students can critique their performances in communication and clinical examination
skills acquisition throughout medical school. A large group of well-trained
standardized patients of all ages and cultural backgrounds has been developed
and are partners in the clinical training of FSU College of Medicine students. A
clinical simulation laboratory, when completed, will add to the clinical training
facilities and facilitate the acquisition of procedural skills and the assessment and
management of acute and urgent medical presentations.
The achievement of clinical competencies beyond those required for diagnosis
and clinical treatment of patients is necessary for graduation from the FSU
College of Medicine. These include competencies in communication and development
of the doctor–patient relationship. Achieving cultural competencies necessary
for the treatment of patients from diverse cultural backgrounds and ages is
also required. Evaluation of students’ performances in clerkships includes written
evaluations by clinic and hospital staff and patients in the clerkship training sites,
who assist in evaluation of students’ professionalism and cultural competencies.
PROMOTION OF PRIMARY CARE AND GERIATRICS MEDICINE
The only department mandated by the law creating the FSU College of
Medicine was a department of family medicine with a rural training track that
would provide students with early and frequent clinical experiences in community-based
settings. The goal for these actions was to train and produce highly
skilled primary care physicians. The law directed the development of a partnership
with the West Florida Area Health Education Center (AHEC) to develop
incentives and support for physicians to practice primary care, geriatrics, and
rural medicine in underserved parts of Florida.
The University of Minnesota Medical School Rural Physicians Associate
Program was used as a model for the rural training program, based upon the
FSU studies of programs using practices aimed at rural physician recruitment
and retention. In this program, students from the University of Minnesota
Medical School complete third-year clerkships in rural communities, with the
goal of increasing the number of physicians practicing in rural settings. In 2005,
the FSU College of Medicine implemented its first third-year rural training site
in Jackson County, about 75 miles west of Tallahassee in the rural panhandle of
North Florida.
Other activities that promote FSU medical students’ knowledge of and interest in
practice in medically underserved settings are part of the curriculum. In partnership
with the West Florida AHEC, the college requires each first-year student to complete
a three-week practicum at the end of the first year in a medically underserved site.
The cost of this experience is underwritten by an allocation to the college of medicine
for AHEC activities.
116 | Breaking the Mold