What is an Audience Response System (ARS), and what do I need to know about it?
How do I view reports that summarize my Learning Log entries?
The detailed schedule for each course, including an hour-by-hour roster of course activities, is posted on the course’s Navigator Web site as soon as all of the details are finalized. It is possible that a course’s schedule will change slightly after the schedule has been posted on Navigator. However, the changes are usually quite limited, and students may use the posted schedule on Navigator to make plans in advance.
The course schedule is distributed in the course syllabus just prior to the start of a course. Course directors may announce any last-minute changes at the class sessions on the first day of the course, so it is important to be present to hear those details.
Students seeking information in advance may wish to refer to the overall curriculum calendar for their class year. Those schedules describe the activities of a course on a more gross scale, showing only the general half-days assigned to a given course. Courses in the first and second year generally run from 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. There are rare exceptions in certain courses, such as courses in the Introduction to Patient Care block, which will have an occasional early evening session. There are no weekend course sessions during the first and second year.
Explore the link below to see the full-year half-day schedule for the first two years:
For first- and second-year students, the exam schedule for the year is posted together with other year-long schedules on the Web page of academic calendars. See the current year examination schedule for the first two years.
Examinations in the third-year clerkships are generally administered on the same relative day in the clerkship during each rotation cycle. The final Friday of the clerkship is a common examination day, but there are certain rotations with alternative schedules. For information about the exam schedule for a specific clerkship, please contact the clerkship's education coordinator. You may reach the individual clerkship coordinators by clicking on the link below to third-year course descriptions, then selecting the specific course in which you are interested. Please review the third-year clerkship descriptions.
First- and second-year students participate in a longitudinal sequence of courses within the Introduction to Patient Care block. The courses are conducted during three afternoons each week throughout the first two years.
Students are assigned to the specific afternoons by the administrative coordinators for those courses. Schedules for all students are distributed as soon as they are available, typically within a couple of weeks before the start of the course. In the case of the Advanced Physical Examination and Clinical Experiences rotations, the process of making student-specific assignments is fairly complex and takes into account student requests for specific types and locations of placements. For these reasons, the schedule for these courses may be distributed by the course administrative coordinator on a month-by-month basis. Copies of the schedule will be distributed to each student electronically, and a master schedule will be posted on each course’s Navigator Web site.
For more information about schedules, or to contact course administrative coordinators with specific questions, use the links below to view the curriculum description, which includes names and contact information for the course administrative coordinators.
Links to Introduction to Patient Care block course descriptions:
As a general rule, all medical school course work is required. Student participation in every aspect of the curriculum is important to help each student get as much as possible out of the scheduled curriculum. However, we are well aware that students may have special opportunities to contribute to scientific and professional meetings. This may include serving in leadership capacities or giving a scientific presentation.
Students who wish to obtain permission to be excused from curricular activities to attend a conference for one of those reasons should contact Associate Director of the Office of Medical Education Dr. Kathleen Ryan as early as possible to see if the proposed absence may be permissible. Dr. Ryan and the Office of Medical Education can coordinate handling such requests, including consulting with course directors.
To view first- and second-year course exam grades and block grades, log in to the Zone Web site. Under the "My Class" section, the menu includes a student utilities section with options to click on first- and second-year exam results.
To view third- and fourth-year clerkship and course grades, log in to the Zone Web site. Under the "My Class" section, the menu includes a student utilities section with options to click on third- and fourth-year grades.
Room reservations for activities sponsored by student groups are handled through an online request system. On the Zone, log in, then select the "Student Groups" link. The opening page includes a link to the online room reservation request form. When completing this form, be ready to provide information about the date, time, and nature of the event, whether there is an intention to serve food at the event, and what the AV requests might be.
Student groups that are holding events in the small group rooms or lecture halls in Scaife Hall may generally use the audiovisual facilities, including built-in LCD projectors. In certain lecture halls it is necessary to make advance arrangements for staff assistance in operating the audiovisual systems. Please submit requests for audiovisual support when filing a room reservation request for the activity. Under certain circumstances, student groups may be able to arrange for the use of an LCD projector for an event that is not being held in one of the usual medical student rooms. For assistance with this, please contact the Office of Medical Education at 412-648-8714.
