2013 Poster Session Summaries - AAMC

PULSE is a year-long program that exposes students from Proviso Math and Science Academy in Maywood,
IL to a variety of areas in the medical profession. Physicians and other medical professionals present
aspects of their practice to students each month and assists the students as they attempt these clinical skills.
Additionally, the students are grouped with current medical school students to foster a mentoring relationship
that will hopefully pique and encourage their interest in medicine outside of what they learn in the classroom.
Both programs seek to improve the representation of people of color in the health professions in order to
address a diversifying and increasingly chronically ill population.
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO STRITCH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE [Poster # 17]
Program/Project Title: Peer-Led Medical Spanish
Presenter(s): Mary Calderone, Sarah Hale, Isabel Malone & Andrew Tully
Email: imalone1@luc.edu
Peer-Led Medical Spanish is an elective course offered to Stritch medical students, Marcella Niehoff School
of Nursing students, and interested faculty and administrators. First and second year medical students with
an advanced or fluent knowledge of Spanish are able to earn a two week elective teaching credit by creating
lesson plans, teaching classes on a weekly basis, compiling a portfolio of their work, and attending teaching
seminars throughout the year. Classes themselves are offered at varying levels on a weekly basis. From
complete beginners to native speakers, classes are designed to meet students at their level and provide
language tools that will be invaluable skills for their current or future careers in healthcare.
The number of Spanish-language speakers living in the United States has grown exponentially over the past
decade, and that trend is projected to continue into the upcoming years as well. Therefore, as medical
students dedicated to providing the best quality of patient care possible, we find it of the utmost importance
that students are given an opportunity to learn, improve upon, and practice their Spanish communication
skills, especially in a medical context. By attending classes, students learn essential medical vocabulary and
are given the opportunity to practice patient interviews with their classmates and teachers in Spanish.
Teachers are not only earning elective credit, but advancing their own skills and gaining valuable teaching
skills to take into their careers. Since the program's initiative five years ago, classes have been growing in
popularity, and have been widely attended by first and second year medical students.
During the 2013-2014 academic year, nursing students from Loyola University Marcella Niehoff School of
Nursing will be collaborating with medical students and taking the same medical Spanish courses for the first
time. We hope that this collaborative effort will continue to foster an environment of teamwork between all
healthcare professionals. Finally, at the conclusion of their second year of medical school, advanced
students are encouraged to take Loyola's Medical Spanish Certification exam. Upon passing this exam,
students earn the legal right to translate for their Spanish-speaking patients during their third and fourth year
clerkships. The Peer-Led Medical Spanish Program has been a tremendous success at Loyola Stritch
School of Medicine, and we would love the opportunity to share this program with other interested schools.
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN [Poster # 18]
Program/Project Title: Structure of Early Clinical Experiences Program within the Discovery
Curriculum
Presenter(s): Anish Patel & Melanie Bobbs
Email: ahpatel@mcw.edu
The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) debuted its new Discovery Curriculum in the fall of 2012. Among a
host of updates to the preclinical curriculum was the introduction of several early clinical experiences. These
experiences, which extend throughout the first two years of medical school, are designed to introduce
students to clinical practice early on and prepare them for their clinical years. The structure of the Program
begins with learning basic clinical competencies for working in the clinics during the first semester. For the
next two semesters, students attend clinical apprenticeships one half day per week, where preceptors
mentor students, observe respective levels of patient care and provide direct feedback. The final semester
includes a Capstone project that allows students to hone the skills they have absorbed in the clinic with
exposure to specialized and more complicated patient populations. While medical schools throughout the
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