Pritzker Initiative
What to Expect from the Pritzker Initiative
By Dr. Halina Brukner and Members of the Pritzker Initiative Steering Committee
Halina Brukner, MD
As our mission statement notes, the Pritzker School of Medicine prides itself on its success in “…inspiring diverse students of exceptional promise to become leaders and innovators in science and medicine for the betterment of humanity.” The Pritzker curriculum has continued to serve our students well over many years and has been a vibrant entity, continually evolving to incorporate new teaching methods and technologies.
In order for medical school curricula to remain vibrant and responsive to changes in science and society, it is important periodically to take a broad look at the way we teach. It was in this spirit that we began the Pritzker Initiative in 2005, with the establishment of several key principles for the curriculum of the future. Those principles are:
- An emphasis on active learning
- Integration among disciplines when possible and appropriate
- A requirement for a scholarly project for all medical students
Over the ensuing years, faculty members and students have worked diligently to systematically examine our courses and clerkships, to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to evaluate new teaching modalities in light of our known strengths in biomedicine. The result of these ongoing efforts will be the rollout of the first year of the Pritzker Initiative in August 2009, with progressive implementation through 2012.
The following summary provides an overview of the various aspects of the Pritzker Initiative as described by the leaders of each component; it is likely that some aspects of the current plans will evolve further as implementation progresses. However, we are confident that with continued careful evaluation and with thoughtful input from faculty and students, we will be successful in developing the Pritzker Initiative into a model curriculum for medical education in the 21st century.
The Scientific Foundations of Medicine
Olaf Schneewind, PhD
Godfrey Getz, MD, PhD
The Scientific Foundations of Medicine curriculum has focused on several principles: to temper the number of lectures with small group discussions and relevant clinical case presentations; to reduce redundancy in lectures among courses; and to promote student self-learning. In addition, courses on related themes and approaches will be integrated as far as possible: Cells and Molecules; Tissue Biology; Response to Injury; and Neurobiology, each to occur in one of four quarters. For example, Biochemistry Cell Biology and Basic Genetics will be mounted as a 9-week, integrated course in the Autmn Quarter. The Response to Injury course during the Spring Quarter will include Microbiology, Cell Pathology, and Immunology with as much integration as possible. Additionally Neurobiology will be taught with Behavioral Neuroscience and Pharmacology.
The Human Body
Callum Ross, PhD
The Human Body is a redesigned human gross anatomy course in which the students learn clinically oriented human anatomy through dissection, lectures, and study of electronic radiology and embryology material. The course runs from early August through mid-October and includes daily lectures and labs. Faculty from the Organismal Biology & Anatomy department deliver the majority of the lecture material, however faculty from other departments provide supplementary lectures, as well. Members from the Department of Radiology give lectures and present lab material on medical imaging; faculty from the Department of Surgery provide surgeons’ perspectives on regional anatomy; faculty from Medicine, Surgery, and Anesthesia & Critical Care give lab talks in the dissection hall on clinical aspects of anatomy. Through such exposure, students not only learn human anatomy, but meet and interact with nearly 30 University of Chicago faculty members, including more than 25 clinical faculty members.
The TIME Project: Technology In Medical Education
Scott Stern, MD
TIME is an ambitious project designed to bring the latest digital media technology into the learning environment of Pritzker. TIME encompasses three distinct endeavors:
- TIME—Space will create a robust searchable indexed database that contains all of the educational content used in the curriculum at the Pritzker School of Medicine. Media of all types (handouts, PowerPoint presentations, lecture recordings, PDF files, etc.) will be stored in the database allowing all students the ability to explore material throughout the entire curriculum. This will be an exceptional resource for students in the preclinical years exploring the clinical relevance of their basic science instruction and for students in the clinical years revisiting the basic science underpinning of clinical issues. A working demonstration is anticipated in April, 2009 and the system plans to go live in the 2009-2010 academic year.
