Summative Portfolios for Advancement toward MD Degree

The School of Medicine has committed to implementing portfolios as the standard method for documenting and reporting on a student's proficiency in each of the six competency domains that define a competent physician. These include:

• Professionalism
  
• Interpersonal and Communications Skills
• Patient Care
• Practice-based Learning and Improvement
• Systems-based Practice
• Medical Knowledge
  

To be a competent physician requires the knowledge, skills, professional habits and commitments to continuously learn and improve. Knowledge is an essential but not sufficient competence - others include patient care, communication, clinical skills, professionalism, learning from patients and improving practice. Today's physician does not work in isolation, so other critical competencies include collaboration and team work.

A portfolio is a purposeful and longitudinal collection of tangible evidence of learner-selected work that exhibits the learner’s efforts, progress or achievement. This portfolio features the criteria for selection and judging merit, and includes evidence of learner reflection.

Portfolios are rolling out for the entering class of 2012 and will be stewarded through the Advisory Colleges with a series of formative reviews throughout the year leading to a summative review to determine readiness for Year II of the MD curriculum.

For more information contact Kevin at souzak@medsch.ucsf.edu.

Teaching and Learning Center Back on Track!

After an 8 month delay in the construction of our new Teaching and Learning Center to be housed on the second floor of the Campus Library, UCSF has received word to restart construction of the space. The new Teaching and Learning Center will house a new Kanbar Center for Simulation and Clinical Skills Education as well as new classrooms and a new Technology Commons.

We hope that actual construction will start as early as October 2009 with a completion date of October 2010.

What is the LCME?

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree in U.S. and Canadian medical schools. The LCME is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Medical Association (AMA).

The LCME site visit occurs every 8 years for each medical school for reaccreditation purposes. The last LCME site visit for UCSF was in 2003. Although, the upcoming LCME for UCSF won’t be until 2011, the UCSF team has been working on gathering all of the evidence and data for the LCME report since January 2008. The LCME standards look at all of the different aspects of a medical school: Institutional Setting; Education Standards; Medical Students admissions and services; Faculty information; and Educational Resources. The team is currently working with all curriculum committees on compliance for LCME standards in our curriculum. The team is starting to work on the self study that will be submitted to the LCME review committee in September 2010.

UCSF LCME site visit will be January 9-12, 2011.

Ilios 2 Alpha demos new features and interfaces

On Wednesday, August 26th the Ilios project team demonstrated some of the new features and interfaces coming to Ilios 2.0 for a group of campus stakeholders from Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry and the Library. Some of the most striking new features are a drag and drop calendar scheduling interface and new auto-complete tools for entering in curricular information such as MeSH terms and disciplines. The Ilios project team also provided an update on the overall project plan and major milestones. The next major development priority is working on group and user management. Ilios 2.0 is set for release early next year, though specific implementation plans for the schools are still being worked out.

For more information see the Ilios 2 project page:
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/about/projects/ilios

Class of 2013 listserv now available

The Class of 2013 listserv is now available. All the incoming first year students (PRIME, MD, MSTP) have been enrolled. The Class of 2013 list serve address is: Med13@listsrv.ucsf.edu

To subscribe to the list please go to the link below and follow the instructions:

http://medschool.ucsf.edu/iROCKET/tech_requirement/listserv.aspx

NOTE: For Dean’s Office staff, when you sign up for the list make sure to use your @medsch.ucsf.edu email address. If you use your @ucsf.edu address your posts to the list will be moderated since the listserv will see your email as coming from medsch.ucsf.edu.

2009 Curriculum Ambassador Showcase

We cordially invite you to the 2009 Showcase for the School of Medicine Summer Curriculum Ambassador program. At this poster session, Curriculum Ambassadors will present the results of their summer curricular and educational work, and discuss the impact on the Essential Core curriculum and beyond!

Monday, September 14th
4pm-6pm
Golden Gate Room
Millberry Union

The program provides support and mentoring for students to pursue a curriculum project of their choosing. Students partner with course faculty to develop particular areas with a block—from small group sessions to longitudinal theme development to online modules. Students also work on team projects to enhance cross-block integration and consistency.

On behalf of the Curriculum Ambassador Program Leadership team:
Tracy Fulton and Helen Loeser
Chandler Mayfield and Christian Burke
Patricia O’Sullivan, Christy Boscardin and Bridget O’Brien
Josephine Tan
David Rachleff

New report available on Match Day qualifications

The AAMC and the National Resident Matching Program, which administers the Match, have published the latest edition of “Charting Outcomes in the Match,” a biennial report containing data on how applicant qualifications affect Match success. Specifically, the report examines the characteristics of applicants who did and did not match to their preferred specialty.

Information: Go to www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2009v3.pdf

Special Temporary Furlough Employee Emergency Loan Program

Due to upcoming salary reductions and furloughs, UCSF's campus leadership has created a Special Temporary Furlough Employee Emergency Loan Program for the duration of the salary reductions and furloughs. Employee may apply for this program beginning October 1, 2009. The program will provide loan assistance to employees who have experienced salary reductions and experience financial stress causing them to need such assistance. This temporary program will have the following criteria:

• The maximum loan limit available to an employee will equal the reduction in pay created by the pay reduction applied to them (based on the applicable salary bands and related rules governing the salary reduction/furlough program).

