June 14, 2013 – On the eve of its Annual Meeting, the American Medical Association (AMA) has announced that Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine has been selected as one of 11 medical schools to receive funding as part of its $11 million Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative aimed at transforming the way future physicians are trained.
“We are thrilled to award funding to 11 medical schools for their bold, transformative proposals designed to close the gaps between how medical students are trained and how health care is delivered,” said AMA President Jeremy A. Lazarus, M.D. “This AMA initiative will identify specific changes in medical education that can be applied in medical schools throughout the nation to enable students to thrive in a changing health care environment and improve the health of our nation’s patients.”
The proposal from OHSU will develop and implement a learner-centered, competency-based curriculum that enables medical students to advance through individualized learning plans as they meet pre-determined milestones. A portfolio-based system will track milestone achievement and clinical experiences. Faculty will develop innovative methods for teaching and assessing critically important skills related to informatics, quality science and interprofessional teamwork. This program will allow some students to complete medical school in less than four years and will create lifelong learners accustomed to continuous self-assessment, adaptable to the changing health care environment and prepared to manage the needs of patients and populations.
The AMA will provide $1 million to each school over five years to fund the educational innovations envisioned by each institution. A critical component of the AMA’s initiative will be to establish a learning consortium with the selected schools to rapidly disseminate best practices to other medical and health profession schools.
Of the 141 eligible medical schools, 119 – more than 80 percent – submitted letters of intent outlining their proposals in February. In March, 28 individual schools and three collaborative groups of schools were selected to submit full proposals before a national advisory panel worked with the AMA to select the final 11 schools.
For more information about the initiative, visit www.changemeded.org.
