The high-tech features of the College of Medicines new Professional Learning and Assessment Center were at center stage March 22 during a tour attended by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who came to see first-hand the results of a $900,000 federal Health Resources and Service Administration grant he secured to establish the center, which opened in fall 2003.
A key component of the colleges newly launched Vermont Integrated Curriculum, the assessment center provides an environment where medical students receive their first hands-on education in the art of patient care. Here, medical students sharpen their patient interviewing and physical exam skills using standardized patients members of the community trained to perform as patients who then evaluate students' skills and computerized patient simulator mannequins, which are able to emulate nearly-perfect humanlike characteristics in all kinds of medical situations. The center is also where medical students are assessed regularly during their medical school years with standard performance examinations.
One goal of our new curriculum is to integrate basic science and clinical learning from the outset, and the assessment center provides an environment where medical students can train and practice their patient-care skills early on, said medical school Dean John Evans.
While Senator Leahy watched on one of several new exam room video monitors in the centers hallway command center, fourth-year medical student Tom Manchester visited with standardized patient Laurence Dugan, whose character, Lou Levine, is 58 years old, has a family history of heart disease and has been suffering chest pains. After a 15-minute interview and physical exam, Laurence evaluated Manchester's communication and physical exam skills, later discussing his feedback in person with him. Dugan, a jazz pianist, is used to performing, but enjoys the opportunity to help medical students train to become better doctors. Its one of the only times they get feedback from a person they are working on, said Dugan.
One reason that Vermont has good doctors is because we have a great medical school, Leahy said. Dean Evans and the entire medical school faculty are shaping the future of medicine by introducing patient contact from the beginning. The new curriculum, and the use of the assessment center, is giving students more hands-on training than ever before.
The Professional Learning and Assessment Center is located in the Given Building on the UVM medical campus, adjacent to the planned education center, which will link the College of Medicine with teaching hospital Fletcher Allen Health Care. The assessment center features 12 exam rooms equipped with video cameras, four computer stations, a patient waiting area, and a lounge.
