 February 2003 • Volume 9 • Number 2 |
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BY CINDY McCANSE
The conference room was pretty well packed during a recent staff meeting here at the Florida State University College of Medicine.
On the table: how best to mark -- and market -- the mid-February groundbreaking ceremony for the new medical school's state-of-the-art facility. Around the table: associate and assistant deans, department chairs, program coordinators, and other school supporters and staff. And, of course, the college's founding dean, family physician Joseph Scherger, M.D., M.P.H.
Here, every opinion is welcome, and every idea has merit. Throughout the institution, there's a palpable aura of equal parts excitement and determination. It's part of being in on a "startup" venture: The college is the first allopathic medical school established in the United States in two decades. And while it's a work in progress -- literally -- the school is already well down the road to forming its own identity.
Much of that identity -- and the esprit de corps that goes along with it -- has to do with how Scherger, a former AAFP director and Family Physician of the Year, has run the school since taking the helm in July 2001.
 Florida State University College of Medicine founding dean Joseph Scherger, M.D., M.P.H., has integrated family medicine into the new school's mission of serving the underserved. |
Serving the underserved
When the Florida Legislature authorized creation of the medical college in June 2000, it made a promise to the people of Florida, said Scherger. The school would exist to serve the state's citizens, particularly those whose medical needs had not been adequately met -- the elderly and those living in rural and other underserved areas.
It was a challenge Scherger said he couldn't turn down, and now that mission guides every decision he and his colleagues make. It has prompted investment in state-of-the-art educational tools (see story below), but it has also driven home the need to teach students to provide old-fashioned, hands-on patient care. And it's absolutely critical when deciding who gets into the school and who doesn't.
Here, numbers can take a back seat to attitude, said Myra Hurt, Ph.D., associate dean for student affairs, admissions and outreach.
"There isn't a magic number for us," she explained. How an applicant looks on paper is only part of the whole picture -- the interview can tell volumes about a candidate. Personal warmth and well-developed communication skills are two crucial traits admissions committee members look for.
"The way I look at it is: 'Is this the doctor I want holding my hand when I'm 90 years old?'" Hurt explained. "These students are going to go out into the community to practice medicine the way it's meant to be practiced."
Creating a pipeline
 Students in the Florida State University College of Medicine's SSTRIDE program learn both in and out of the classroom. Here, students go online to learn about the physical sciences. |
A common recruitment concern for any medical school is how to attract students with "the right stuff." At the FSU medical college, that concern focuses on drawing in those who traditionally have been underrepresented in medicine.
The solution: Create educational opportunities early on that help level the playing field and open a pathway for students who otherwise might never conceive of a career in medicine.
FSU has made -- if you'll pardon the pun -- great SSTRIDEs in this regard.
Science Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence, or SSTRIDE, is an outreach effort now run by the FSU College of Medicine with support from Florida's Area Health Education Centers.
SSTRIDE offers area middle- and high-school students a chance to hone their science knowledge. There's also an undergraduate component, run with the aid of the Minority Association of Pre-health Students.
Students in the program learn by going online as well as by going on field trips. Areas of emphasis, said program coordinator Thesla Anderson, include anatomy, physiology, chemistry and standardized test preparation.
It's a fun, yet challenging, opportunity for the middle- and high-school students who participate, Anderson said. As for the undergrads: "If they get through this, they're ready for medical school," she said.
And just in case an applicant to the FSU medical college doesn't quite make the cut when coming before the admissions committee, the school gives those on the cusp some extra help.
The Bridge Program selects several students from medically underserved, rural and inner-city areas who do not gain direct admission to the medical college for a three-semester, intensive training course that encourages growth in both the academic and health care settings. Candidates who successfully complete the program are admitted to the medical college following their post-baccalaureate year.
Social responsibility
All this attention to ensuring the right people develop the right skills and wind up in the right places is what Scherger refers to as being socially responsible.
"When I take the long view," he said, "I look at several things. How can I keep this medical school focused on its primary mission?"
At FSU, the state has made a serious commitment to educating students dedicated to providing affordable, accessible, compassionate care. "My job and the job of the founding team is to lay the groundwork for that ongoing mission," Scherger said.
The school's departmental structure reflects that goal. Five departments -- biomedical sciences, clinical sciences, medical humanities and social sciences, family medicine and rural health, and geriatrics -- bear witness to the school's focus on integrating social with clinical science to best serve patients.
Because the discipline of family medicine is so closely tied to the school's raison d'ˆetre, it has its own departmental identification. Coursework pertaining to other medical specialties is shared among the remaining clinical departments.
That structure opens up a new way of viewing other specialties, said family physician Alma Littles, M.D., chair of the school's department of family medicine and rural health. Mutual experiences foster mutual understanding -- and mutual respect.
"Even the neurologists and the orthopedists understand where the family doctor fits into the picture," she explained. "We want our surgeons to know what it's like to practice in a rural setting."
"We've got to keep our focus on the needs of the state," said Scherger, "on elder and rural care. As more and more doctors are dropping out of Medicare, and now even Medicaid, there's a disconnect there."
To reach writer Cindy McCanse, e-mail cmccanse@aafp.org.
FP Report is
published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2003 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
