ISMMS Receives the 2014 Excellence in Medical Education Award
ISMMS recognized by AAMC's Northeastern Group on Educational Affairs for its Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE) educational program.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) received the 2014 Excellence in Medical Education, Undergraduate Medical Education Pre-Clerkship Award at the Association of American Medical College's Northeastern Group on Educational Affairs Annual Meeting. The award recognizes work on ISMMS's Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE) educational program.
LCE pairs each pre-clinical medical student with a chronically ill patient, a physician-mentor, and a student peer. This longitudinal clinical exposure over two years allows students to begin developing their clinical professional identities and to grapple with complex clinical practice, situations, and events. The program requires students to develop these relationships over time. They are encouraged to write about their feelings, observations, and interpretations of the patients' experiences navigating the health care system. LCE faculty conducted a survey to identify the overarching educational themes learned by students exposed to patients experiencing chronic illnesses as evidenced by their written reflections on patient interactions.
Following a qualitative examination of 140 students' journal entries, the following educational themes emerged: a developed understanding of perceived role in the experience; a learned integration of patient care and the science behind it; increased clinical reasoning about chronic illness care; expanded understanding of barriers to patient care and of patient support systems; increased self-awareness and sense of professional purpose; and integration of skills learned inside the classroom with those learned outside of it.
Study authors were Molly Cherington; Neloofar Naderi; Cinthia De La Rosa, MPH, Service Learning Coordinator in the Office of Curriculum Support; Valerie Parkas, MD, Associate Dean for Admissions and Associate Professor of Medical Education and Medicine (Infectious Diseases); and Rainier P. Soriano, MD, Co-Director of the Curriculum and Director of Educational Technology.