Each of the lecture halls has a built-in audiovisual system, including an LCD projector. Explore these links to view instructions for operating the system in each room.
The Navigator Web site contains the online curriculum materials for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine curriculum. The Web site is accessible to all students in the MD degree program at UPSOM and to faculty involved in medical student education. Obtain access to the site, then click on the link “New User Registration” on the left toolbar. Registering as a new user will take just a moment and will provide you with access to course materials such as syllabus content, podcasts, webcasts, practice questions, and other multimedia resources.
The “Zone” Web site serves as the centralized area for medical student online activity, connecting students to Web-based administrative, academic, and social resources related to their education. The Zone can be accessed here. Access to many areas of the Zone is password protected for use only by currently authorized students, faculty, and staff. If you are in one of these groups and would like to obtain information about establishing access to the password-protected materials on the Zone, please contact the Lab for Educational Technology at 412-648-9679 or by e-mail at labedutech@medschool.pitt.edu.
Review this course evaluation information link for more information.
Wireless PittNet is installed in Scaife Hall. Coverage has been established for all spaces that are most accessible to medical students, faculty, and staff. This includes Scaife classroom spaces, the medical student lounge, and the Health Sciences library. If you want more information on the specifics of the University wireless network (e.g., how to connect, locations of buildings with PittNet access), the Wireless PittNet is available for review.
This network has been installed and will be maintained by the University's Computing Services and Systems Development group (CSSD). If you require assistance with your user name or password, please contact the CSSD Help Desk directly at 412-624-HELP. The CSSD Help Desk is always available to answer your questions.
UPMC now provides free wireless service at various locations so that patients, visitors, and trainees can access the Internet on their laptops and other computer devices. To log on while in a UPMC Wi-Fi hotspot, open “Network Connections” on your laptop or computer device and connect to GIA (Guest Internet Access).
All Scaife small group room computers and many computers in the Falk Library are connected to a dedicated printer in the library’s 2nd floor Computer & Media Center (CMC). The printer is located near the CMC information desk.
To route a job to this printer
-Begin to print as you would from any computer.
-A Pharos pop-up window will appear.
-Select the printer you wish to use [CMC printer]. *To select two-sided printing, you must go into either Preferences or Properties (depending on your web browser);
-Select the “Duplex printing” option, then click OK.
For username or login, enter your usual medical school email username - "lastname.firstname" [do not enter the extension "@medstudent.pitt.edu"].
Where it requests a unique job name, you may enter any name you wish.
To retrieve your print job
-Go to the print station in the CMC.
-At the terminal next to the printer, you will need to log in.
-Again, as your login, use your medical school email username.
-Enter your password. [Your password is based on your name and social security number. It is the first letter of your last name, the first 4 digits of your SSN, and the first letter of your first name].
-After you log in, select your print job from the list and it will be printer.
Certain course work is held at the WISER Simulation Center. Because of the unique nature of the course activities and technology involved, there is a separate curriculum system in place at the WISER. Prior to the start of required coursework at WISER during the second year, students will receive an e-mail message describing how to access that specific online curriculum system. For students who have already used that system, you may follow the link below to reach the WISER Web site and obtain help in recalling a login or password.
The Postini anti-spam software is a practical and effective approach at reducing spam and is compatible with our email system. This is an optional (but highly recommended) system to filter spam from your incoming medstudent e-mail. To activate the system, you opt-in by visiting a specific web site and enroll your e-mail account with the system.
Postini Anti-Spam Overview
The Postini anti-spam software is already a component of the University of Pittsburgh’s email services, and has been used by various departments and administrative groups for more than a year, with good results. To use the system, each individual user must follow a couple of simple steps to route their email through the Postini system. By taking this step, email is routed through the Postini software before arriving at the email inbox. Spam-type messages will be captured by the Postini system. Spam messages are held in a web-accessible spam folder for separate review. It is then up to each user to visit that spam folder regularly, to be sure that any legitimate messages have not been inadvertently captured by that system. The system allows for various levels of spam capturing.
