Conferences
General Sessions
Friday, January 29
8:15–9:45 am
“Medical Education’s Roaring 20s: Achieve Your 2020 Goals Through a 20/20 Vision”
John Prescott, MD, Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC
Learning Objectives:
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One hundred years after Abraham Flexner delivered his monumental report, academic medicine is once again being turned on its head. The model that has served to prepare generations of physicians is in serious need of repair, if not a complete overhaul. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, medical schools have added hundreds of thousands of faculty and expanded in their size and scope, yet only a fragile structure exists to support the key mission of educating the next generation of physicians. Medical education can thrive in the future but it can no longer live in the past. It must face an uncomfortable reality and finally address the pressing issues of today or be prepared to have others impose less desirable solutions. Creating and implementing a vision for the future of medical education is possible through hard work, discipline, and some out of the box thinking. 
John Prescott, MD, and his staff lead the association’s efforts to improve the education and training of new physicians, enabling them to meet the changing health care needs of the public. He is responsible for directing AAMC programs related to all stages of the medical education continuum, including preparation for medical school, and undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education. Dr Prescott also leads efforts supporting the Council of Deans, the Organization of Student Representatives, the Group on Regional Medical Campuses, the Group on Educational Affairs, and the Group on Student Affairs. In addition, he oversees the Careers in Medicine program and MedEdPORTAL®, and he leads the AAMC’s collection of medical school financial and operating data.
Prior to joining the AAMC, Dr Prescott served as dean of the West Virginia University (WVU) School of Medicine. As the first chair of the WVU Department of Emergency Medicine from 1993-99, he founded the WVU Center for Rural Emergency Medicine.
Saturday, January 30
8:15–9:15 am
“Creating the Next Generation of Family Physicians: The Need for Innovation and Research in Educational Redesign”
Patricia Carney, PhD, Oregon Health and Science University
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This presentation will highlight trends in health care reform that are likely to affect our educational programs, will inspire educators to consider innovations in educational design and educational research, and will address how partnerships must be formed to allow for flexibility in program credentialing that will rapidly advance educational quality and improved health outcomes. Early lessons learned in the Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice Project (P4) family medicine’s residency redesign case series study will be discussed as they relate to predoctoral education redesign. In addition, the need for the three primary care disciplines (family medicine, pediatrics, and internal medicine) to collaborate in these efforts will be discussed.
Patricia Carney, PhD, is professor of Family Medicine and of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, associate director for Population Studies at the Oregon Health and Science University. She has contributed to the development of several clinical research grants in breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening, detection, and diagnosis. She has also developed educational research grants in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Obstetrics & Gynecology. She is currently principal investigator of the Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice (P4) Initiative, which is a large multi-site study of Family Medicine residency redesign. She has led or contributed to over 130 publications in both these areas of research.
Sunday, January 31
10–11 am
“Over the Rainbow—The Promise of Technology in Medical Education”
Alexander Chessman, MD, Medical University of South Carolina
Learning Objectives:
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Twitter, Facebook, and blogs offer new ways to create communities of teachers and students. Simulation manikins can breathe and talk to us, as the blood pressure drops. As the Land of Oz gave to Dorothy, this new world promises adventure. We are scared by technology—quite rightly—but we may be scared about the wrong things. How important to worry about a student’s friend request on Facebook? In the MGM movie, Dorothy’s fears of lions and tigers and bears dissolved after meeting the Cowardly Lion, a true friend.
We are confused about the technology. What is Twitter good for? Can I use a simulation dummy for more than intubation basics? E-mail in its first iteration seemed pointless, but we grew to rely upon this technology without special expertise or effort. Technology can connect us better to each other. The printing press and moveable type opened up previously rare texts to more people, and fostered dialogue. Internet-based tools allow us to learn, connect, and speak out. Images of Neda Soltani dying on a street in Tehran pull us together as humans. Her companions found courage, brain, and heart. Dorothy found these strengths and more. She returned home—transformed. Please join me on this journey, toward a promising future.
Alexander Chessman, MD, was a fellow at the University of North Carolina in 1988, and wondered why Alfred Reid wanted to send a text message over a phone line. Since then, he discovered that he prefers e-mail to memos and phone calls. He attributes any past success in using technology in medical education to the belief that the software program is supposed to work correctly. He has no such belief about anything mechanical, such as the master bath’s toilet.
He has served as predoctoral director and clerkship codirector since 1990, and he has codirected preclerkship courses. Within these courses, he has used technology as much as he could, sometimes appropriately. He has learned when to give up on technology.
His children teach him how their generation uses technology. His daughter, now a sophomore in college, texts, e-mails, Skypes, tweets, and updates her status on Facebook. In some ways, she is more present in his life 6 hours’ driving distance away than when she lived upstairs. His son, entering high school, plays the glitches in online first-person shooters, and clarifies his support of America to a group of Argentinian players. His children teach him the usefulness, connectedness, fun, and awe of technology. His students and colleagues surpass him in their expertise. And his wife wants him to turn off that laptop computer now.
