The American Medical Association (AMA) today announced that the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine is one of 20 medical schools selected to join its Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium.
The consortium’s goal is to enhance the innovative work underway to create the medical school of the future and quickly spread these innovations to additional medical schools throughout the country. The medical schools will each receive $75,000 over the next three years to advance the AMA’s innovative work aimed at transforming undergraduate medical education to better align with the 21st century health care system.
The schools were selected from among 170 eligible U.S. medical schools by a national advisory panel which sought proposals that would significantly redesign medical education.
Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., UNMC chancellor, said the initiative is an important step in medical education.
“It signifies a new day for how physicians will be trained to provide care in the 21st century health delivery system — training for now and in the future — not the way we’ve always done it,” Dr. Gold said. “The health system is evolving, and it’s important that we take a leadership role.”
Dr. Gold was chair of the AMA’s Council on Medical Education during the formal kickoff of the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium. The 20 new schools will build upon the projects that were created by the 11 schools awarded grants by the AMA in 2013. Their work will ultimately impact thousands of medical students across the nation currently being trained to care for patients.
With the added schools, the now 31-school consortium will support training for an estimated 18,000 medical students who will one day care for 31 million patients each year.
“We’re thrilled and honored to be selected to join the consortium and collaborate with other select institutions to continue the redesign of medical education,” said Brad Britigan, M.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “The college’s membership in the consortium validates the challenging curriculum design work already being done here, not just at the College of Medicine, but in all of the colleges at UNMC.”
In 2013, the AMA launched its Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative to bridge the gaps that exist between how medical students are trained and how health care is delivered. Some of the projects proposed by the new schools include programs that incorporate medical students into care coordination teams in an accountable care organization aimed at improving care for patients with multiple chronic conditions. Other projects focus on developing advanced simulation and telemedicine technologies to foster skills specific to the needs of rural or remote communities.
UNMC’s project will focus on transitioning interprofessional education into interprofessional practice with the goal of advancing teamwork and communication among health professionals.
Kelly Caverzagie, M.D., associate dean for educational strategy in the UNMC College of Medicine and principal investigator for UNMC in the consortium, said being part of the collaborative work signals a greater UNMC presence on a national stage.
“Joining this initiative provides greater opportunity to collaborate within the UNMC colleges and Nebraska Medicine,” Dr. Caverzagie said. “The colleges have been working on curriculum changes related to interprofessional practice. We have a great team here that developed the program, submitted the application and will lead our effort. It truly is an honor to be invited to join this high level collaborative.”
A full listing of the 20 new schools is included below.
• A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (Mesa, Ariz.)
• Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (Cleveland)
• Eastern Virginia Medical School (Norfolk, Va.)
• Emory University School of Medicine (Atlanta)
• Florida International University (FIU) Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine (Miami)
• Harvard Medical School (Boston) • Morehouse School of Medicine (Atlanta)
• Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (Cleveland)
• Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (New Brunswick, N.J.)
• Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education/City College of New York (New York City)
• Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Medical College (Philadelphia)
• University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (Chicago)
• University of Connecticut School of Medicine (Farmington, Conn.)
• University of Nebraska Medical Center/College of Medicine (Omaha)
• University of North Carolina School of Medicine (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences (Grand Forks, N.D.)
• University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School (Austin, Texas)
• University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine (Brownsville, Texas)
• University of Utah School of Medicine (Salt Lake City)
• University of Washington School of Medicine (Seattle)
The American Medical Association is the premier national organization dedicated to empowering the nation’s physicians to continually provide safer, higher quality, and more efficient care to patients and communities. For more than 165 years the AMA has been unwavering in its commitment to using its unique position and knowledge to shape a healthier future for America.
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