Key Points
It may also be helpful to view a brief video on this, prepared by the SEC Technology Committee (about 2 minutes to view). http://136.142.56.63/acmcontent/6bfebbc0-4205-40d1-8e0f-9575dd4ab8e8/TechCommittee_2010_2007-12-10_12-05-PM_files/flash_index.htm
Many aspects of the residency recruiting process are now being conducted exclusively by email. In particular, many time-sensitive communications, such as invitations to interviews, are handled by email. During this particularly important phase of the residency selection process, it may be helpful to take certain steps to assure that messages are delivered without diversion or delay.
In particular, many students use various programs to identify possible spam messages, or to forward mail from medstudent email accounts to outside accounts. During this critical time in 4th year, you may wish to temporarily deactivate or adjust settings on those programs so as to reduce the likelihood that a message is delayed or lost. For example, the University’s Postini anti-spam software diverts messages to a holding file for your review. Messages are only held in Postini for approximately 14 days.
As a temporary measure just during application season, you may wish to reduce the anti-spam settings to low or actually deactivate anti-spam software to insure that all possible messages reach your inbox without delay or diversion. Similarly, depending on mail forwarding to external accounts has the potential to lead to a delayed delivery to that alternative account.
PittMed classes use an Audience Response System (ARS) called TurningPoint.
All first and second year medical school students receive a Responder at the beginning of the year. It comes in a plastic case and is attached to a lanyard.
You are expected to return all of these items at the end of the academic year. There is a $60 replacement fee for your responder if you fail to return it or damage it beyond repair.
If you lose your Responder, let your lecturer and the OMED office, M-211, know right away. If your battery dies or you notice a problem, don’t hesitate to bring it to the OMED office.
Here’s how it works:
Please note your response is anonymous and strictly used to help your lecturer better understand and serve you.
More and more lecturers are using TurningPoint, so bring your Responder to every lecture.
The Learning Log is accessible from several points. The most direct is to use this URL: http://log.nav.pitt.edu You may also access the log by links located within individual clerkship sites on Navigator and from the “Academics” area in the ZONE. The first time you use the Learning Log, you will need to register your account by clicking on the “Register new user” link and following the directions. Use your ENTIRE medstudent email address in the username field when logging in.
If you are having technical problems with the Learning Log, including difficulty logging on, you should contact the Lab for Educational Technology at labedutech@medschool.pitt.edu, 412-648-9679. If you have questions about when you should be using the log or about the diagnoses or preceptors, we suggest that you first contact your course or clerkship’s coordinator or director. If you have further questions, feel free to contact Dr. John Mahoney at the Office of Medical Education, at 412-648-8714 or mahoney@medschool.pitt.edu.
There are three types of patients that you should record in the log:
Each time you enter a new patient into the log, you will select Assigned, Encountered or Simulated from the pull-down menu.
Yes, you should submit Learning Log entries for inpatients and outpatients.
Course and clerkship directors often have additional specific areas that they want you to be sure to learn about. The Learning Log is one way to help them monitor your progress in these areas. The instructions the clerkship directors have for your use of the logs is generally in addition to those listed here. As a student on that rotation, you should be sure to follow the directions of your clerkship or course director.
The Learning Log provides course and clerkship directors and the School as a whole, with the ability to better understand the types of patients that students are encountering and the types of learning that are going on in the setting of those clinical cases.
These items appear under the heading “Learning experiences related to this patient’s care included:”. This list of 17 items provides an opportunity for you to give us more information about other specific areas of learning that are important for your growth as a physician-in-training and that represent important dimensions of the School’s overall curricular objectives. They represent broad areas that are often elements of learning surrounding a patient case, yet may not be apparent from the single term that is used to list the patient’s diagnosis. For example, a log diagnosis entry of congestive heart failure does not adequately reveal that the key area of learning for a student was in the complexities of revising a complex therapeutic plan or in extended discussions with the patient and family about end-of-life issues. We encourage you to check off as many of these areas of special learning as are applicable to each case.
