From the Dean’s Desk | Educating Those Who Serve

At the Lerner College of Medicine, students spend five years training to succeed in the next step of their medical career — residency — and go on to become physician investigators. Their training here culminates in a two-week capstone experience designed to further reinforce their clinical skills and professional development. In addition to hands-on skills training, students receive strategies for success and tips for self-care, a central concept for physicians to internalize because they cannot be expected to care for others if they cannot care for themselves.

From a clinical skills standpoint, this capstone experience serves as an intensive refresher course, giving the students one last chance to practice many of the techniques they’ve learned over their five years at CCLCM.

The resources required to offer a quality capstone experience are considerable. This year’s statistics, which are similar to those from past years, tell an eye-opening story:

• 33 students
• 44 courses
• 89 sessions
• 79 instructors — an instructor-to-student ratio of more than 2:1!

Naturally we couldn’t offer a capstone experience of this magnitude without tremendous support from CCLCM staff including Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs, and Debbie Schuster, Administrative Program Coordinator for Curricular Affairs, who collaboratively organize the entire event. As well, we rely on the incredible support of our faculty, who are not only subject-matter experts on a broad range of clinical topics, but also prepared to teach our medical students by a team of colleagues whose specialty is helping them to become outstanding educators.

Through numerous faculty development opportunities [internal link], including the Longitudinal Clerkship Course, our faculty learn how to teach adult learners, create a safe and effective learning environment, provide useful feedback, teach multiple levels of learners, address implicit bias and much, much more.

I invite you to read more about the capstone experience in “Graduating Students Prepare for Residency with Capstone Activities.”

“Educating those who serve,” meaning healthcare students and professionals, has been a core element of Cleveland Clinic’s mission since its founding in 1921. Seeing the continuity of this principle play out as we train our faculty to educate the next generation of physician investigators reminds me that our actions are directly aligned with what Cleveland Clinic’s four founders envisioned more than 100 years ago. With each new class of medical students that we welcome at CCLCM, we are privileged to carry that vision forward.

Bud Isaacson, MD

Executive Dean