HJAR Jul/Aug 2019

Q&A How has the role of medical education changed over the years? Is it more of a team- model approach? Medical education has changed dra- matically in recent years and continues to evolve, particularly in the first two pre-clin- ical years. When I was in medical school—in fact, when most physicians practicing today were working toward their medical degree— it was largely teaching by lecture. Picture a lecture hall in which the professor did most of the talking, and first- and second-year medical students passively listened and took notes. Medical educators have found that stu- dents learn more effectively when they are engaged in active learning methods such as team-based learning. We have largely moved away from lectures, and will have almost no lectures within the next five years. Instead, we use a “flipped classroom”model in which students study assignments before they come to class. Their time in class with the faculty expert is spent in exercises that allow them to apply the learned knowledge to patient cases and clinical situations, sometimes working in teams. Three of our faculty educators, Drs. Stan- ley Ellis, Charles MatthewQuick, and James Graham, recently published an article in the journal, Medical Science Educator, about our college’s successful transition to the team-based learning curriculum, and how faculty peer-review processes assure qual- ity. They were able to show that our students scored better on a number of major nation- ally administered exams. How does a medical education from UAMS dif- fer from other medical schools? There’s an old saying that “once you’ve seen one medical school, you’ve seen one medical school.”I think that is true of UAMS. The traditional approach of developing a foundation through in-depth study of the basic sciences in the first two years, followed by largely clinically focused education in the third and fourth years, remains for many across medical schools in the United States. However, the techniques used to accom- plish this differ at each school. Medical education at UAMS is particularly strong throughout the four years. Our basic sci- ence faculty and physician faculty members work together to ensure that the material in the first two years is clinically relevant, and that it does provide a strong foundation for clinical learning and practice. Our students are also fortunate to have outstanding clinical learning facilities close at hand at UAMS Medical Center; the UAMS Regional Campuses; our affiliates, the Cen- tral Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Arkansas Children’s and Baptist Health; and others. Our medical students who are com- pleting their third- and fourth-year clinical experiences in Northwest Arkansas work with 200-plus full-time and adjunct faculty physicians at hospitals, including Mercy Northwest, Washington Regional, the Vet- erans Health Care System of the Ozarks, and Northwest Health Systems, along withmany other community partners. Other than being a teaching institution, is there anything UAMS College of Medicine can do to improve the overall health for the people of Arkansas? Our mission will always be to ensure that Arkansans receive the best possible medi- cal care and enjoy good health. UAMS has