Teaching Opportunities For BMS Faculty
Physician Role Model
The Office of Professional Development in conjunction with the Medical Interviewing course, BioMed 371, has a new opportunity for clinical faculty to serve as a physician role model for first-year medical students. As a component of the students' first clinical experience, once each semester on a Friday afternoon, faculty members provide a shadowing opportunity for one student to observe their clinical practice. During the fall visit, physicians model their clinical communications skills, while the student observes the history and physical exams. In the spring semester, the same student will return with the purpose of observing and reflecting upon the multiple roles and responsibilities of being a physician, which ties into the goals for professional development. For more information, please contact Roni_Phipps@brown.edu or call Ms. Phipps at 863-9717
Whole Patient Program
This Whole Patient Program is for Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) first-year undergraduate students. It emphasizes the significance of the doctor-patient relationship and attempts to demonstrate to students the importance of treating the patient's illness as opposed to treating the disease. A guest physician presents along with his/her invited guest patient. Recognizing the limited medical knowledge of the undergraduate students, the program does not attempt to address topics from a clnical perspective. Rather, it stresses the role of empathetic understanding in the practice of medicine. Contact: Julianne_Ip@brown.edu or Hilary_Sweigart@brown.edu
Whole Physician Program
The Whole Physician Program focuses on life as a medical student and as a
physician. Through panel presentations, it attempts to show PLME undergraduates:
- that life at Brown Medical School is manageable -- by inviting Brown med students to present their experiences;
- that there is "life after medical school" -- by inviting physicians to describe their varied career paths that each took to become a physician;
- that, as physicians, they will still be able to lead balanced lives and to participate in activities outside of medicine -- by inviting physicians with passions other than medicine to share their stories and coping mechanisms.
The Medicine in Action Program
The Medicine in Action Program (MIAP) is an early professional development opportunity designed specifically for PLME undergraduates. It offers students the chance to spend some time (generally for one-day visits -- or for a morning/afternoon) observing Brown medical faculty and alumni in a variety of health care settings. This is often a student's introduction to the clinical field. Longer visits may be arranged during the Winter or Spring Break periods. Contact: Hilary_Sweigart@brown.edu
The Summer Research Assistantship Program
The Summer Research Assistantship Program offers PLME and Brown medical students the opportunity to engage in a 10-week research experience. The research must be conducted at Brown University or at an affiliated hospital, under the direction and mentorship of a sponsor with a Brown University faculty appointment. Student application guidelines are available in the PLME Office in Arnold Laboratory, Suite 124. Faculty with possible research projects are welcome to e-mail the project title, research setting, contact information and required student background to Joan_Fullerton@brown.edu.
*The Women in Medicine Mentor Program
Each year, the Office of Women in Medicine invites women medical students to take part in the Women in Medicine Mentor Program. The program brings together women med students at an early point in their professional studies, with women physician mentors based at Brown affiliated hospitals and in the community. Through informal meetings, students look closely at a medical specialty or at a field of health care delivery from the perspective of a woman physician. An announcement of the program will be mailed out in the fall. Contact: Debra_Abeshaus@brown.edu
Introduction to Clinical Medicine
Preceptors are always needed for the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course in the second year (Biomed 373 and 374). Mike Macko is the course director, though Iris Tong is filling in for him this semester. Volunteer faculty could be used either during the intensive 3.5-day introductory week (the week before Labor Day) where they coach students in the skills of performing a physical exam, or on Thursday afternoons throughout the regular school year when students practice those skills on patients, typically in the hospital, or both. Contact Michael_Macko@brown.edu or Iris_Tong_MD@Brown.edu
Pathophysiology
Another setting where specialists are needed is as facilitators of facilitate PBL sessions in pathophysiology during their specialty's organ system block (e.g., cardiovascular, GI, etc.). It involves 2 hours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afernoons for a 2 week period (6-8 sessions depending on the organ system). Vera DePalo is the course leader for the fall semester (Vera_Depalo@brown.edu) and Paul Levinson is the course leader for the spring semester (Paul_Levinson@brown.edu).
Rhode Island Free Clinic
Volunteer preceptors at the Rhode Island Free Clinic are desperately needed for the Thursday evening sessions when the students are there. Typically, this is a shadowing type experience for the 2nd-year students, though we also occasionally have 3rd- or 4th-year med students there who are precepted by the licensed physician faculty (that is, the students see the patient first, then discuss it with the preceptor, then both go back to see the patient again and the preceptor countersigns the student's note). The medical students to contact to sign up for volunteering are Madhavi Parekh (Madhavi_Parekh@Brown.EDU), Vincent Capaldii (Vincent_Capaldi@Brown.EDU), and Tripler Pell (Tripler_Pell@Brown.edu). The executive director of the RIFC is Lisa Smolski LSmolski@Lifespan.org).
Doctoring Course
Doctoring (Bio 360-361, 362-363) was inaugurated in the fall semester of 2005 as the first step of many in curricular restructuring at the Medical School. This is an unprecedented opportunity for community physicians to have a prominent role in the longitudinal development of our students. Students spend approximately eight one half-day sessions per semester in a physician's office through the student's first and second years of medical school. They spend an additional half-day per week on campus learning the core skills of medical interviewing, history-taking, physical diagnosis, and professionalism. The students are then expected to practice these skills in the community physician's office setting. Community-based physicians who are interested in participating in the Doctoring course participate in workshops during the academic year to prepare them to serve as a mentor/preceptor for the Doctoring course the following year. Contact Dr. Arthur Frazzano at Arthur_Frazzano@brown.edu or 863-3598, or Roni Phipps at Roni_Phipps@brown.edu or 863-9717.