Aug 15, 2018

Reflection and Renewal for the MD Program

Students, Education, Faculty & Staff, Partnerships, Inclusion & Diversity
Vice Dean Patricia Houston

As we look forward to a new academic year, the MD Program is embarking on a period of reflection and self-improvement. We are striving to build a better education program and learning environment for our students and a culture of inclusion and respect.

The first cohort of Foundations students is settling into clerkship. They have experienced our curriculum’s integrated approach, which presents students with opportunities to revisit important concepts and topics at various points throughout their first two years of study. With each new exposure to an idea, our students are progressing on their lifelong educational journey to become skilled health care providers. As we have developed and implemented this new curriculum, we have continuously listened to, and acted upon, student and faculty feedback to improve the program.

We are also implementing changes to our clerkship curriculum, including the introduction in 2018-19 of Year 3 core learning sessions that focus on patient safety, career planning, resilience and wellness, and medical complexity. These sessions build upon material covered in Foundations, and will enable students to come together as a large group to reconsider material informed by their independent clinical learning experiences. We have also initiated a comprehensive review of our clerkship course objectives — an important first step towards development of an integrated and longitudinal clerkship experience — including the introduction of workplace-based assessments that will demonstrate our students have achieved the Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) required for successful transition from medical school to residency. And we are exploring the possibility of introducing elective time and longitudinal patient panels in Year 3, as well as larger structural changes to the clerkship schedule.

This year marks the beginning of our preparation for our next formal accreditation by the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS). In 2012, we had an overwhelmingly positive accreditation report, which allowed us to take on the challenge of introducing our innovative changes to the MD Program. Students have a powerful voice in the accreditation process. Their feedback shines a light on ways we can enrich their educational experience and better meet the needs of the next generation of health care professionals.

In a few months, medical students across all four years of the program will be invited to take part in the Independent Student Analysis (ISA). The survey will be led by our second-year MD students and features 58 core questions from CACMS, as well as additional University of Toronto specific items. We are encouraging all our students to participate so that they have a voice in the future directions of our program. In addition to helping our evaluators better understand what’s happening here at U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, we also want to know early what concerns our students have identified so we can address them prior to the site visit in the spring of 2020.

This critical information can lead to important, positive changes.

In the last round of accreditation, student feedback helped inspire some of the initiatives that have helped us foster greater diversity and inclusion. One example is the creation of the Office of Indigenous Medical Education, which officially opened its doors in February 2014. It offers a culturally safe space, supports the development of curriculum around Indigenous concepts of health and healing, and helps to build partnerships with Aboriginal communities.  

Through the 2012 ISA, our students also recommended formal limits on the total number of instructional hours to allow time to focus on self-directed learning or engage in research, global health opportunities or career exploration. In response, the MD Program introduced new Standards for course hours in the first two years of the program and Standards for call duty and student workload for clerkship.  These policies continue to evolve in response to the needs and the feedback of students. 

Students also told us through the ISA that more study space was needed in the Medical Sciences Building, which led to extra computer lab space for after-hours use and expanded Wi-Fi availability in the MSB. We also established a dedicated MD Program study space at 263 McCaul Street.

In addition to input from our students, we will need the commitment and leadership of our faculty to tell the story of our amazing program and the outstanding opportunities and experiences we provide to our students. I’d like to thank Chris Jones, Project Manager, Accreditation and Paul Tonin, Manager, Strategic Operations and Policy, for laying the ground work for this important process.

I look forward to welcoming the Class of 2T2 and all our students returning to the MD Program this fall — and the opportunity to work with them to make our great school even better.

Patricia Houston
Professor, Department of Anesthesia
Vice Dean, MD Program