Creating a Medical Curriculum for the Future

So that graduates leave Jefferson Medical College (JMC) ready to practice medicine 21st-century style, the office of the associate dean for academic affairs is assisting the faculty in forging significant changes into the curriculum. Below are some highlights of that effort.

Pennsylvania Generalist Initiative

With funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Jefferson is in the midst of a four-year effort to encourage the development of generalist physicians.

Previous electives or pilot programs involving direct patient contact and limited to only a few students are now part of the curriculum for all first- and second-year students. For instance, in a new clinical skills laboratory recently integrated into the curriculum, Jefferson nurse practitioners supervise students while they learn universal precautions against infection, techniques to keep surroundings sterile and the measurement of vital signs.

Howard K. Rabinowitz, MD, professor of family medicine, and Jon Veloski, MS, director of Research in Medical Education of the Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care, received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for a two-year collaborative feasibility study to develop a statewide physician career-tracking system ­p; one of the original objectives of the commonwealth in funding the Generalist Initiative. Through this effort, Jefferson will be completing one of our contract conditions, the development of a uniform statewide tracking system.

With the participation of the Generalist Physician Advisory Committee, the Curriculum Committee has put in place the first phase of a longitudinal patient-centered curriculum that will emphasize clinical skills and case-based learning throughout the first two years.

Medical Scholars Program (MSP)

Under this program, selected University of Delaware students commit themselves in the second half of their sophomore year to attaining their medical degree at Jefferson with the possibility of completing a residency program in a Jefferson-affiliated hospital.

Five MSP students are in the Class of '98, and 10 are in the Class of '99. The staff and faculty have been coordinating, developing and teaching three courses: Basic Science Problem-based Learning, Medical Humanities and Community Health Seminars and Practicum.

Bridging the Gaps

This program, also designed to give students community health and service experience, is managed by a consortium of area medical and health-professions schools. Jefferson's Bridging the Gaps program receives funds from the consortium, as well as generous contributions from the College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) and several JMC departments. Fifty Jefferson students applied to the 1995 program, and 26 were selected ­p; 16 from JMC and 10 from CAHS.

Student projects focused on areas such as adult and adolescent homelessness, child health information, health literacy, tuberculosis treatment and nutrition, in the City's federally funded Empowerment Zone.

Health of the Public

Among the principal objectives of this project is participation by academic medical centers in creating community-oriented curriculum and experiences for health-professions students. More than 300 students and 50 faculty participated in the student-run JeffH.O.P.E. clinic program during the 1994-95 academic year. Collaborative learning and care-giving have expanded, with CAHS faculty and students teaching JMC Medical Scholars from the MSP program about allied health therapies suitable for the homeless population.

Health of the Public has helped sponsor student research projects related to community health. Among these are:
JMC Personnel Designing 21st Century Curriculum

Sylvia Fields, RN, EdD, director, generalist curriculum development

Jonathan E. Gottlieb, MD, associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor of medicine/pulmonary medicine and critical care

Madhu P. Kalia, MD, PhD, MBA, section head, problem-based learning and professor of pharmacology and of neurosurgery

James D. Plumb, MD, coordinator, patient-centered curriculum and assistant professor of family medicine

Susan L. Rattner, MD, assistant dean, academic affairs and clinical assistant professor of medicine/internal medicine

Steven Rosenzweig, MD, section head, medical humanities, and clinical assistant professor of surgery

Claudia Siegel, MPA, coordinator, primary and community care programs.