- TIME—Teach will compile information on a variety of learning tools available to faculty. Audience response systems, lecture recording, blogs, wikis, etc. are reviewed and explained to facilitate their use by faculty.
- TIME—Sim is the most ambitious arm of the TIME project. The goal is to create an almost limitless set of computer-based patient simulations to teach students clinical reasoning. The computer-based simulation will feature patient avatars that can be asked questions, and virtually examined. Lab results of all types will be available and students will generate a differential diagnosis as they evaluate the patient. Feedback will be integrated throughout the simulation. This interactive simulation will be state of the art and a significant improvement over existing simulations designed for medical students.
Scholarship and Discovery
Vineet Arora, MD
Eugene Chang, MD
The Scholarship and Discovery Thread builds on Pritzker’s already strong track record in producing research scholars through the NIH-funded Pritzker Summer Research Program. By fostering scholarship in medical education, quality improvement, community health, and global health through completion of a mentored scholarly project before graduation, we will be able to offer even more opportunities for scholarship and discovery. First-year students will acquire core skills through restructuring the existing biostatistics course and addition of new electives. Scholarly projects will primarily occur in the preclinical years, with a return to their scholarly area in the fourth year. This thread will culminate in students showcasing their work through the Senior Scientific Session.
Patient-Physician-Society-Systems (P2S2)
Will Harper, MD
John Lantos, MD
The Patient, Physician, Society, and Systems (P2S2) is a new course that will be implemented longitudinally across the entire four-year Pritzker curriculum. P2S2 brings under one umbrella the content of the current non-basic science courses of the pre-clerkship curriculum and oversees the continued development of these themes in the clerkship years. The successes of the Health Disparities, Clinical Skills, Patient-Physician-Society, and Social Context of Medicine courses are maintained, while new content and integrated learning units will be introduced. Seminars and small group learning will be utilized, as will expanded use of standardized patients and the Clinical Performance Center.
Clinical Medicine
Halina Brukner, MD
The third and fourth years of medical school will continue to focus on clinical experiences and hands-on learning. The new August start date allows a shift of the entire schedule so that students may begin their clinical rotations at the end of the second year; it also may provide additional time for elective experiences. In addition to the core clinical clerkships in the third year, the Pritzker Initiative will include periodic inter-sessions that will bring basic science into focus through the prism of newly learned clinical material. The inter-sessions may also focus on overarching themes such as health policy, public health, and translational medicine. So-called “nondenominational strands”—areas relevant to clinical medicine in such a broad way that they transcend clerkship divisions—will be woven into the curricula of the clerkships throughout the third year. Such strands include palliative care, advanced clinical skills, informatics, safety and quality, and several others. Fourth-year requirements are being reviewed in the context of the overall curricular structure. Finally, plans are underway for establishing a longitudinal clinical experience for medical students during the first two years in order to give them the opportunity to engage with patients on a long-term basis.
Transitions Courses
Mike O’Connor, MD
Susan Glick, MD
Jeanne Farnan, MD
Jerome Klafta, MD
The Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine course will be taught before the start of the clinical clerkships and will provide an introduction to the clinical realm, focusing on basic skills common to all clerkships, such as case presentations, ECG reading, basic radiology, and core procedural skills. It will also provide an orientation to the hospital and clinics. This course will aim to give all students a firm, common basis upon which to begin the transition into their clinical experiences.
The Transitions to Internship (Capstone) course was created with an overall program goal of providing graduating fourth-year students with a practical educational experience from which they can acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes to improve their preparedness for the rigors of internship training. Representative topics include basic procedural skills for adult and pediatric patients, techniques for obtaining informed consent, team and time management skills, as well as how to conduct sign-outs. These goals are accomplished via workshop-based spring electives with modules stressing procedural, communication, and life preparedness skills and utilizing diverse instructional methods such as the use of small-group interactive sessions, standardized patient experiences, and procedural simulation mannequins.
