WELCOME
On behalf of Richard S. Baker, M.D., Vice Dean of Medical Education, we would like to welcome you to the "You Said, We Did" (YSWD) Newsletter. As a Continuous Quality Improvement organization, the Wayne State University School of Medicine has directly utilized feedback from many of our stakeholders, including students, to make significant changes the last several years. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight these changes and to celebrate your involvement in these accomplishments. As you prepare to graduate and leave the Wayne State University School of Medicine, we want to let you know that you are leaving the institution in better shape than when you joined it. One of the goals of this YSWD campaign is to let students know that we value their input and are continually incorporating it into our ongoing and new initiatives.
This week's edition.
One of the most important areas in which the School of Medicine utilizes student feedback is curriculum development and iterative curricular improvements. Utilizing course/clerkship evaluations, focus groups, surveys and the Association of American Medical Colleges Graduate Questionnaire, the School of Medicine has continued to implement improvements in all three phases (Pre-Clerkship, Clerkship and Post-Clerkship) of the curriculum. The following is a synopsis of the most recent changes brought about through YOUR input.
Curriculum Restructuring
The new curricular calendar structure that was presented to students on Jan. 20 will begin April 12 for the Class of 2024 and July 6 for the Class of 2025.
Segments 1 and 2: Preclerkship Phase
While the Clerkship and Post-Clerkship phases will remain relatively unchanged, the restructuring will help solve issues in the curricular structure of the Pre-Clerkship Phase. Some of these issues include:
- Lack of a calendar structure that allows for deep learning or course correction
- Less than an ideal opportunity for students to apply the concepts and to engage in a practice feedback loop
- Almost all courses had one high-stakes exam at the end
- The academic calendar was contributing to challenges with the timelines of financial aid disbursements
In response, the administration and faculty invested efforts in a major curricular restructuring beginning April 2021. The restructuring provides the following key improvements
- Provides opportunity for deep learning and iterative recall within the duration of the course
- Significant increase in active learning sessions, giving students an opportunity to engage actively in practice feedback loop
- Opportunity for early identification of academically at-risk students and adequate time for interventions
- Clean 11- and 12-week course blocks allow for a more seamless schedule
- Moving all clinical skills and P4 sessions out of the summative examination weeks
- Transitioning to assessments in clinical skills to become formative so that students can learn clinical skills to improve upon their identified deficiencies
- Built-in week-long break periods between courses
- Each systems-based course will now have multiple mid-stakes exams per course, with no single high-stakes exam
Segment 3: Clerkship Phase
To maintain consistency with the Pre-Clerkship Phase, the Clerkship Phase has been redesigned to accommodate a one-week break every 12 weeks. In addition, there is an ongoing exercise to further standardize the design and scheduling in clerkships across all locations.
Despite the significant challenges in securing new clinical sites for training medical students, the Wayne State University School of Medicine not only maintained all existing clinical sites, we added more training sites for our students. Below is a list of our major clinical training sites:
Clinical Sites
- Ascension St. John
- Beaumont/Oakwood Dearborn
- Detroit Medical Center
- Henry Ford Health System
- Michigan Health Professionals
- Trinity
- Veterans Affairs
Segment 4: Post-Clerkship Phase
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the resilience of our students and the work of Christopher Steffes, M.D., Assistant Dean of Clinical Education, students maintained timely progress during the Post-Clerkship Phase by pivoting to virtual electives and quickly returning to the clinical environment. There is much flexibility in the expanded Post-Clerkship Phase, supporting research rotations, independent study and student-specific programs, in addition to the core rotations.
You can read more about the new curriculum structure on our Highways Curriculum website. The M.D. program curriculum schema illustrated below has been updated to depict the new curricular structure.
Scholarly Concentrations
The next area for continuous improvement was in the Scholarly Concentrations. Students advocated for more venues for individualized learning and curricular enrichment opportunities. To that end, a group of student leaders led an initiative that developed a “WSUSOM Scholarly Concentrations Proposal.” Based upon the proposal, the vice dean for Medical Education established a Scholarly Concentration Planning and Execution Committee. The committee has representation from students, faculty and staff. Led by Senthil Rajasekaran, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education and Curricular Affairs, along with host of students and faculty members, the committee reviewed the current structure and feedback from students, and decided to create a Scholarly Concentrations Pilot Program that was launched in early 2021.
What are Scholarly Concentrations?
Scholarly Concentrations are longitudinal programs of study that parallel the core medical curriculum and are designed to foster self-directed and experiential learning through mentorship. The Scholarly Concentrations studies are optional curricular experiences that create an individualized academic experience in which students explore subjects (both medical and non-medical) in depth, beyond the conventional medical school curriculum. Scholarly Concentrations involve an in-depth literature review and analysis of existing data in an area chosen by students. In addition, a required student-generated academic product (e.g. poster, formal presentation, written thesis, other) is developed.
Scholarly Concentration Areas:
- Basic Biomedical Research
- Clinical Research
- Public Health, Advocacy and Community Engagement
- Global Health
- Medical Education
- Women's Health
If you would like to have more information please contact Medical Student Research Program: mssrf@med.wayne.edu or Gini Gilchrist ggilchri@med.wayne.edu
The Wayne State University School of Medicine continues to strive toward a culture of continuous quality improvement and greatly values input from our students. During the next couple of weeks, new editions of “You Said, We Did” will discuss improvements in the following areas:
- Financial Aid/Debt Management
- Academic Advising
- Health & Wellness
- Career Planning
- Student Engagement/Learning Communities
- Representation of students on committees
- Social Justice, Diversity and Inclusion
- Professional Development
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 - Office of Assessment, Accreditation and Continuous Quality Improvement
Volume 1 catalog of issues available here: Volume 1 - #1 - April 8, 2021 | Volume 1 - #2 - April 15, 2021 | Volume 1 - #3 - April 22, 2021 | Volume 1 - #4 - April 29, 2021 | Volume 1 - #5 - May 6, 2021