Medical Education in a Changing Environment

Teaching remains a UI Carver College of Medicine priority

Christopher Cooper urges colleagues to continue dedication to students

Observing that 'without teaching we would not be a medical school,' Christopher Cooper ('87 BA, '91 MD, '97 R) urged his faculty colleagues in the UI Carver College of Medicine to prepare for change and remember their commitment to teaching.

Cooper, associate professor of urology and associate dean for student affairs and curriculum, made his remarks earlier this year as part of a series of addresses by UI leaders aimed at rallying the health care community around the institution's core values and goals. His talk, 'Medical Education in a Changing Environment,' took place against a backdrop of activities aimed at introducing teamwork and greater integration of didactic and clinical learning across the four years of the medical curriculum.

Teaching 'is not as tangible as clinical care or research,' Cooper said. Nevertheless, 'teaching touches the lives of our students, the lives of their future patients and, hopefully, the lives of their future students.'

It's essential that faculty members understand and support the College's educational goals as well as the collegiate values that determine those goals, Cooper said. 'If we know those values it permits us to get closer to our destination.'

That 'destination' is to graduate great doctors, he said. The College has identified key qualities that define the students it wants to graduate: They should have outstanding medical knowledge and skills; be self-directed lifelong learners; use a scientific approach to the practice of medicine; be effective communicators and teachers; and embrace high standards of humanism and professionalism.

Numerous indicators document UI medical students' success in some of these areas. Cooper displayed graphs showing that UI students have consistently outperformed their peers nationally on Steps 1 and 2 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exams. He also noted that three in four members of the class of 2006 reported participating in scientific research under the guidance of a faculty mentor.

But, Cooper asked rhetorically, are humanistic and professional values teachable? 'Again, I'd like to point out to you that you are the role models,' he said. He suggested that faculty physicians' interactions with patients, colleagues and other health care professionals set the tone for students' perceptions of appropriate professional behavior.

Cooper said changes in the academic medical environment often pose a direct challenge to teaching. The exponential growth of medical knowledge, rapid technological advances, increased demands on faculty to generate clinical income and document their patient care activities, tougher competition for research funding and changing national accreditation standards all require medical education to adapt in order to achieve the goal of graduating great doctors.

Yet by focusing on some things that don't change'students' and faculty members' desire to help others, the thrill of discovering new knowledge, the joys and rewards of teaching'medical educators can adapt to the new circumstances with improved morale, Cooper said.

Innovations in curriculum and teaching take place continually at the UI. For example, the College for the first time has incorporated teamwork with other health professionals into the orientation medical students receive prior to beginning clinical rotations in their M3 year. Also, curriculum leaders are developing strategies to integrate more basic science content into the clinical M3 and M4 years, and more clinical learning into the didactic M1 and M2 years.

'In a changing environment, it is less likely that doing the same thing will result in a better outcome,' Cooper said. 'Changes in medical education must occur, and the best way for things to change is through active faculty involvement.'

Ultimately, it is faculty members' commitment that will determine the success of the College's educational mission, Cooper stressed. 'This is your school and these are your students,' he said.