MED2010 - The Pause That Refreshes?

From the Daily:

Med School postpones major curriculum overhaul

Med 2010 reforms will be dramatically scaled back.

A planned major overhaul of the Medical School’s curriculum will be largely scaled back due to financial constraints*, according to Medical School officials.

Components of the MED2010 initiative, which has been in the works the last few years, will still be incorporated into the education of medical students entering in 2010, said Dr. Lindsey Henson, vice dean for education in the Medical School. But the stark program changes will not be put into place as planned, she said.

Originally the brain child of Dean Dr. Deborah Powell, MED2010 was the product of numerous faculty consultations and pilot programs. The proposed changes would have completely altered the way the University of Minnesota educates new physicians.

Another factor influencing the changes to MED2010’s rollout is the Medical School’s upcoming accreditation visit from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, Henson said.

The visit is likely to come in the 2011-2012 school year, she said, and the Medical School didn’t want to be still rolling out the second wave of the changes in the middle of the visit.

Second-year medical student Hannah Shacter said historically she had been frustrated with the idea of MED2010 because she felt all suggestions and criticisms of the curriculum were being held off for the major changes, which would come too late to affect her education.

A memo regarding the MED2010 changes from Senior Vice President for Health Sciences Dr. Frank Cerra and Powell is expected to be sent to faculty and students sometime this week.

— Emma L. Carew is a senior staff reporter

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