• The loan will be repaid in twenty-four (24) consecutive monthly payments through payroll deduction with the same rate of interest and repayment provisions as the regular Employee Emergency Loan.

• Employees with salaries higher than $60,000 will be ineligible for this Program.

• Any employee who does not qualify for this special program remains eligible for the regular Emergency Loan Program.

The Faculty and Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) will be handling the Special Temporary Furlough Employee Emergency Loan Program as well as the regular Employee Loan Program. Please contact them beginning October 1, 2009 for further information at 415-476-8279, or visit their website located at http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/index.php/assist/

Welcome Ann Homan to Medical Education

Please join us in welcoming Ann Homan as she officially joins Medical Education and the Kanbar Center, on August, 25, 2009, as the Assistant Standardized Patient Trainer for the Clinical Skills Education facility. She will also participate in the coordination of programs for Foundations of Patient Care involving standardized patients.

Ann comes to us with a background working with the Human Recourses department for ECFMG developing effective tools for evaluating SP performances from 1998 – 2004. From 2004-06 she worked with the USMLE in the piloting and development of the step 2 CS Exam. For the past three years Ann has worked in the capacity of a standardized patient trainer and advisor for the UCSF Clinical Skills Center, the Stanford School of Medicine, and UC Davis School of Medicine. In her professional acting career Ann has done industrial training simulations, TV commercials and musical theatre.

Drop by our Clinical Skills Education facility at 1515 Scott Street or email Ann, HomanA@medsch.ucsf.edu, to say hello and welcome her to the Medical Education family.

Welcome Justin Akers to GME

Dear all:

I am most pleased to introduce Justin Akers as the new Manager of Resident and Fellows Affairs in the Office of GME. Justin will fill the position previously held by Amy Day, prior to her promotion to Director of GME.

Justin is joining GME after working for four years in Campus Life Services’ Housing department. Based at Mission Bay, Justin helped develop and implement policies and procedures for the new Mission Bay Housing complex, which opened in 2005. Justin was also responsible for the leasing and customer service operations at the complex. On a daily basis, he interacted with a wide cross section of the University population, including residents, fellows, post docs, students, and faculty. While at Housing, Justin also became the point person for his department’s Balanced Scorecard, a complex strategy tool that captures organizational goals, measures, and targets. Additionally, Justin served as his department’s assessment manger. He organized focus groups, analyzed survey data, and collaborated with his colleagues to implement operational improvements that increased customer and stakeholder satisfaction.

Justin is originally from Ohio and holds his undergraduate degree from Boston University and his masters from the University of London. In his free time, he is an avid portrait photographer and enjoys the local theater scene.

Please join me in welcoming Justin to UCSF GME!

Best,

Bobby Baron
Associate Dean for GME

Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators Announcement of New Members

We are delighted to announce that the following UCSF faculty have been selected for membership in The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators:

Colette L. Auerswald, MD, MS
Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Director of Research Training, UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program

Anna Chang, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine

Peter V. Chin-Hong, MD
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine

Alan M. Gelb, MD, FACEP, FAAEM
Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine

Susan B. Promes, MD
Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine
Program Director, UCSF-SFGH Emergency Medicine Residency Program

Mark D. Rollins, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anesthesia

Niraj L. Segal, MD, MPH
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine

Sandrijn van Schaik, MD, PhD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics

Find out more on the Academy's Website.

UCSF Earns High Marks for Efforts to Limit Drug Industry Influence

UCSF was one of just nine medical schools nationwide to receive an A grade in a recent report evaluating how well academic medical centers govern drug industry interaction with their students, faculty and physicians.

The 2009 PharmFree Scorecard, released in June by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) and the Prescription Project, compared the conflict-of-interest policies of 149 medical schools and awarded 45 schools a grade of A or B – up from 29 schools last year. UCSF’s policy earned an A in 2008 as well.

Full story at...
http://today.ucsf.edu/stories/ucsf-praised-for-efforts-to-limit-drug-industry-influence/

Chandler Mayfield is the Boyden Award Recipient for 2009

The Boyden Award was established in 2004 to recognize a School of Medicine staff member who has shown exemplary service in support of medical education.

Chandler Mayfield, Assistant Director of Learning Technologies in the Office of Educational Technology is the Boyden Award Recipient for 2009. Chandler has provided more than eight years of continuous dedicated service to medical education, not only serving every aspect of the doctor of medicine curriculum, but also extending service to graduate medical education, continuing medical education, global health sciences, Pathways to Discovery programs and the schools of Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry and the Graduate School.

Chandler joined the School of Medicine’s Office of Educational Technology in 2001 where he assisted in building the first online iROCKET courses. In the days before our curriculum management system, Ilios, Chandler hand entered all of the information for our Essential Core Courses into iROCKET. He helped launch the school’s award winning Ilios curriculum management system in 2002 and currently serves as the project director of an entirely new version of Ilios, being developed in partnership with the UCSF Library, that will manage curriculum for clinical programs, graduate medical education, and the other health professions schools.

