Vanderbilt University Medical Center will host representatives from the country’s leading medical schools next week to discuss one of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) top initiatives — accelerating change in medical education.
The three-day AMA Consortium meeting, scheduled for Sept. 21-23, will focus on “Developing and Assessing Master Adaptive Learners,” one of the AMA’s major goals and one in which Vanderbilt is playing a leading role.
In 2013 Vanderbilt, along with 10 other medical schools, was selected to receive a $1 million grant over a five-year period to identify and disseminate best practices in medical education across the country.
“The health care system is quickly evolving and changing,” said Bonnie Miller, M.D., senior associate dean for Health Sciences Education at Vanderbilt. “Although we cannot predict what the health care system will look like in 10, 15 or 20 years, we can give our students the skill set to learn and adapt to a changing environment.
“How do we help students build the habits of lifelong master adaptive learners?” asked Miller.
“More specifically, we want to discuss how we are creating the master adaptive workplace learner, the student-physicians who are constantly seeking to improve their knowledge base and performance and always trying to understand very deeply the issues that their patients are facing.”
Miller said the conceptual model is being realized through the school’s educational curriculum, Curriculum 2.0, which has been recognized as one of the nation’s most advanced.
Vanderbilt’s grant submission outlined major changes included through Curriculum 2.0, such as embedding students at a longitudinal clinical site so they can learn a systems approach to care, a competency-based assessments system and individualized learning goals. As a result of Curriculum 2.0’s competency-based progression, some students may be able to complete medical school in fewer than four years.
For VUSM, Curriculum 2.0 represents the departure from a highly regarded, but traditional medical school curriculum to a complex, integrated, collaborative and personalized course schedule that includes less traditional lecture and more clinical and case-based experience.
“There has been a universal call to transform the teaching of medicine to shift the focus of education toward real-world practice and competency assessment, which is why the AMA launched the Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative,” said Robert Wah, M.D., president, American Medical Association. “The AMA is proud to be leading the charge to answer this call. Over the last year, we have made significant progress in transforming curriculum at these medical schools that can and will help close the gaps that currently exist between how medical students are trained and the way health care is delivered in this country now and in the future.”
The AMA consortium meetings allow participants a platform to provide input, receive feedback and share outcomes from their specific projects.
Vanderbilt is the second school within the consortium to host a meeting.
“This is a great opportunity for our faculty to interact with others in medical education,” said Miller. “We will also be able to highlight some of the things we have been doing to advance medical education and learning.”
The AMA Consortium meeting is being held in conjunction with the school’s Health Profession Education Research Day set for noon on Sept. 22 in Light Hall.
The keynote address, open to the Vanderbilt community, will be given by Mark Quirk, Ph.D., former vice president of Education Outcomes for the AMA. He will elaborate on the meeting’s theme.
