PCOM's Integrated Curriculum

[Nic_machiavelli]

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Doctors from Day One: A good idea or bad idea?

Here's why I think that it's bad:
Less time for the basics. The idea that 2006s would be doing primary skills evaluations until 6:30 pm on a Friday before a Monday anatomy exam is ludicrous.

"Soft skills vs hard skills". The integrated curririculum may improve the soft skills of a doctor in the long term; but it will not help one with the "hard skills" necessary for the boards.

This question may have been dealt with in the past but I think that it's worth raising again - especially after the latest Anatomy course.

 

[slindsay198]

It's called doctor from day one for a reason...so you begin to act like doctors from day one. This inherently includes dealing with a stressful schedule and not being spoon-fed with friday evenings off b/c you have an exam in 3 days.

we got the same thing last year with little or no complaints.

Scott-MSII
PCOM

 

[Nic_machiavelli]

slindsay
Does the curriculum interfere with the boards? It's only 2 years old and so far many aren't impressed. And contrary to what you may think, the topic is a hot one all the way up to the board of directors - which just met by the way.

 

[slindsay198]

Nic,

actually, the curriculum has been changed significantly in the past year to ease the schedule up a bit for when studying for boards rolls around. the Dean has met numerous times with student panels from our class, and probably will do so again with your's, to see what ideas we have to make things better/more logical.

that's one reason we started two weeks earlier this year. that's one reason why the 2nd years have a 2 weeks block of endocrine right now instead of it being spread over and entire term with neuro. that's why we had medicine and society/public health ("fun" **** you'll get later) during 1st term instead of spread over the entire 2nd year. some of these things suck, but they do listen. the bottom line remains that no matter how many changes are made for the better, there are still going to be people that are p*ssed about the way things are set up. i for one am pleased with things, as are most of my classmates. tough scheduling is an inherent part of med school, doctoring, etc. it's not supposed to be easy.

Scott-MSII
PCOM

 

[Chagas]

Ahhh.... here we go again. The curriculum is never set in stone and will always be modified year to year to best fit the material to the students to the various subjects to the instructors and so on. Is integrating the way to go? Remains to be seen. Are board scores an accurate reflection on the style of teaching? Maybe. Is the quality of students worse now than in previous years? Possibly. What the hell am I getting at? I don't know! You can't stand around complaining about things that are basically out of your control. Any input from the 1st years will only benefit those starting next year, so save your breath. In the words of Dr. C. ... "this is med school not high school".... I have no pity on those who think that having an SP session a few days before an exam is so awful. You think anatomy was tough??? Wait until C & T II gets going! Point is... you do the best you can with what you're given... No curriculum is going to prepare you for all you need to know for the boards nor for being a good physician. If you choose to read BRS path instead of Robbins and Harrison's then that's why you struggle in class and aren't prepared for boards... not because your schedule has too many hours assigned to it or because there are OPP questions on an anatomy exam! Maybe they need to reinstate mandatory attendance and dress codes?

 

[slindsay198]

AMEN Chagas!

You've stated my sentiments exactly. This is NOT high school. we're full-time students, and with that being said i feel it's our JOB to study. We have nothing else to do.

Nic, i tried to send you a PM last night but for whatever reason it didn't send (at least i don't think it did). The basic gist of it was this: the pass rate for the 1st years in anatomy was nothing short of pathetic. Yes, Miller may be taking his frustration out on your class, but he did the same thing to us. And let's not forget that the other ~210 students didn't find it impossible to get through anatomy. No student who fails will get sympathy from me b/c we are all handed the same opportunity when we walk through those doors. When someone puts up a pathetic grade, and i think we both know what i'm talking about b/c it happened in my class as well, it's obvious that the student was either in a coma or put in absolutely no effort in studying. Therefore, the get NO sympathy. Is this harsh...Yes. Am i trying to offend you or anyone else...No. Do i really care if i do...No.

If those students who failed put as much effort into their studying as they do in their whining about the way things are run, perhaps they wouldn't be in the boat they're in. 'Nuff said.

Scott-MSII
PCOM

 

[Nic_machiavelli]

Look, the point of my post is not about "sucking it up". The point is how fashions and trends in education can impact you.

Growing up in the 70s I was exposed to the metric system and "new math". Growing up in the 80s you were probably exposed to the educational fashions of the time. No what? None of it worked. Survey after survey has shown that the most effective curricula are those that stress the basics - the dreaded "3 Rs". Everything else may help educators write Ph.D theses, but they have not had a positive impact on children.

There's a reason why traditions stick around: they work. PCOM is a great school, but perhaps it needs to revisit the "integrated curriculum" model.

Meanwhile the classes of 2005 and 2006 will remain "white mice" in this academic experiment.