Page 3 - Sunflower Health Network - Newsletter Winter 2014

WINTER 2014 Page 3 continue to work with their community preceptor. Preceptor work is valuable to the students as they prepare to start Phase 2 of KUMC’s medical curriculum‐ clinical education in third year. Med School: Years 3 and 4 A KUMC student once said, “My third year of medical school is the year my schedule becomes not my own.” The third year clinical program integrates of all the basic sciences the students have learned in the first two years into actual clinical practice. As students move through the different clinical specialties they still have the opportunity in specific clinical rotations to study off‐campus in a rural community. Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Surgery offer a Rural Option to a Required Third Year Clerkship. Again our rural physicians move to the forefront of the student’s education. The precepting physician oversees the didactic education as well as providing the clinical education necessary, thus ensuring that the student who has trained in the rural setting receives an equivalent educational experience as the student who trained at their home campus. Quality assurance programs reveal that these students typically perform at least as well as their urban counterparts on the subject and clinical skills exams. Students come away from the off‐campus rotations with an excitement and energy fostered by the in‐depth clinical experience and the mentorship of their rural preceptor – finally experiencing what training in prior years built upon – the opportunity to take care of patients! In 1948 the State of Kansas was facing a massive shortage of rural physicians, Dr. Franklin Murphy, Dean of the school at that time, devised what has come to be known as “The Murphy Plan”, or House Bill No. 9. This bill required students to do a rural rotation in rural Kansas with a rural doctor prior to graduation. The first students were deployed across the state in 1951. Although no longer mandated by legal statute, this rural experience is still a requirement for graduation for all KUMC students. The Rural Preceptorship, as it is now known, takes place in the last year of medical school. Students spend four weeks in a rural community removed from the influence of the tertiary care facility. For some this is their first opportunity to integrate everything they’ve learned in the previous three years. Working side by side with their preceptor they experience primary care in a hands‐on environment. Students are encouraged to learn about their host community and participate in the local life. As an additional component of the Rural Preceptorship, students are required to complete a service project chosen in collaboration with their preceptor. At this point, many students have a chance to solidify their choice of career specialty and a few have an epiphany during the rotation and change their practice plans. They often remark that “this is what medical school should be” and some even return to their host community to practice when they complete their training. Kansas City and Wichita programs KUMC must ensure that the educational opportunities for students are the same or equivalent regardless of their home campus location. But, at the same time students are afforded the advantages of unique training experiences at each campus. For thirty‐five years students have had the opportunity to complete Phase‐2 (the clinical years) on either the Kansas City campus or our Wichita campus. This campus is community based. In addition to the full time faculty in Wichita, students are educated by more than 1,000 volunteer faculty in a variety of practice settings from office‐based practice to experiences at the three partner hospitals – Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, Wesley Medical Center and Via Christi Health. In a study conducted by researchers at George Washington University and the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, KUSM‐W was ranked sixth nationwide for the number of graduates who practice primary care. In 2011, through the implementation of interactive television as a delivery medium, the Wichita branch campus expanded to include Phase‐1 (the Basic Science years). Dr. Cathcart‐Rake teaching KU SOM students physical exam component.