Digital Literacy and Social Media in Medical Education

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Liza

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Should doctors of the future use social media and digital tools in their future practice? Should medical schools incorporate digital literacy into their curriculum? These are hot-button topics with no clear-cut answers. Medical school curricula are already so jam-packed with vital information that there is little room for cramming more content into the two preclinical years. But some educators believe that weaving digital literacy into a medical education is critical. At Stanford, Dr. Bertalan Mesko advocates strongly for the inclusion of social media in the context of health science as part of a medical education. He has created a course on social media and also created Webicina, a resource on social media in medicine. The Association of American Medical Colleges also published a piece on digital literacy in medical curricula.  Dr. Anne Marie Cunningham has a blog on “Wishful Thinking in Medical Education” which addresses this topic, as well. Continue reading →

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Cancer Survivors Teach Medical Students

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Liza

SurvivorsTeachingStudents

One of the most effective ways to teach medical students about the impact of disease on not only a patient but his or her family is to hear about the experience directly from those affected.  The “Survivors Teaching Students” program allows ovarian cancer survivors to share their path through diagnosis and treatment with medical students. The program, adopted by more than 60 medical schools, helps students understand ovarian cancer with the hope that more patients will be diagnosed earlier and thus have better outcomes. The Medical College of Wisconsin has adopted this program; a video of patients addressing students at Virginia Commonwealth demonstrates the program in action. The Survivors Teaching Students program has been shown to have a positive effect, as shown in a study in 2011.

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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The Shortage of Doctors: Medical Schools Expand and Focus on Primary Care

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Liza

No doubt you have heard via the media and other sources that a severe shortage of primary care physicians is expected in the near future. Many articles have been published which address this issue, from one in the Annals of Family Medicine to another published by the AARP. The Business Insider also projects a physician shortage due in part to the Affordable Care Act and the increased number of insured patients it will produce, as does Kaiser. The New York Times also addressed the looming shortage of doctors in an article published in August 2013.

Many medical schools in recent years have been trying to address this issue in two ways: by increasing their size and by placing more focus on primary care than in the past. Some medical schools have always had an emphasis on primary care; state institutions have as one of their missions the goal of serving the residents of their state—they thus tend to place more emphasis on primary care. But other schools are following suit. The establishment of new medical schools is also helping to address this problem and many of these schools place a particular emphasis on primary care; Quinnipiac, Central Michigan, and Florida International are three new schools with a focus on primary care. Continue reading →

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Medical School in Three Years

Posted on September 20, 2013 by admin

A few medical schools are trying a new model of medical education, allowing students to complete their education in three years. The impetus for this is obvious: it saves students thousands of dollars and produces doctors faster than the current model allows. Less student debt also encourages med school graduates to pursue primary care fields such as internal medicine and pediatrics. Currently only three medical schools are implementing this option:  NYU, Texas Tech, and Mercer. But more medical schools are considering this option; a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine states that LSU, Indiana University, East Tennessee State and the University of Kentucky are weighing this model of medical education.

Of the three schools which currently offer the three-year track only a small portion of the students participate: 16 students at NYU, 9 at Texas Tech, and less than that at Mercer (the exact number has not been divulged). Dr. Steven Abramson, vice dean for education, faculty and academic affairs at NYU School of Medicine predicts that this is the wave of the future.

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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Teaching Med Students About Health Care Costs

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Liza

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Photo courtesy of thinkprogress.org

Health care costs continue to spiral out of control in this country. Medical schools generally do a poor job of teaching med students about what care costs patients. In the 1970s, a study showed that teaching interns and residents about the cost of care reduced patients’ length of stay in a hospital by 21%. Since then, there have been efforts to teach medical trainees about the impact of health care costs with mixed results. To help come up with new ideas for teaching med students and residents about containing costs, Costs of Care has launched a Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely competition, which will hopefully identify new and promising ways to educate medical trainees and physicians about reining in costs while providing outstanding care.

Dr. Andy Levy, a resident in internal medicine at the University of Chicago, and Dr. Christopher Moriates, a clinical professor at UCSF, wrote an outstanding blog post about the importance of teaching medical trainees about the cost of care; the post also contains a plethora of useful links to additional information on this topic.

