Just over a year into her role as senior vice dean for medical education at the Perelman School of Medicine, Suzanne Rose, MD, MSEd, shares her perspective on what the future holds.
By Hannah Messinger
Photo by Peggy Peterson
1. What are the top five trends shaping the future of medical education?
First, there is the explosion of scientific information.
Second, the health care delivery system itself: how health care has changed, and the ways in which education has had to keep up with the rapid pace of that change.
Third, adult learning theory: how we now better understand how adult learners learn, allowing us to make education more pertinent to our students.
Fourth, the demographics: not just the demographics of our patient populations, like older patients and those who have had multiple illnesses, but also the demographics of our diverse learners themselves.
Last but not least, there’s technology: its impact on the care of patients and in the delivery of education.
2. What’s the biggest challenge in facing these trends?
Many of these trends are already incorporated into our curriculum. The biggest challenge is content reform; we can’t keep just adding things to the curriculum. With the explosion of scientific information, there’s unlimited material to learn, but if we keep adding material to our curriculum, our students will not have a free minute in their day.
Looking ahead, trends in curriculum are about more integration, rather than single topics, such as a two- week course on women’s health, when there could be a longitudinal four-year curriculum on the topic!
We’re heavy on lectures, and that’s something that many students and faculty like. But we have to figure out if we can do even better as we know that lectures are not the most effective method for learning. For example, can we give a lecture in 10-15 minutes in what I like to call “tapas-size” lectures, as opposed to long, 60-minute lectures? This could help students become more active learners as we incorporate more small group discussions and team learning which is so highly valued by our students.
The No. 1 competency for a medical student is to figure out how to say, “I don’t know,” and having the skills to go out and learn it, and then apply it.
Eventually, we’ll dedicate time with faculty, students, and staff to think about what parts of our curriculum we need to keep and what aspects need to evolve. We have to figure out what the basic knowledge is that our students need to make diagnostic and clinical decisions.
3. What does the future of medical education look like to you?
The future is bright! I’m optimistic every time I talk to our students. I tell this to my family members: don’t worry about getting sick and the care you will receive, because the doctors of the future are going to be fantastic!
Our students are coming in with incredible values and talent, unlike anything we’ve seen before. Our job as educators is to nurture their talent, while balancing their wellness and their commitment to their values. And if anything, our job is to enhance their commitment to humanistic care as they become leaders in science and discovery, and leaders in clinical medicine.
From what I see here at Penn regarding the leadership skills of our students, no matter what field they go into—whether it’s the business of medicine or a clinical endeavor – Penn students are going to change the world.
And the impact we have on our medical students is going to be paid forward thousands and thousands of times over for each student. Each of them, over their careers, is going to help so many people, whether it’s their mentees in the lab or their patients.
That impact is a big responsibility for Penn as an institution and for me as the person in charge of education—but it’s also a privilege. It’s incredible.