Student's View of the Colleges

Before arriving:

Upon acceptance at the University of Washington School of Medicine, you will receive a letter from the Heads of the Colleges welcoming you and introducing you to the Colleges.

First year:

Shortly after the start of school, you will receive a welcome letter from your assigned College faculty mentor including a short biography. You will receive more specific information about the Colleges and will establish your educational learning portfolio. [An electronic portfolio is under development. Until this is operational, communication of portfolio information will be through emails with attachments to your College mentor.] The first item to go into your portfolio is your personal statement from your medical school application, edited if you so desire, and sent to your College mentor. Inclusion of your personal statement for medical school will serve as an introduction and will let your College mentor know more about you.

In early fall, you will meet with your College mentor, in person, via email or phone, or via one-on-one videoconference, to get acquainted and briefly review the clinical skills and professionalism curriculum for the first year. Together, you will review your goals related to the Autumn Quarter (or Fall Semester) curriculum in preparation for writing your learning goals for the year, the second thing to place in your learning portfolio. You will also review the continuity curriculum requirement (formally part of ICM I but reviewed with your College mentor in addition). You will begin to think about how and when you will complete the patient-centered and the physician-centered experiences during your first year.

You will also review the Independent Investigative Inquiry (III) requirement and begin to explore what you might do. Your College mentors do not serve as your faculty sponsors for your research project, but can help you connect with possible faculty sponsors.

Several times throughout the year, there will be peer counseling meetings facilitated by the College mentors. These peer counseling sessions will give students a chance to meet with their College mentors and students from other years in the curriculum to discuss a variety of issues. Each peer counseling group consists of two faculty from the same college and their students from all four years. They meet in person or via video conference for first year students outside Seattle. These meetings have broad agendas and provide opportunities for students to get advice and information from senior students as well as from their College mentors.

You will meet again in-person or via one-on-one videoconference with your College mentor in the winter and spring. You will review your progress in achieving your learning goals in clinical skills and professionalism, the continuity curriculum, and the III requirement, and you will plan the next phase of your work in each of these areas. You will also review your academic progress in general and discuss any concerns. You may also be in contact via email or phone throughout the year about these topics and any others that arise.

At the end of the year, you will put your two best Introduction to Clinical Medicine I (ICM I) write-ups into your learning portfolio for review. You will also write a self-assessment, reflecting on your progress in achieving your learning goals in clinical skills and professionalism and on your academic progress in your first year. You will begin to look ahead to the goals for second year and think about how your summer activities might fit in.

Second year:

You will meet with your College mentor during the orientation for second year. At the beginning of the year, you will review the goals for clinical skills and professionalism for the second year and develop your own learning goals for second year, based on your assessment of where you are at the beginning of the year. These goals become part of your educational learning portfolio. You will meet quarterly with your College mentor to review your progress in achieving those goals as well as your overall academic progress.

In the Introduction to Clinical Medicine II (ICM II) curriculum, each week you will meet for one morning with your College mentor and the other second year students in your group. You will rotate through the three University of Washington School of Medicine teaching hospitals, spending one quarter at the University of Washington Medical Center, one quarter at Harborview Medical Center, and one quarter at the VA Medical Center. You will learn the advanced physical exams in coordination with the organ system courses. Every four weeks you will perform a complete patient evaluation or history and physical, i.e. obtain a complete medical database and perform a complete physical exam. You will present the patient to your colleagues and College mentor and review your findings with them at the bedside. You will then write-up the patient including a “branching diagram” and brief case discussion. These write-ups go into your educational learning portfolio and are submitted to your College mentor for review.

In addition, over the course of the year you will write reflections related to a variety of special skills and professionalism topics that are presented in the ICM II course. These reflections are also part of your educational learning portfolio and are submitted to your College mentor for review.

You will complete the component of the continuity curriculum related to integrating continuity of care into your basic medical training. You will also review your progress in meeting your III requirement, working with both your College mentor and your III faculty sponsor. You will continue to attend peer counseling meetings scheduled throughout the year. You may also begin to discuss your thoughts about possible career choice with your College mentor, who will direct you to appropriate departmental career counselors for further discussion. You will complete a self-assessment, similar to that done at the end of the first year. Finally at the end of second year, you will have a formal clinical skills evaluation that you must pass before you can move on to the third-year clerkships.

