I just received this message from one of our Deans of Medical Education. Even though I have my first anatomy practical today, perhaps this is a sign that despite all of that, today will be a wonderful day!
Subject: New Required Educational Experience - Nurse Shadowing in M1 Year
Date: Sep 25, 2009 9:52 am
Message:
Dear M1 Class:
This year we are offering you a new required educational experience to complete during your M1 Year. You will each spend one half-day shadowing a nurse in the UM Health System.
Today’s health care delivery system challenges all health care professionals to provide care that is patient-centered, efficient, effective, safe, and timely. To meet this challenge, collaboration among members of health care teams (including, but certainly not limited to, physician and nurses) is vital. In at attempt to educate medical students on the role of nurses in the health care team as well as to foster open communication and teamwork between health professionals, this shadowing program – created originally by medical students – was run as a pilot last academic year. We hope that you enjoy the program as much as students last year did, and take something away that you can use for the rest of your careers as physicians.
We developed the following learning outcomes for the experience:
* Knowledge of what nurses bring to a health care team
* Ability to communicate effectively with a nurse
* Respect for the knowledge and skills of nurses
* Openness to learning about patient care from nurses
We will be asking you to complete a pre and a post-assessment of this experience. The post-assessment will serve as your documentation of completion of the required experience.
Sincerely,
Casey White, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Medical Education
Little things like this that remind me why I decided to come to Michigan for med school! Do y'all have programs like this in your schools?
