

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WELCOME

On behalf of Senthil Kumar Rajasekaran, M.D., MMHPE., Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education and Curricular Affairs, we would like to welcome you to the "You Said, We Did" (YSWD) Newsletter. As a Continuous Quality Improvement organization, Wayne State University School of Medicine has directly utilized feedback from many of our key stakeholder groups, primarily you the students, to make significant changes over the last several years. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight these changes made during your tenure as a student and to show our appreciation for your involvement in these accomplishments. As you progress in the path of becoming a physician, we want to let you know that as you are progressing in the path of becoming a physician, you are nurturing the growth of the institution through your feedback. One of the goals of YSWD is to let students know that we value your input and are continually incorporating it into our ongoing and new initiatives.

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Academic Advising

The Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT), established in 2016, serves as the central academic advising hub for students. Throughout this time, faculty and staff have worked with students valuing student perspectives and voice. This collaboration has served to greatly improve and refine the many ways in which we engage and support students.
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Key Improvements

Notable among the dozens of student-informed collaborations are improvements to the former Advanced Learning Strategies (ALS) course which initially started as a faculty and staff driven course in 2017. Reading student feedback and inviting students to small debrief sessions, it was clear that students had unique insights and concrete ideas which, once engaged, served to dramatically enhance the course through 2021. The course evolved over the years infusing more student voices and senior student presence in the ALS Course, wherein we developed exclusively peer-led, hands-on learning resource sessions. Specific examples include members of the class of 2021 who, in 2018, helped develop and run the first ever Student Resource Fair, gave peer-review and feedback on assignments and staffed student panels; the class of 2022 who facilitated the first ever student-run PBL sessions, and refined the resource fair into an intensive one-day Student Resource Hub; The class of 2023 who helped us flip the ALS Course from a short introductory course into a longitudinal 6-month opportunity, running Zoom-led resource and review sessions during an unprecedented time in our history. This year, the ALS Course was discontinued, but student input and support was not. Currently, students from the class of 2024 are leading resource and review sessions which will run throughout the M1 year.

You asked for more peer support for underclassmen. In 2020, we invited M4 peer tutors to apply to serve as Advanced Learning Coaches for Segment 1 and Segment 2 students who needed extra support. Advanced Learning Coaches made a significant difference in the test scores for these students and instilling greater confidence in their ability to succeed.
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Step Support

Each year, students play a role providing insight in how to better support students during Step 1 and Step 2 prep. This led to the development of more-targeted, meaningful interventions designed to provide the necessary support and study advice as well as other efforts to mitigate stress.

For Step 1, this led to:

  • Development of a yearlong pre-dedicated Step 1 Prep program
  • Fewer required assignments in the Step 1 Prep course
  • Increased Learning Coach support throughout Segment 2
  • Development of the Step 1 Prep Kick-Off Celebration event
  • Step 1 Prep Wellness Care Package (gift-card) sent to students in dedicated study to support their health and wellness
  • Step 1 Prep Postcard campaign designed to encourage students as they start their Step 1 dedicated journey

For Step 2, your feedback helped to:

  • Refine our list of recommended resources
  • Provide more utilitarian sample study plans and learning strategies
  • Adjust the amount of intervention to effectively target students who most needed support
  • Invite Class of 2021 Learning Coaches to facilitate Step 2 Drop-in Sessions
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Highways to Excellence curriculum develops more individualized educational experiences.

Organizational Communication Study

Student representatives from the classes of 2021, 22, 23 and 24 provided student leadership and support for the Organizational Communication study, designed to assess and initiate improvements to student-based communication with the goal of creating a more stable and supportive learning environment.

Highlights of this initiative and the SOM’s ongoing interventions to improve communication with student include a reduction of emails, development of consistent weekly / monthly updates via the Snapshot newsletters, Academic Digest, and the You Said We Did newsletters. Positive changes, largely informed by student voice, continue to evolve via the Implementation Team of the Communication Study.
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Learning Communities

Learning Communities, which started with the pioneer class of 2021, are run under the leadership of Dr. Eric Ayers (Student Affairs) and LaToya Sherman (Office of Learning and Teaching). The communities themselves are entirely run by student leaders who continue to offer invaluable insight in how to activate the Learning Communities to inspire, engage and support students throughout their medical education, particularly in Segments 1 and 2, as they adjust to a new environment and the well-documented firehose of information.

Students in Learning Community leadership positions throughout the four cohorts, have admirably served as ambassadors for the SOM while working with both Student Affairs and the Office of Learning and Teaching as we continue to develop innovations to support student learning.

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Academic Advising Team

Office of Learning and Teaching

olt.med.wayne.edu/contact

The Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) is committed to promoting excellence in learning and teaching across the medical curriculum by supporting a diverse and dynamic learning environment. The OLT at Wayne State University's School of Medicine is focused on preparing physicians who exemplify life long, self-directed learners. OLT's mission is to promote health and wellness by educating and developing a diverse body of students and faculty in an inclusive community where learning informs teaching.

For Students

The Office of Learning and Teaching has identified three different pathways to academic support.

  • Students having difficulty with clarification of scientific concepts can participate in Content Support.
  • Students in need of study skills methods and techniques should take advantage of Academic Skills Support.
  • Students dealing with difficulties such as high anxiety, family relationships issues, or career focus issues can partake in Personal Counseling.

Any student who would like to get one-on-one support related to course content, academic skills, or personal counseling should complete a Student Support Inquiry Form.

Basic Science / Clinical Content

Students who have struggled academically in a course or clerkship, who are feeling lost in the material, or who need to clarify scientific concepts have several ways to get support.

Segments 1 & 2 Contacts:

Segments 3 & 4 Contacts:

Tutorial support for M1, M2, M3 or M4, contact OLT olt@med.wayne.edu

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We want to hear from you

If you have any topics you would like to know about or have suggestions to how we can improve as a medical school, connect via the Warrior Med Suggestion Program.

The purpose of the Warrior Med Suggestions Program is to ensure each stakeholder of the School of Medicine has the opportunity to provide suggestions and feedback that may improve the organization’s mission. This program will serve as the mechanism that will drive the culture of Continuous Quality Improvement within the School of Medicine. These opportunities for improvement will drive cultural change and allow leaders to make a positive impact on a pathway to organizational excellence.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to reach us at oaacqi@med.wayne.edu. Thank you.

Kanye L. Gardner - Director of Continuous Quality Improvement

Volume 2 catalog of issues available here: Volume 2 - #1 - October 4, 2021 | Volume 2 - #2 - October 15, 2021

Appreciate

Credits:

Medical Communications

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