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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Teaching Compassion and Empathy in Medical School

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Liza

 

More and more medical schools are refining their curricula to include teaching compassion and empathy to med students. This may be done in a variety of ways but is frequently accomplished by incorporating the humanities in medical education. Northwestern, the University of Chicago, Brown, and Rush all offer specific courses to help students develop compassion. Some schools incorporate reflective, creative writing into their curriculum while others offer art classes or sponsor visits to galleries where students refine their visual acuity. Dr. Hedy Wald of Brown University, cited in an article on teaching compassion in medical school,  believes that the arts help foster students’ mindfulness and sensitivity, thereby allowing them to be more compassionate when treating patients.

All accredited medical schools in the US provide some training in medical ethics and almost half offer some exposure to the humanities with more schools adopting new courses in this realm in an effort to help students develop empathy. Emory developed a program to help its students foster compassion through mentorship. Stony Brook also has a focus on this issue through its Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics. And Dartmouth has the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care, which strives to integrate compassion-centered care into the medical school’s curriculum. These and other schools which have such programs do not take for granted that medical students are equipped with compassion. Instead they strive to foster students’ empathetic treatment of patients by adopting programs that will hone this trait.

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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The Top 10 Least Expensive Private Medical Schools

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Liza

Medical school is expensive. But one of the most cost-effective ways to get a medical education is to attend your state school. As public institutions, state medical schools offer lower tuition than private med schools; one of their missions is to train physicians to serve residents of their state thus they show preference to in-state applicants. However, not all in-state applicants are admitted to the public school/s in their home state.

Looking for a list of the least expensive private medical schools? Here it is, as compiled in 2013 by US News and World Report. The list includes both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools:

1. Baylor

2. Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

3. Mayo

4. University of Pikeville College of Osteopathic Medicine

5. Lincoln Memorial University

6. Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

7. University of Miami

8. Mercer

9. Wake Forest

10. Medical College of Wisconsin

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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Medical School Rankings: The Flaws

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Liza

Medical school applicants often compile the list of schools they apply to based on medical school rankings. But what do the rankings actually mean and are they accurate? There are many in the medical community and in premed advising circles who believe that rankings provide little benefit and are not wholly accurate. And of course the rankings rankle medical school administrators since there is much more to a med school than its ranking. Medical school administrators understand, though, that the rankings loom large in the minds of many and, as a result, medical schools can sometimes be at the rankings’ mercy.

A recent blog post an AM Rounds by Drs. William McGaghie and Ralph Leischner of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine decries the dominance of medical school rankings and describes the flaws in the US News ranking. They espouse the notion that individual metrics are better gauges of a medical school’s excellence and they raise valid and important points.

Medical school applicants should use rankings with caution, understanding what they measure and the methodology used, which can be flawed. Applicants should also bear in mind that they would receive an excellent education at almost any US med school as medical education in this country is outstanding. As such, if you look at rankings acknowledge their limitations and take them with a grain of salt.

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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Medical School Rankings: Top 20 and Bottom 20 Medical Schools Producing Primary Care Physicians

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Liza

There has been a a tremendous amount of press and discussion recently regarding the projected shortage of primary care physicians. With the advent of the Affordable Care Act many are predicting that there will not be enough primary care providers to address the needs of an influx of insured individuals. Many medical schools are putting new or increased focus on producing primary care doctors. A fascinating article was recently published in the Washington Monthly addressing this issue. In the article, there are two charts listing medical schools which produce the most and least primary care physicians.  You may be surprised by the results. Here is a chart of the top 20 schools whose residency programs train the most primary care doctors: Continue reading →

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Nontraditional Premedical and Medical Students

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Liza

Podcast

I have spent several decades working with and advising nontraditional premedical students and guiding them to medical school admission. Directing the post-baccalaureate premedical programs at Johns Hopkins and Goucher gave me the privilege of working with talented, interesting, vibrant, kind, and caring students. I learned just as much from my students as they learned from me.

Dr. Ryan Gray, who runs the site Medical School Headquarters, recently interviewed me on the topic of “Nontraditional Premedical Students” and posted the interview to his podcast. Take a listen if you’re interested in learning about changes in the post-bac population over time, some of the challenges nontraditional students face in the med school application process, and how post-bac programs may be impacted by MCAT2015.

Enjoy!

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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