Faculty Assessment of an Innovative Approach to Medical Education

Abstract

The Clinical Presentation (CP) Model and inductive reasoning process is an innovative approach to undergraduate medical education delivery used at A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA). Embedding cohorts of students into community campus settings during the second, third and fourth year is equally as innovative and a unique model for training future physicians that fosters contextual learning. We investigated faculty impressions of the CP Curriculum (CPC), inductive reasoning process and the early contextual learning experience. Electronic surveys were sent to 36 Mesa campus faculty and 23 Regional Directors of Medical Education (RDME) at each of the 11 National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) affiliated Community Health Campuses (CHC’s) in nine states.1 A total of 40 respondents (68%) completed the survey. Seventy percent of faculty respondents indicated that they “Completely Understand or “Understand Very Well” the CP Model as a teaching tool. Ninety-five percent of respondents stated they understand the application of “inductive vs. deductive” processes as they apply to medicine, and 88% expressed that they understood at least “Somewhat” how to use the CP Model to arrive at a diagnosis in “real life”. More than half (53%) indicated that placing the medical student in the contextual learning campus beginning in year 2 is the “right idea that is implemented at the right time”. Since about half of faculty surveyed indicated that they understand the inductive reasoning aspect of the CP Model very well or well, additional faculty development training is warranted. In the classroom, 70% reported including clinical presentation schemes 80–100% of the time during instruction. Clinical faculty were statistically significantly more likely to indicate that placing the medical students in the community health clinic settings at the beginning of their second year is the right idea at the right time.