CLASS SIZE
The historical size of the PIMS class was 30 members. Great value has been
placed on the PIMS culture and values by the PIMS students, alumni and faculty,
as well as the administrations of the UF College of Medicine and FSU. A
major challenge for the FSU medical program is to retain this culture and set of
values in the face of change. This is possible if the PIMS recruiting and admission
philosophies are retained, and if the curriculum and facilities are designed to foster
small-group interactions, both in delivering the curriculum and in providing
dedicated study environments such as the current PIMS class has in the PIMS
resource center, a dedicated study facility available to the students 24 hours a day.
Upon completion of the new medical school facility, the class size would reach
full maturity at 100-120. The inaugural class of 30 students will graduate in
the year 2005, and will be the first class to earn their M.D. at The Florida State
University. The second year is being offered for the first time in 2002, and in
2003 the first regional medical school campuses will be operational.
SUMMARY
Today, such diverse groups as HMO administrators and the leadership of the
AAMC, medical educators and medical students and, most important, patients of
all kinds agree on the following: Our nation’s medical schools are producing the
finest medical specialists on the planet, and their faculties are producing research
astounding in both breadth and depth. Yet, many patients are not getting the medical
care they want or need. Recently, a large survey of people representative of all
population groups within an entire population identified the roles the ideal physician
should be competent to perform (CanMEDS 2000, The Royal College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 1996). These roles are: Medical Expert (clinical
decision-maker), Communicator, Collaborator, Manager, Health Advocate,
Scholar, and Professional. These same competencies were recently endorsed by
several American medical specialty societies. The time is right to launch a new
approach to equipping physicians with the skills to play these roles in the lives of
their patients. That approach will be launched at The Florida State University. •
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