TYPES OF MEDICAL SCHOOLS

 

In making a decision about what medical school to attend, you should consider schools that are congruent with your beliefs and philosophy about how medicine should be practiced.  Below are some of the important elements that you should consider and information about local medical training institutions that may help you make your decision.  Most of the information below was condensed, copied or gleaned from the websites listed below.

 

Philosophies:

1.  Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM): “We believe that in order for students to achieve at their highest level and be life-long learners and compassionate practitioners, the services provided by the various Student Affairs offices must meet the needs of students in three areas: mind, body and spirit.”

 

2.      University of Missouri (MU) School of Medicine: “To improve the health of Missourians and the nation by providing excellent health care education, with special emphasis on the needs of rural providers and communities and generating new knowledge through health-related research, and by providing the outstanding patient-centered clinical care on which excellence in research and education is based.”

 

Curriculum:

 

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a total approach to education. As defined by Dr. Howard Barrows and Ann Kelson of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, PBL is both a curriculum and a process. The curriculum consists of carefully selected and designed problems that demand from the learner acquisition of critical knowledge, problem solving proficiency, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills. The process replicates the commonly used systemic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encountered in life and career. Students involved in problem-based learning acquire knowledge and become proficient in problem solving, self-directed learning, and team participation. Studies show that PBL prepares students as well as traditional methods. PBL students do as well as their counterparts from traditional classrooms on national exams, but are in fact better practitioners of their professions. PBL-based curriculum is very different depending on the school. Studies show that 80% of the 125 U.S. medical schools report that they use PBL. The pioneering curriculum cuts lecture time by 60 percent, decreases rote memorization, teaches the science of medicine in the context of clinical cases, and, according to a recent study at MU, achieves outstanding academic results.

 

Traditional: In traditional curriculums, students take classes that have a format similar to undergraduate courses. These lecture-based classes are discipline specific and usually are tied to a certain department. In the traditional medical school curriculum, the first two years are devoted to basic science, the third to clinical science and the fourth to electives.

NEW Primary Care CHC Approach: A.T. Still University (ATSU, Mesa Campus) to start July 2007. Students will spend their first year on the Mesa, Arizona, Campus learning together in small groups using real-life patient interactions and simulated clinical experiences. Students’ education in years two through four will be based at one of the 10 select Community Health Center (CHC) campuses across the country. The second year is spent in small group settings learning additional clinical presentations, observing patient care, and gaining an understanding of the local health system and community health practices. Third- and fourth-year students will complete their clinical rotations at Community Health Center campuses and associated hospitals, as well as with healthcare providers and at select healthcare institutions. Osteopathic principles and practices are integrated throughout the curriculum, and the osteopathic manipulative treatment program is designed for primary care applications. This provides distinctive training in the value of healing touch in patient care.

 

Examples of Missouri Schools

KCOM: Discipline-based and multiple innovative learning models have been adopted throughout the evolution of the curriculum. Each course, while discipline-based, has numerous presentation styles including problem-based sessions, case-based presentations, web-based instruction, and small-group labs, workshops and other activities

Washington University School of Medicine: Curriculum incorporates many different teaching approaches, including traditional lectures and laboratory, small-group interaction, self-directed learning, and of course, broad clinical training.

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB): An innovative patient-centered curriculum provides clinical and academic enhancements, including a spirituality component that introduces elements of spirituality, cultural diversity and end-of-life care throughout the four-year curriculum and beyond.

MU College of Medicine: A problem-based curriculum with a multidisciplinary approach to teaching basic and clinical sciences, evaluations emphasizing problem solving and clinical skills rather than memorization, clinical experiences beginning in the first year, and integrated clinical experiences with a focused review of the basic sciences in the clinical years.

 

International Schools

1. Overall, medical education is organized very differently in Europe.  Most European schools offer 6-year (although the number of years vary) medical school programs typically reserved for students straight out of 12^th grade (high school) and tuition is often subsidized (you pay no or reduced tuition).
2. In the United States, medical students pay for tuition (and other expenses) during their undergraduate education (4 years) and medical school (4 years). However, during residency, residents are paid a salary of around $40,000 or so per year, depending on location, years in residency, specialty and other factors.

 

Podiatry Schools

1. Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPMs) strive to improve the overall health of their patients by focusing on preventing, diagnosing, and treating conditions associated with the foot and ankle. They treat a variety of conditions and employ innovative treatments to improve the well-being of their patients.
2. Eight colleges offer graduate or post-doctoral training programs in podiatric medicine.  The curriculum for the Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) degree includes two years of classroom instruction and two years of laboratory work followed by study of clinical science and patient care. In general, states require a minimum of one year of postgraduate residency training in an approved healthcare institution. Board certified podiatric physicians are required to have two years of residency training. A residency provides an interdisciplinary experience with rotations such as anesthesiology, internal medicine, infectious disease, surgery, ER and pediatrics.
3. DPMs are vital members to health-care team as they are often the first to detect symptoms of diabetes or cardiovascular disease because of the human foot’s interrelation with the rest of the body.

 

http://www.kcom.edu/

medschool.wustl.edu/

www.kcumb.edu/kcolleges/com/com.asp

http://www.slu.edu/

http://www.medschoolready.com/

http://www.aacpm.org/

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/pbl/info.html

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=55419&nfid=crss

http://www.virginia.edu/insideuva/2000/29/curriculum.html

 

-N Reid