Medical Education Retreat Synopsis

Medical School Medical Education Retreat, July 8-9, 2005

A group of 25 local and national leaders from a broad spectrum of the medical profession and medical education gathered to develop a vision for the future of medical education and to consider what it might mean for the University of Minnesota Medical School.

As with nearly every aspect of contemporary society, the practice of medicine is undergoing profound changes, and medical education must keep pace. New technologies, changing social values, continuing economic pressures, and globalization are among the key forces driving change; each of these calls for new concepts and new strategies.

Through a sequence of activities that had them working individually, in small teams, and as a large group, the participants explored a broad range of issues and topics:

• The medical school experience for students and faculty
• Different learning models and approaches to education
• Changes in society, education, and medicine over the next 20 years
• The increasing diversity of society
• The evolving experiences and expectations of patients and society at large for the medical system
• The cost of medical education and possible ways to reduce it
• The nature of medical practice and the evolving role of the physician in society
• The enablers and obstacles to change, and
• The major assumptions and orthodoxies that underlie medicine and medical education.

In order to understand various options and possibilities for the future, the participants developed idealized models of imagined futures for the Medical School, and gradually converged towards a vision of the evolving medical school. A number of specific themes emerged which seem to be important in any future initiatives that may be developed, including the following:

• Science will remain paramount in medical education. As science continues to change, doctors will be better able to appropriate and apply new knowledge and new technologies in their practices
• Medical students will increasingly participate in the research process, and more students are likely to choose a research focus for their careers
• New teaching/learning models will be developed that include more experience-based learning processes and increased clinical experience earlier in the medical school process
• A more individualized curriculum will be more flexible and adaptable for and by each individual student
• Faculty will be increasingly available to play mentorship roles with students
• Medical education will be recognized as a life-long process, and medical school will fulfill its responsibility to educate physicians throughout their careers
• Medical systems will become increasingly patient-centered, and medical students will be appropriately prepared to practice in this environment
• Innovations and experiments in the medical school curriculum will be carefully measured to assess their effectiveness.

The workshop outcomes give Dean Powell and her leadership team a lot to ponder as they consider the future of the Medical School and the key initiatives that will enable the school to continue to play an important role in the State of Minnesota and throughout the region.