As I’m sitting here at my desk right now, I can use our library any hour of the day
or night, wherever I am.
Another concern for someone like me – a graduate student living on $6,000
a year as a research assistant, with a $25-a-week grocery budget – was money. I
couldn’t afford to Xerox documents to prepare for my graduate seminars. Perpage
charges can be quite high if you need to copy a large number of articles. If
you have an online library, they’re right there on your screen.
Then there’s the convenience factor. You don’t have to lug a whole stack of
books out to your car and up the steps. Plus there’s the timeliness factor. The
material is always up-to-date, and you don’t need to worry that someone else has
misplaced the exact journal you need.
The online library is such a blessing. When Barbara told me of that LCME
reviewer’s veiled threat, my blood boiled. But LCME people have a history of
disappointing me.
I remember the time I met the co-secretary of the LCME in Washington,
D.C., at an Association of American Medical Colleges yearly meeting in 2000.
He said to me, arrogantly, “Myra, I was right here when I heard that you had
illegally admitted those medical students to medical school at Florida State
University.”
And I said to him, “It was not illegal. The governor of the state of Florida and
Legislature of the state of Florida told us to admit these students for the public
health of the state of Florida, the people of the state of Florida. And guess what?
That trumps the accrediting body that you represent – the LCME.
“By the way, you’re outside your domain. Your job is to make sure that medical
students get a medical education and that they are not harming patients.
You’re not supposed to be telling medical schools exactly how they’re supposed
to do that.
“And by the way, the governor’s and the Legislature’s domain is making sure
that the people of the state of Florida have doctors who can give them health care
– and that trumps you. Don’t you think?”
He didn’t know what to say. So I went on my way.
Yes indeed, the governor and the Legislature trump the LCME. The LCME
accredited us not long after that. We were on our way. To this day, we are graduating
students who are meeting the public health needs of the state of Florida. •
58 | Breaking the Mold