Research:

If you take time out of your medical school curriculum for research or other academic endeavors, you will work with your College mentor and research advisors to develop a set of learning goals for your research or academic activities. These learning goals are part of your educational learning portfolio. You will meet at least quarterly throughout the year to review your progress and complete a self-assessment at the end of the year or at other appropriate “break points” in preparation for developing your learning goals for your next phase of training.

Prior to entering the clinical training of the third and fourth years, you will have an opportunity for a clinical skills review with other re-entering students conducted by one of the College faculty and a clinical tutorial with your own College mentor to prepare for returning to clinical training.

Third year:

At the beginning of the year, you will review the goals for clinical skills and professionalism for the third year and develop your own learning goals for your third year, based on your assessment of where you are at the beginning of the year. In addition, as you begin each clerkship you will identify learning goals for yourself based on the objectives of that clerkship. As in previous years, these goals become part of your educational learning portfolio. Over the course of the year, you will periodically review with your College mentor your progress in achieving your learning goals for each clerkship and for the year overall, as well as your overall academic progress with your College mentor.

As you move through your required clerkships, you will complete brief clinical skills assessments or mini-CEX examinations as part of the clerkship curriculum. The clerkship faculty will complete a brief feedback/assessment tool, a copy of which becomes part of your educational learning portfolio. In addition, you will complete reflections related to professionalism topics, including continuity experiences, that are part of the curriculum for each clerkship. These reflections also become part of your educational learning portfolio and are reviewed by your College mentor.

At least once during each rotation, you will check in with your College mentor (in person, by phone, email or video-conference) to review your progress and confirm completion of the required mini-CEX and reflections for that clerkship. You will also continue to discuss your career decision-making process over the course of the year in conjunction with discussions with departmental career counselors. You will also continue to review your progress on your III requirement and your overall academic progress. In addition, you will continue to attend peer counseling sessions at which your presence and participation are very important to the students in their preclinical training. At the end of the year, you will complete a self-assessment, similar to that done at the end of the first and second years. This should help you plan for your fourth-year elective rotations.

In late summer or early fall of the fourth year, you will complete a second formal clinical skills evaluation which you must successfully pass before you can graduate.

Fourth year:

At the beginning of the year, you will review the goals for clinical skills and professionalism for the fourth year and develop your own learning goals for the year, based on your assessment of where you are at the beginning of the year. At the start of each rotation, you will identify learning goals based on the objectives for that clerkship. Again, these become part of your educational learning portfolio. Over the course of the year, you will periodically review your progress in achieving these goals as well as your overall academic progress with your College mentor.

At least once during each rotation, you will check in with your College mentor (in person, by phone, email or video-conference) to review your progress. You will finalize your career plans and review your progress in residency applications with your assigned career counselor and College mentor. You will also continue to review your progress in your III requirement and your overall academic progress. In addition, you will continue to have peer counseling sessions at which your presence and participation are very important to the students in their preclinical training.

For two weeks at the end of the Spring Quarter, all fourth year students will return to Seattle for a capstone course. It is anticipated that this course will provide you with relevant basic science review, topics in ethics and professionalism, and technical skills training in preparation for residency.

Educational Learning Portfolio Outline:

Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Personal statement	Learning goals	Learning goals	Learning goals
Learning goals	ICM II write ups	Mini-CEX	Mini-CEX
ICM I write ups	Reflections	Reflections	Reflections
Reflections	Self assessment	Self assessment	Self assessment
Continuity Reflections	Continuity Reflections	Continuity Reflections	Continuity Reflections
Self assessment	III	III	III
III	Clinical Skills Exam	Career planning**	Career planning**
		Clinical Skills Exam	Capstone course
Other*	Other*	Other*	Other*

* This might include other activities such as service activities, leadership activities, educational activities (e.g. TA, tutoring). For MD/PhD students, specific goals for summer rotations, lab activities, etc.

** This could include personal statement for residency, lists of possible programs, discussions/emails about interviewing, etc.