You Said, We Did

Can we improve the consistency across CAP sites with respect to times, roles, and responsibilities—trying to make it as meaningful as possible?

CAP leadership continues to work on these issues, doing regular reviews of our community partner organizations, enforcing expectations, and trying to make things as consistent as possible.  Students will be encouraged to contact leadership about specific site issues as early as possible.  Time expectations for the program will be reconsidered to determine if there is a better way to identify meaningful work, trying to maintain standards without overly focusing on hours or tracking.  As a result of student feedback, we are eliminating contracts with two sites and reassigning those students.

Can LAP do anything about easing the process of patient contact—either allowing more flexibility, or ensuring that patients are all engaged and available?

It's hard to assure patient availability, but LAP will communicate more clearly with students about reaching out early if there are issues (either with the patient partner or student) that may delay contact.

Can UPSOM assure students that national political changes won't interfere with their academic progression?

Although it's hard to fully predict what will happen, UPSOM has pledged understanding and flexibility should students need to change sites, programs, projects, or mentors based on funding/legal changes.  Deadline enforcement will be "softer" and students will not be punished for issues beyond their control

Can we have standing desks and a new treadmill desk for the student lounge?

We ordered two standing desks as a pilot and we'll be assembling them for student use; we also ordered new treadmill desks.

Can we find ways to make the VHA sessions easier to learn from—more practice questions, annotated images, recorded sessions for later review?

We are working with the VHA lead Dr. Truschel to improve the quality and accessibility of learning materials.  He will be adding practice questions and requiring all faculty to annotate images.  We don't record optional-attendance learning sessions, but we hope to make it easier for people to review content on their own.  

Can we have more mobile kiosks to ease the lines for attendance, especially in anatomy lab?

We secured additional kiosks, including for anatomy.  We shouldn't need to use QR codes there anymore, and the kiosks can be used for patient panels and at other large group activities.

Can we supplement small group work with content-focused preparation that all students receive?

Working with students, we are planning in the fall to pilot several alternate approaches to preparing students for small group activities—a preliminary case video, written cases (instead of powerpoint), and a written primer on high-yield clinical content to assist groups as they approach cases.

Can we get small group slide decks with answers PRIOR to small groups?

We typically do NOT release slide decks with the "answers" prior to small group activity.  We used to, but we discovered that students were naturally influenced by those answers and didn't connect with the material in the same way.  Without immediate access to the answers, this creates an opportunity for students to truly engage with the material - to analyze, problem-solve, and discuss in a collaborative way.  To support preparation and reduce cognitive overload, we try to provide a modified version of the slide deck in advance which outlines key content and structure of the session so that students could come prepared without giving away the solutions.  Full slide decks (with answers) are released after the small group.

Can you create "pharm guides" for each Organ System course summarizing all the medications discussed in that course, and perhaps circulate before the OS block begins?

This is a great idea.  We're developing a template for this, and some OS courses are taking this on to pilot.  We'll explore release date, but if students want this sooner, we can try to make it happen.

Can we get more clinical context prior to seeing patients in ICM?

We will work with CSPs on the best scripting to start patient encounters, such as providing chief concerns, basic medical history, and any noteworthy disability or other accommodations.  Students will also be able to access the EHR beginning in the Fall semester, although chart mining will be kept limited to ensure that students can do an independent assessment without being unduly biased or influenced by the medical record.

Can we have a closer link between learning objectives and assessment?

We have revised and created new EPO/CLO/Assessment crosswalks to better show the connection between objectives and assessment.  These will be integrated into the student assessment form, discussed in orientation, and posted on Elentra.  We will use this for educator training as well.

Can we improve the course catalogue to make it more interactive and easier to find things?

The registrar and HSIT are working on this, adding better search functions, drop-down items, and a cleaner platform overall.  We're clarifying what counts as remote/online.  These upgrades many take time but are in the works.

Improve image quality on exams

We have worked to improve image resolution and are monitoring more closely.

Alter office hours to allow more student attendance

We are working with leads so, where feasible, office hours can be provided after 5p, to allow all students to attend.  We are also making sure that no new material is presented in office hours, just review.

Release material earlier

We continue to work with course leads on this—upcoming courses should allow for earlier material release.

Promote written material in conjunction with presession videos

We need to ensure that the written material is identical—a "script" of the video.  We are encouraging course leads to complete these so students have more choice.  Upcoming courses should have this more consistently.

Coordinate release or presession learning to align with session timing

This is hard, because (as above), some students want material released early, and some don't want that.  We will try to make it clear when material will be covered so students can be clear on what they need to do when.

Limit access to student assessment data

As per ELEAP's recommendation, we eliminated LE access to student test scores.

Improve site assignment process

We are working to alter procedures to give students more time to request alternate assignments, and better clarity over options.  Most importantly, we are trying to standardize procedures across all clerkships.

Provide opportunities for radiology electives

We have clarified what elective students can take if they are interested in radiology, working closely with departmental lead Dr. Branstetter, who will individualize experiences for learners.

Make 2-wk electives open to CO26

We need to prioritize CO27 students because of the structures of their schedules, but when slots are available, we will not open them to CO26 students as well.  CO26 students will still need to complete 32 weeks of electives.