During TCMC's development, leaders recruited community physicians to not only serve as faculty members, but design the school's curriculum, sit on the admissions committee, and even interview applicants.
The TCMC curriculum heavily reflects that emphasis on primary care. First-year TCMC students spend their first three weeks shadowing a general internist, and are assigned to a patient with a chronic illness, who the students then track throughout their time in medical school. There are small-group research projects on primary care-related topics. In years three and four, students rotate through branch campuses in the smaller cities of Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport.
"It's about assisting with patients and learning from them," said Janet Townsend, M.D., the school's founding chair of family medicine and community health. "It's an immersion experience. They will be living the life of a community physician much more than in basic block rotations. It includes time in the office, and they get to round on patients who went to the hospital. From the beginning through the end, they are learning how physicians work in the community."
Although it is too early for data, Townsend said the school intends for 50-60 percent of all graduates to enter primary care.
