An effective curriculum for teaching third-year medical students about medical errors and disclosure.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requires disclosure of medical errors related to sentinel events. At the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, we have developed an effective curriculum for teaching third-year medical students this content. The instructional program lasts a half day and consists of large group lectures combined with small group exercises. Lecture information is provided by patient relations, hospital administrators, and hospital defense attorneys. In small groups, students are given 2 clinical case scenarios to role play on disclosure facilitated by a physician and a legal representative. Student evaluations rate this course highly.

Practicing effectively in today's health system: teaching systems-based care.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Institute of Medicine and the new Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education General Essentials have focused attention on the Undergraduate Medical Education for the 21st Century (UME-21) core content area of systems-based care. Through teaching systems-based care, medical students can learn how physicians effectively deliver and coordinate care within the health system. While medical students can be introduced to the organization, financing, and delivery of the health care system through lectures, the principles and practice of systems-based care must be reinforced through structured learning experiences during the clinical (ie, third and fourth) years. The purpose of this article is to define the undergraduate clinical content and experiences in systems-based care offered by the eight UME-21 partner schools. METHODS: The eight partner UME-21 schools exposed third- and fourth-year medical students to a variety of clinical experiences outside the traditional teaching hospital in such settings as physician offices, skilled nursing facilities, the patient's home, hospice, and public health departments. They also taught systems-based care skills such as care coordination, performance assessment, and quality improvement. RESULTS: Based on surveys of graduating students, the UME-21 programs were successful in exposing students to the aforementioned topics, though there was variability among schools. DISCUSSION: The experiences of the UME-21 schools in teaching about systems-based care, as discussed in this paper, may be useful to those involved in medical school curricula planning.

Teaching the basics of clinical pharmaceutical care: innovative pharmacy workshops at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Nebraska.

BACKGROUND: Safe and effective prescription writing, using drug formularies, and managing pharmaceutical care are skills medical students need to acquire. Spurred by the Undergraduate Medical Education for the 21st Century (UME-21) grants, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Nebraska independently developed educational workshops to address these competencies. METHODS: The University of Wisconsin's workshop is presented to medical students at the start of their third year. They receive information from pharmacists on medication errors, prescription writing, and drug formularies. A "learners guide" summary is discussed by a physician, which brings into focus the clinical application of the didactic session. A small-group session follows with hands-on experience in writing prescriptions and using formularies for three patient case scenarios. The workshop at the University of Nebraska consists of three sessions during the third-year internal medicine clerkship. In the first session, pharmacists discuss formularies, the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (PT) committee, and the preparation of a drug monograph. During the second session, students develop an evidence-based drug monograph on a product or herbal. In the final session, the class functions as a mock PT committee, and after listening to the drug monographs, determines whether the product should be added to the formulary. We evaluated students' satisfaction with the workshops using Likert scales and assessed students' ability to correctly fill out a prescription form. RESULTS: Both workshops were well received. The mean rating at University of Wisconsin was 1.7 on a scale of 1 (satisfied) to 7 (dissatisfied), and at University of Nebraska it was 3.8 with 5 (outstanding) to 1 (unacceptable). At the University of Wisconsin, on a year-end skills assessment involving 148 students, 100% of the students properly filled out a prescription. Ninety-four percent received an excellent grade, 6% a pass, and no marginal or failing grades were given out. CONCLUSIONS: The workshop on pharmaceutical prescribing was rated favorably by students. After participating in the workshop, students acquired skills in prescription writing.