dtd8671 said:
I interviewed at Temple last year expecting to witness fantastic facilities that backed all of their great statistics. However, I couldn't believe how old and run down everything was. It seriously looks like you stepped into the 60's or something. They have this gait lab that is placed on a decreped wooden platform and their library was about the size of my high school's. They basically use their huge undergraduate campus and Temple's allopathic facillities in their statistics. I'm not sure how strong and long-lasting their affiliation with Temple is/has been, but they need to do some serious investing to catch up with the some of the other schools.
TUSPM is actually not affiliated with Temple University. TUSPM is actually one of the colleges within Temple University. Hence, the comment, "I'm not sure how strong and long-lasting their affiliation with Temple is/has been" does not make sense at all. Judging from your comments, I think that you perceive TUSPM as a separate entity and is loosely affiliated with Temple. TUSPM is no different than schools like Scholl, DMU, Barry, and AZPod, in that they are actually a part of the University. TUSPM students graduate with the same Temple University diploma as the allopathic medical students and any other Temple students.
In your posting, you had commented about TUSPM physical building. TUSPM building was built in the late 60's early 70's, while the school buildings of Scholl, DMU, AZPod, or even the new Barry building are relatively new (less than 20 years old). The only other schools that have buildings older than TUSPM are NYCPM and OCPM. Since the TUSPM's building is older, it will not look as nice as the newer buildings. Temple University has invested quite a bit in TUSPM. Temple has converted all of the academic lecture halls into smart classrooms. Now, they have just started the next phase of renovations of the lecture halls revamping the entire classroom (seats,etc...) Due to Temple University online learning capabilities, many of the courses materials are available online. Since the third year students at TUSPM have an option to do their clinical training at one of the affiliated sites, such as Arizona, San Antonio, etc..., TUSPM has established online distance learning for those students who are away from TUSPM campus. As for TUSPM library, it is part of the Temple University Library system. In fact, TUSPM library has a very comprehensive collection that meets and exceeds the needs of the Podiatry students. Of course, whatever TUSPM library does not have, they can get it from either Temple's main campus library or the health science campus library. TUSPM library also offer students access to many of the online access to journals and textbooks due to the fact it is part of the Temple library system. Since TUSPM library is part of the Temple University Library system, you would expect that they would use the entire library system statistics. I am assuming that DMU, Barry, Scholl, and AZPod library statistics also reflect the entire university collection, since they are part of the university. As for the gait lab, it is not as nice as the new gait lab that Scholl has. However, everything that can be done in any gait labs can be done at TUSPM gait lab. Temple University has also invested in the school's clinic. TUSPM Foot and Ankle Institute now has a surgery center, lower extremity MRI machine on site, laser treatment, new wound care center, shockwave treatment on site, etc.... Since Temple University is a huge school, you do not expect TUSPM to be totally renovated overnight.
TUSPM is also quite progressive with their curriculum. There has been a major curriculum overhaul for the third and fourth years. All of the academic classes will be done by the first trimester of the third year (by Thanksgiving). This would allow the third and fourth year students to focus exclusively on clinical training. Since the TUSPM students are on the same rotations (IM, Vascular Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, etc...) as the allopathic medical students, TUSPM will be implementing shelf exams at the end of the rotations. Allopathic medical students take these shelf exams at the end of their rotations to assess their knowledge in the subject matter of a particular rotation. TUSPM Physical Diagnosis course is pretty much the same course as the allopathic medical students, where they have to do their practicals on live simulated patients. Since the basic science courses are pretty much same as the allopathic medical students and taught by most of the same professors, it would be interesting to see if there will be any changes in the basic sciences curriculum at TUSPM. Temple allopathic medical school is converting their basic science curriculum to an organ based system approach (similar to DMU) and wonder if TUSPM would follow in the footsteps of the allopathic medical school.
