Overview

The Center's Medical Education activities in­clude consultation and technical support to the faculty in evalu­ating the knowledge, skills, and professionalism of students throughout the MD curriculum. We provide information to the Dean's Office and academic departments concerning the key per­formance metrics used to evaluate the effective­ness of policies related to admissions, curricu­lum, and students' academic progress. Routine reports to administration support student career counseling and federal reporting requirements related to medical student financial aid and training grants. Our psychometric and statistical consultation to faculty members supports the JMC faculty development programs.

We continue to con­duct research in medical education using data from the Jefferson Longitudinal Study of Medical Education.  Significant effort during the past year involved empirical studies of medical students and physicians related to professionalism. These studies included empathy in patient care using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy; lifelong learning using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Lifelong Learning; inter-professional collaboration using the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration, the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration, and the Jefferson Scale of Patient Satisfaction with Primary Care Physicians. Other research activities included studies of clinical skills assessment, teaching residents about end-of-life discussions, self-assessment in surgery, and evaluation of educational programs.