Please join us in congratulating Chandler on this accomplishment!

Learn more about the Boyden Award.

Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators - Celebration of New Members 2009

The newest Academy Members will be inducted on
September 21, 2009
4:00-5:30pm in N-225.

The ceremony will include a Keynote Address by Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, Murdock Head Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

Please join us in celebrating the new members of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators.

For more information, check out the Academy's Website.

UC May Lend State Money to Kick Start Telemedicine Project

From Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer. August 6, 2009.

According to recent proposal, UC would lend $199.8 million to the state, which in turn will use the money to pay for voter-approved construction projects at UC campuses. For UCSF that means new classrooms and expansion of telemedicine services at the Parnassus campus and at San Francisco General Hospital -- a $32.4 million project.

"It's incredibly good news," said David Irby, vice dean for medical education at UCSF, which was cited six years ago by an accrediting agency for inadequate classroom space.

Learn more about the proposed Teaching and Learning Center at http://tlc.library.ucsf.edu

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/06/BAGK1942B2.DTL#ixzz0O6RYrfMu

Revisions to the USMLE May be on the Way

The USMLE ("the boards") assesses a physician's ability to apply knowledge, concepts, and principles, and to demonstrate fundamental patient-centered skills, that are important in health and disease and that constitute the basis of safe and effective patient care.

The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) are pleased to announce that all three organizations have endorsed the USMLE Composite Committee’s recommendations to revise the USMLE. These recommendations include: 1) sharpening the assessment focus on examinees’ readiness for supervised and for unsupervised practice; 2) adopting a general competencies schema for the overall design, development, and scoring of USMLE; and 3) emphasizing the importance of the scientific foundations of medicine in all components of the assessment process. The staff has also been charged with enhancing the assessment of clinical skills and developing measures of an examinee’s ability to access and apply information to solving clinical problems.

Ilios Rewrite Project Update

The Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) at UCSF began in the 2008-2009 academic year with the implementation of a new course management system, the first piece of a new interactive online environment for teaching and learning. Building on this initial success and excitement during the first year, the School of Medicine and the Library have partnered to explore ways in which Ilios, the SOM curriculum management system, could be utilized to enhance and expand the current capabilities of the CLE.

Leveraging the success of existing business processes in Ilios, combined with an assessment of the needs of stakeholders from each school on campus, has informed the following project plan to enhance the CLE with an integrated suite of tools:

• Curriculum Manager: A form-based application for collecting information regarding programs, courses, and scheduling of sessions. The Curriculum Manager will allow curriculum administrators to evaluate entire programs; to review longitudinal course information; to track individual learners, as well as teaching effort. The ability to duplicate or "clone" courses and roll them over to a new quarter will also be managed with this tool.
  Alpha release August 1, 2009.
• Learning Materials: A structured repository for digital assets, allowing curriculum developers to have more flexibility in managing electronic learning materials. Individual items can be associated with multiple courses and additional metadata will allow for greater discoverability of available resources.
  Beta release September 1, 2009.
• Group Management: As a subsidiary system within the Curriculum Manager, Group Management will provide the ability to place learners and instructors into managed groups for ease of assignment to curricular content and scheduling.
  Beta release October 2, 2009.
• Reporting: Ad hoc reporting will be available in this initial phase.
  Beta release November 2, 2009.
• Curriculum Manager
  Beta release November 20, 2009

The primary focus for the current project plan is to develop tools that will enhance the CLE. It does not address ongoing support due to budget constraints. We recognize that for this endeavor to be successful, each school will need some amount of support; this will continue to be discussed at periodic stakeholder meetings and an agreed-upon solution will be put in place prior to releasing this suite of tools across campus.

Our goal is to have this suite of tools ready for all schools on campus by February 1, 2010.

Learn More

OME Hosts the Masters in Medical Educational Cohort from University of Bern for an Educational Program

In late July the Office of Medical Education hosted a group of masters in medical education students from the University of Bern, Switzerland. The 24 health professionals, mostly practicing MDs, came from 13 universities and hospitals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to complete a portion of the international component of their Masters degree program here at UCSF, the other part taking place at the University of Illinois, Chicago the following week. The participants' specialties varied from nursing, physical therapy, and chiropractic to internal medicine, anesthesia and pediatric surgery.

Dr. Patricia O'Sullivan designed a varied program on the UCSF Educational Environment, taught by 13 UCSF faculty and staff members over a period of two and a half days at the Mission Bay campus. Fighting jet lag, the participants learned about the academy movement, curricular change, assessing professionalism, workplace learning, and several other topics. Favorite workshops were "Delivering Effective Feedback," led by Dr. Calvin Chou and colleagues; and Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal's "Teaching Clinical Reasoning." The participants valued the interprofessional exchange, and the chance to connect within the educators' network. They were truly inspired by the work being done at UCSF and were thankful to have come.