the sickest, the most exotic patients under medical care today. By canvassing the
consumers of medical care, and by taking aim at meeting the health care needs
of the majority of patients, the disruptive approach to medical education can be
launched, with high likelihood of success.
In response to the changing environment in which doctors practice today,
medical leaders have recognized the need for addressing present-day shortcomings
in medical education. The Association of American Medical Colleges
(AAMC) has sounded the call for deep reforms in the way physicians are trained
in AAMC-accredited medical schools. In 1995, a strategic plan was adopted by
the AAMC to meet the challenges facing medical schools and teaching hospitals
(“Taking Charge of the Future: A Strategic Plan for the Association of American
Medical Colleges”). The president of the AAMC, Jordan Cohen, M.D., in an article
in Academic Medicine (1998; 73:132-137), called for leadership in improving
the education of doctors. He stated that change is not happening fast enough,
that there is no time to waste even while recognizing there are many obstacles to
change. And perhaps the biggest obstacle to the necessary changes is the culture
and the value system found within America’s medical schools.
MISSION
Our goal is to broadly train the physicians of tomorrow, giving them learning
opportunities that will make them lifelong learners – to equip them so that
they can teach themselves what they need to know to practice medicine in an era
of genetic intervention, the application of stem cell technology, massive choices
of pharmacological applications, the use of a broad array of new diagnostic and
therapeutic technologies in their own offices. The basic science component of
this training program will occur in a university setting, integrated into the culture
and value system of a liberal arts university, The Florida State University.
The clinical training component will occur almost completely on the front lines
of the health care delivery system, in the North Florida region as well as sites
across the state of Florida – ambulatory care settings including physicians’ clinics,
HMOs and chronic-care facilities in rural, urban and suburban settings. The
curriculum will be comprehensive, preparing students to enter residency training
in any specialty. However, it will emphasize the college’s mission of providing
primary care to Florida’s elderly, rural and other medically underserved populations.
Finally, the training program will focus on creating a culture that places
value on the doctor-patient relationship, generalist ambulatory medical care and
working as part of the health care delivery team.
CURRICULUM
The dynamic curriculum will incorporate the competencies mandated by the
customers – patient groups including the elderly, chronic disease foundations,
patients of HMOs, patients from rural and inner-city areas, gender groups, etc.,
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