If you’ve been at the NOSM medical school buildings recently, you’ve likely seen posters for our upcoming MD program Accreditation Full Site Visit. Accreditation is the most important certification for a medical school and, while this particular full site visit focuses on the School’s MD program, accreditation really is an ongoing exercise in institutional quality improvement.
New Curriculum Committee draws more faculty and site clinicians to the table
NOSM’s MD program has reorganized their functioning with the creation of a new sub-committee, the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Curriculum Committee. The committee’s task is to govern the entire MD program curriculum. Their focus is on unified curriculum content and program-wide integration, while the business and operations side remains the work of the UME Committee (UMEC).
“It really allows us to focus on curriculum across the whole program,” says Dr. Tara Baldisera, co-chair of the new Curriculum Committee. “While curriculum discussions happened at the various theme and phase committees, now it is easier to connect all of these discussions and ensure an improved continuity of our medical education program.”
In the past, both operations and undergraduate program curriculum oversight were governed by UMEC. With the creation of the new Curriculum Committee, its mandate and terms of reference are focused only on curriculum with an emphasis on curriculum review, integration, renewal and bringing more faculty voices to the table to discuss specific curricular pieces regarding structure and content.
“Our focus is to also address our unique curriculum concerns here in the North,” adds co-chair Dr. Alain Simard. “The Committee is structured in a way to support our uniqueness as a distributed medical education program.”
By looking at the program as whole, the group is able to analyze the curriculum across the entire program, including and all years and phases.
“Now we have the opportunity to have some of our site liaison clinicians from our phase two (third-year) Comprehensive Community Clerkship communities at the Curriculum Committee,” says Dr. Baldisera.
“We also have representation from our six core disciplines in phase three (fourth-year) together with our theme faculty and curricular management support. We bring everything together so that we can have those focused discussions around the table,” says Dr. Baldisera.
The types of curriculum discussions the committee is hearing are diverse but include hot-button topics such as climate change. Recently the committee also discussed review of content about nutrition and ways to deliver it.
“The student program evaluation report told us that students have been asking for more exposure to nutrition content which runs across all phases and themes, which makes discussion at the Curriculum Committee important” says Dr. Simard.
Palliative care and advanced care planning curriculum content was also recently discussed, as were updates to curriculum for Indigenous and Francophone health.
“The committee’s role is to facilitate discussion and inclusive decision-making about revisions and direction of the program,” says Dr. Baldisera.
UMEC is now focused on the non-curricular matters of the school including policy, governance and regulation, including student leave or health and safety policies.
Dr. Simard says this new structure is expected to function efficiently between the two separate, yet active committees: “It’s a good example of how different disciplines can work together to improve upon the foundation and reflect the broader goal in a more focused way.
New Curriculum Committee:
- addresses management, evaluation and enhancement of curriculum
- members include Theme, Phase, Division and Discipline faculty, site clinicians, students and UME directors, managers and instructional designers
- oversees curricular revision and reviews program evaluation to maintain and enhance the quality of our medical education curriculum
- ensures that courses address all medical education program outcomes
- optimizes clinical experiences and settings
Undergraduate Medical Education Committee (UMEC):
- addresses non-curricular matters such as operational, business-related decisions
- members include executive leaders, administration, faculty representatives (Themes, Phases and Divisions) and students
- oversees policy, governance, and regulation, e.g. student leave policies, health and safety policies (process and regulation)
Strato Family Endowment will support students and better access to care in the North
Stan and Judy Strato of Sudbury recently made an impressive gift of $155,425 to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM). The gift will establish the Strato Family Endowment.
“We are not public people but we know how important it is to give back,” says Judy, a retired nurse and former director of imaging services at the former Sudbury General Hospital. “I have always been aware of the shortage of physicians in the North and I was extremely happy to see the medical school come to fruition. With this donation, it is hoped that others may be encouraged to do the same.”
Stan says his own cancer diagnosis led to many experiences with the health care system over the past few years. When he received a letter from NOSM in December, he connected it to his own health and the future of health care in his community, as well as the legacy of his family name.
“We are the only Strato family here, there is a legacy… and I certainly see the need for doctors, even more so with my cancer experience,” Stan says. The Stratos live close to the hospital and Stan says he realises how lucky he is to have nearby access to care.
“I can see the hospital from my living room window and for me it’s less than five minutes away. I was going there for chemotherapy and radiation all the time, and I met people who were also getting treatment but they were travelling tremendous distances to be there,” says Stan. “Some people were coming four days a week, every week. It made me think how fortunate I am to be so close, while others have to travel and find accommodation which can be very difficult.”
Stan spent his entire career working with an electrical wholesale company, Dixon Electric. He started there in 1968. He became a partner in the business and helped grow the company into four stores located in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and North Bay. The company was later bought out by an international company out of France.
Now retired, Stan says the letter from NOSM resonated with him. “Something about it caught my eye. I’ve never made a donation like this before and the medical school is the right place; we need to support health.”
“My wife and I both know that these medical students work very hard. It’s not cheap and they are spending so much on their education, living expenses, travel and housing,” says Stan. “It’s important just to be able to help someone who is going to help others.”
“We hope that others will see that we’ve given and think ‘I can do the same thing’,” says Judy. “We want to encourage more medical students to come and stay in the North.”
If you are interested in learning more about the School, making a donation, or legacy giving and naming opportunities, please visit nosm.ca/donate for more information.
