You Said, We Did!

Your voice matters! Student feedback is critically important to continuous quality improvement in all phases of our curriculum and every part of our school. Please feel free to submit a suggestion here.
 
Here’s how PittMed has responded to student suggestions and input:

July 2024

YOU SAID...
WE DID! 
More consistency in CAP Community Partner Organizations (CPO’s)
We have limited the distance of CPO’s from the school, enhanced CPO orientation, and are conducting site visits to ensure greater consistency in your experiences.
Greater flexibility in CAP assignments
We have built more focused orientation materials and shifted the focus from “time spent “to “project completion.”
Clearer expectations for both CAP and LAP
We have enhanced orientation materials, added more information to the website, and will contact you and your classmates more frequently to ensure expectations are clear. Faculty are also holding office hours to answer your questions!
An easier way to log LAP encounters
We changed Elentra to make it much easier to log encounters.
An easier way to track progression through medical school
We are excited to introduce you to Slate this year – we anticipate this system will be much more user friendly.
Consistent approach to pre-work materials posted in Elentra
Task force set best practices, will follow; also creating videos/open hours for tips.
A more stable exam platform
We have shifted back to ExamSoft – this change has already eliminated the issues we saw with using Elentra.
Curriculum:  Clearer learning objectives
All of our learning objectives undergo continuous quality improvement through our professional instructional designer, feedback from students and LE’s, and faculty review/revision. We will continue to improve our learning objectives every year!
Consistent, high-quality pre-work that supports your learning in small groups
We have set new standards for the “right” amount of pre-work and have incorporated your feedback about front-loading each week of the curriculum. By popular demand, many more videos will be produced “in house” this year!
Greater numbers, diversity, and consistency in faculty educators
We are actively recruiting faculty with an emphasis on diversity, and supporting our current faculty with “expert floaters” (who visit your small groups to answer content questions). All faculty receive ongoing education through development sessions and their growth is closely monitored through your feedback and formal observation.
More practice questions!
In addition to embedded Elentra questions, we have expanded student access to UWorld, which includes a question bank of over 3500 items for students to use as practice during the curriculum.  Students will now be able to enjoy a one-year subscription, beginning with Organ Systems and running through Step 1.
More ways to share your feedback
In addition to Feedback Friday (which will continue!) and course evaluations, we have incorporated more options to share your thoughts. Check out the Elentra “immediate feedback” button (now active!), visit expanded faculty and dean office hours, and come to one of the “School Administered Survey” focus group sessions to dialogue about your 3RC experience. We want to hear from you!
More quiet space to study
We added 160 quiet study seats in testing room which is also a designated quiet study space. We moved to 24/7 card access only to all teaching spaces, which allows for increased medical student only space unless scheduled by others. Other things we did: set ground rules for student study, including signage; worked with the library to improve noise control.