A new and evolving curricular initiative is to use Learning Log entries as a trigger to provide students with easy access to just-in-time learning resources. These are deployed during various clinical courses. In some courses, completing a certain number of these just-in-time learning modules is a required activity. Your individual course or clerkship director will provide you with the specific details about the requirements for your course.
This link contains a multi-page list of most of the diagnoses contained within the Learning Log, sorted by organ systems. http://www.omed.pitt.edu/documents/logdiagnosislist.pdf Many diagnoses appear in more than one category. In addition to those on this printed list, you will encounter additional diagnoses as you go to the entry screen, including some abbreviations for commonly entered diagnoses. For example, within the log system you will see both congestive heart failure and CHF. Whichever one of these terms you select, it will map to a single point in the Learning Log record system.
As a general rule, it is highly recommended that you select a diagnosis from the pull-down list. When you do this, your diagnoses are automatically tallied, making it easier for both you and the clerkship/ course director to see a tidy summary of the cases you have seen, summarized using a standardized and predictable vocabulary. When you manually type in a diagnosis, it is counted separately. If you type in the same diagnosis multiple times, it will appear in your summary reports as many times as you have typed it in, even if it appears identical on the screen. This can make for a difficult report to read and understand. Also be aware that, when you manually type in a diagnosis, the record system has no means to know how to categorize that manual entry. For example, any cardiovascular diagnoses you enter will not be tallied under the overall heading of cardiovascular cases.
You may enter any additional diagnoses in the write-in diagnosis box.
Similar to the situation with diagnoses, we highly encourage you to use names from the pull-down list rather than typing them in each time. If the name you are looking for simply does not appear in the list, then of course you should type it in. We will be periodically reviewing the write-in entries and updating the pull-down lists to reduce the number of write-ins that you must make.
There are two features available to help you view your log records. After you log in, the opening screen will include a report item, “Quick List”. Selecting this link will display recently entered diagnoses and procedures. If you select “My Log Activity”, you will be able to view summary & detailed reports of your log activity grouped by clerkship. To gain a better understanding of how these work, we suggest that you browse each one after you have entered at least one diagnosis or procedure.
The Office of Medical Education has resources to help students with study skills and other academic problems. For assistance, contact Mr. Rich Levitt at 412-648-9541 or by e-mail at rich@medschool.pitt.edu.
There are several types of resources available at the school to assist with personal problems. The staff at the Office of Student Affairs, including Associate Dean for Student Affairs Dr. Harvey, can be of great assistance with many student problems. The counseling program at the School of Medicine offers medical students evaluation, treatment, and referral for a wide range of psychological needs. Lee Wolfson, MEd, is the medical student psychologist. He can be reached at 412-624-1041 or by e-mail at lkw2@pitt.edu.
There are a number of ways to learn more about what is currently going on with the curriculum. One of the best ways is to discuss curriculum matters with your class’s elected Curriculum Committee representatives and class officers. The Curriculum Committee meets once or twice each month, and all meetings are open to all members of the School of Medicine community, including students and faculty. For more information about upcoming Curriculum Committee meetings, contact your class’s Curriculum Committee representatives or the Curriculum Committee's recording secretary, Ms. Betsy Nero, at 412-648-9829 or by e-mail at betsy@medschool.pitt.edu.
Students have had a terrific impact on the current state of this medical school. We welcome student input on how things are going now and how to improve the student experience. There are a number of easy ways to have your ideas heard. Tell your class officers or Curriculum Committee representatives. Tell the faculty or staff at the Office of Medical Education, Office of Student Affairs, Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, or Lab for Educational Technology. Stop by and talk with any of the faculty and staff in the school administration, such as Dr. John Mahoney, associate dean for medical education, or Dr. Joan Harvey, associate dean for student affairs.
The Office of Student Affairs has information about international educational opportunities for medical students. Dr. Joan Harvey, associate dean for student affairs, leads the faculty team that oversees the Global Health Area of Concentration, which can be a terrific resource for students considering how an international experience may fit into their learning plans. For more information, contact Dr. Harvey.