With the applicant pool for medical schools shrinking nationally, how a medical school teaches its students is becoming increasingly important for top prospects. At Upstate, faculty and students have begun a formal examination of the components of the curriculum with the goal of creating a teaching model that will engage students and best prepare them for life as a doctor.
Competitive pressure is just one factor driving curriculum change.
The explosive growth in both biomedical knowledge and technology requires students to sift through a greater body of information and to be critical when they do it. In addition, changes in medical delivery mean that graduates find themselves needing business skills to supplement their clinical expertise. Students, too, are looking for the best use of their time in medical school. We have to help them do that. Two years ago, the American Association of Medical Colleges criticized the medical education of the 1990s.