Future of Health Care 2020

THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE // HEALTH EDUCATION
Medical school and students adapt to Covid-19
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normally in proctored settings, but are now
distributed virtually. They can be virtually
monitored, but students are not required to do
so. We’re relying a lot upon the honor system.
We’ve noticed no problems with that, as this
year’s scores are comparable to the previous 10
years’ worth of scores.
What feedback have you received from
students? We stay in touch through email and
virtual town halls. They’ve been very patient
with us as we’ve worked through ongoing
changes. I know they realize there are a lot of
things outside of anybody’s control. But they feel
we have their best interests at heart. We’re trying
to minimize their anxiety and difficulty in terms
of coursework and flexibility.
How has the pandemic changed how students
learn? It’s not what, but how it’s delivered.
The Association of American Medical Colleges
recommends that students not be in the clinical
environment. So they’re not in the hospitals.
That has some effect on first- and second-year
students, and a greater impact on third- and
fourth-year students. In some ways, it’s actually
been beneficial.
We’ve been looking at a curricular reset
in 2022, prior to any thoughts of a pandemic.
To do that, we want to continue to use good
teaching principles with learning objectives
and a very structured accounting of what they
need to know and how it’s delivered. With the
pandemic and (students’) rapid removal from
the wards, everybody has really bought into the
disruptive change. As a result, some practices
now are the delivery types and learning
objectives we wanted a year from now.
Clearly, what’s significantly different is they
don’t have clinical exposure. Many schools have
offered Covid electives, and we’ve tailored other
electives. We’re now concentrating on delivering
core online material.
Once hospitals are clear, we will return
students to clinical environments, making sure
they are as well-trained as they otherwise would
be. Any new curriculum would be competencybased,
not time-based. Some people can master
things more quickly. It’s the measure of that
competency that’s much more important.
How will this outbreak change your
curriculum going forward? The Liaison
Committee on Medical Education is requiring
contingency plans for significant disruption
for delivery of the educational content. This
is something we’ve always talked about. It is
something you really need to plan for, but until
it happened, most plans were theoretical.
In the future, there will be much more
detailed plans. It has gone as well as it could.
Look back to late 1990s with the avian flu. The
world developed concern that it might be a
worldwide pandemic. Also, there was SARS in
2002. It was a pandemic in terms of disruption,
but not in terms of infectivity. It was easier to
control. Then in 2009 with H1N1, that was dealt
with extremely well. But this one really showed
us how to react in a faster and more defined
manner.
Are there any positives to take from this
situation? I think everybody has gotten a lot
better at online delivery of content. We talk
in medical education about backward design.
You identify your learning objectives, figure
how you’ll assess and decide what material
is important to achieve that. It’s that sense of
urgency. You have to figure out what you need to
know.
What impact has there been and might there
be on med-school applicants? For next year, we
were through most of the interviews already. The
last several sets occurred virtually. What’s going
to happen next year is really a topic for national
discussion. It’s going to be impacted at multiple
places down the line. Students who haven’t
taken the MCAT can’t take it.
Colleges and universities have gone to pass/
fail. Courses that might give some insight into
how students will handle the large volume of
information are going to be graded on a pass/
no-pass basis, which might impact the school’s
ability to discern applicants. We have adopted
a holistic approach in recent years, so that has
put us a little bit ahead of the curve.
But it’s really going to impact the admissions
process. From high school to college and college
to graduate-level, everything is going to be
impacted.
Can prospective students do anything to get a
leg up? It will probably change some people’s
approach toward the timing of testing and
requirements. Sometimes people put things off.
I think this will give them a greater appreciation
for (the fact that) you don’t have much control
over many things. Get the requirements done so
you’ll still be in good standing.
Has there been or will be there be a surge
in demand for your next class of graduates?
(Federal) recommendations did make
allowances to have graduates participate earlier,
graduate earlier. But our graduation being May
1 anyway, it hasn’t impacted our students nearly
as much. If some part of the health-care system
wants to utilize them prior to their residency,
all the different organizations have set up
guidelines.
It’s not just as simple as them starting earlier.
That’s not the best option. New graduates take
training. It takes resources to train people. One
has to be careful about introducing additional
requirements on the system.
— Paul Lane
WORD FROM THE SPONSOR: D’YOUVILLE
Higher Education Keeps Pace With Evolving Health Care Field
There are two things that
innovative educational
institutions have learned during
the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. First,
no organization is immune to the
effects of massive market disruption.
Second, those institutions which act
rather than react or become idle, will
not only thrive but drive the future.
Healthcare education leaders,
over the last five years, could often be
quoted saying, “We must be nimble.
We have to be ready to respond
quickly to changing market demands.”
It meant launching new programs fast
and tightening curriculum to expedite
length to degree. It meant condensing
credits to lower student costs and
bringing in new technologies. It meant
developing pathways for students
to move in and out of educational
experiences, from certificates to
Lorri Clemo,
PhD., is
President of
D’Youville.
doctorates,
as their life
circumstances
evolved. These
were cuttingedge
ideas in an
industry that
traditionally
moved slowly.
That is no longer
the case.
The future
of healthcare
education will
demand more
than fast responsiveness. It is now
apparent that an institution will never
be able to respond fast enough to the
volcanic market that is the world today.
So, for a university like D’Youville, we
will continue to take the lead in our
industry, not by responding to market
needs in a reactionary way, but by
shaping the future through education
today. This commitment is evident
in D’Youville’s Health Professions
Hub, a 57,000 square foot epicenter
of health care delivery, future-forward
educational pedagogies, and workforce
development opportunities aimed at
building a healthier community.
Moving forward, what might it
mean to shape the future through
education? It could mean reshaping
cross-disciplinary academic programs
into physical and digital team-based
learning experiences that will not
only educate, but tangibly improve
public health outcomes. It could
mean driving the workforce in an era
when funders are suddenly pouring
dollars into expanding programs
like telehealth. What jobs might we
imagine in this new future? How will
these professionals shape healthcare
outcomes twenty years from now?
It could mean training students,
not just to acquire skills needed in the
work environment, but to anticipate
and develop protocols around
community health and wellness
needs long before the disaster is at
our door. We all know from this life
experience that has overtaken our
world, that we can – individually and
collectively - adapt to technology
we thought we would never use.
Education must drive and familiarize
its students and the communities
they serve with future technologies
that allow us to pivot quickly when
common methods of service delivery
suddenly become obsolete.
The higher education marketplace
throughout America is facing
challenges. Colleges and universities
will close. D’Youville will gather up
its strength to ensure that healthcare
education tomorrow sets the pace.
28 THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE BUFFALO BUSINESS FIRST