Leading Transformational Change
Message from the Chair
S
ince its inception in July 2018, the Department of Medical Education has been driven to bring to fruition
the charge of Dean Lockwood to transform the Morsani College of Medicine into a top 25 medical school. As we began to pull together materials for an annual report, we quickly realized that this timeframe would not do justice to the full arc of experiences and activities that have made the last few years “seem like a year!” So, within these pages lies just some of the incredible accomplishments of the department, as it found itself in the middle of TWO once-in-a-generation, transformational moments: MCOM’s move to Water Street Tampa, quickly followed by the unprecedented response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We started the 2019-2020 academic year by preparing for the move into the new downtown building, which would occur during the winter break. This required our staff and faculty to support classes and students while simultaneously performing the daunting task of packing more than three dozen office spaces in anticipation of more contemporary workspace configurations in the new building. Sorting through what was often decades of accumulated “archeologic material” was simultaneously humbling, tedious, fun, and overwhelming. Moving into and operationalizing the new space was the next monumental task and involved: finalizing the functionality of offices, classrooms and common spaces; identifying office spaces for faculty and staff; ensuring classrooms and teaching spaces were ready; providing students with all necessary information; and of course, the fun part – packing and unpacking! All of this leading up to the winter break. Additionally, the new building included many new technologies that required changes to how USF Information Technology managed email accounts. In the months leading up to the January 2020 grand opening, we transitioned all email accounts for our faculty, staff and students and trained everyone to use Microsoft Teams. We could not have predicted that only 3 months later this change would be critical in our response to Covid. On January 8, 2020 was the much anticipated grand opening. University dignitaries, community leaders, founding members of the college, and former Presidents of USF came to tour the building. Designated as Microsoft’s 1st Medical School of Innovation, the building incorporated innovative space design and technologies such as Microsoft Hubs and a 20-foot interactive MultiTaction wall. The department rallied to ensure that this event was a rousing success. And then came Covid. A short 2 ½ months after getting acclimated to MCOM’s new home, we were forced to very quickly pivot and “live online”. We had less than a week to turn Match Day into a virtual event. Graduation and award ceremonies quickly followed. As days turned to weeks turned to months, many activities – from orientation and White Coat Ceremony, to interviews for the incoming class - had to become virtual yet still engaging. We had to keep students, staff, and faculty safe, informed and connected. I will be forever in awe of the agility and adaptability of our department, gracefully navigating months of unknowns yet continuing to help deliver a quality educational experience for our students. With all that happened in a seemingly short period of time, we felt it would be best to share with you our journey and experiences in our Department’s first (not so annual) annual report. I invite you to explore our shared experiences, extraordinary responses to the pandemic, along with the many individual and collective achievements.
Bryan A. Bognar MD, MPH, FACP Chair Department of Medical Education
To provide for the education of students and professionals of the health and biomedical sciences through the creation of a scholarly environment that fosters excellence in the lifelong goals of education, research activity and compassionate patient care.
We promise to provide aspiring, passionate students an open and inclusive culture of accessibility to faculty, patients, and technology through a challenging curriculum with diverse educational experiences. We foster a future-facing environment where students realized their own creativity and innovation to make a difference in the lives of patients and their community. Our students will possess the knowledge, skills, and confidence as leaders in the ever-changing landscape of healthcare without sacrificing their initial inspiration to care for patients.
Evolution of our Move Downtown Microsoft’s 1st Medical School of Innovation “Today’s physicians must keep up with the exponentially expanding quantity of medical knowledge, a process that begins in medical school. With this new building, we had a blank canvas on which to create an environment that advances the learning experience. Anything we can do to help our students engage and curate information better and faster will help our graduates succeed as physicians. We are pleased we were given the opportunity to be named Microsoft’s first-ever Medical School of Innovation.” Charles Lockwood, Dean, Morsani College of Medicine
“Microsoft sees the opportunity to help advance not only medical education but also collaborative, active learning in higher education as a whole with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. The collaboration is a great example of the advances that can take place when we combine resources for the greater good. We believe this effort will lead to a stronger medical program for USF Health.” Jamie Harper, Vice President US Education at Microsoft Corp
“From the moment plans were announced for the new building about five years ago, we knew we had the opportunity of a lifetime to build from scratch a physical environment and a virtual world that would completely transform how we teach medicine. We aimed for innovative ways to teach today’s medical students but to also stay adaptable and relevant for learners for decades to come.” Bryan Bognar, Vice Dean, Morsani College of Medicine
Office of Train students, Educational Affairs faculty and staff on Construction becomes a how to use Begins Department (DME) Microsoft Teams
September 2017
July 2018
Fall 2019
Pack and Move into MDD
Grand Opening! Classes begin in MDD
December 2019 January 2020
Quarantine Remote Instruction and Work
March 2020
Overview of the Downtown Building Innovative Space Design & Technologies Experiential Learning Lab
A “black box theater” (Experiential Learning Lab) that can quickly transform from one type of learning space to another – from team learning to hands-on extensions of lessons to simulation reinforcing the foundational sciences. The flexibility allows today’s students to take their coursework in lectures to small group study and then to experiential learning. The space is intentionally designed to be easily adaptable to how future students may be taught. Driving many of the learning spaces are the opportunities to teach using mixed modalities. Now a student can practice taking a blood pressure on a standardized patient and be within feet of the Microsoft Surface Hub with slides that simulate how arteries are affected by hypertension.
Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange The Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange is the future of medical libraries: an epicenter of collaboration and technology. Located on the second-floor mezzanine of the new building, the Knowledge Exchange is an almost completely digital database of medical information. At this time, there are only 18 physical books reserved for MCOM’s use.
Sony Crystal LED Video Wall
MultiTaction Wall
A 19-foot-tall Sony Crystal LED video wall, one of the first in the country, is mounted in the building’s lobby, the over-4k-capable display offers opportunities for high-impact video and graphics to all who enter the new facility.
7-foot-tall by 20-foot-wide MultiTaction visualization wall in the Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange supports dynamic, interactive digital content creation, and collaboration for multiple people simultaneously.
Virtual Match Day
Virtual Graduation
March 2020
May 2020
1st Years DME Virtual c/o 2024 Celebration of Virtual Orientation Success
July 2020
October 2020
MD Graduation is Resume 1st in-person In-Person Work & event at USF Instruction
April 2021
June 2021
Building the Future of Academic Medicine September 2017: Construction of the Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute begins. For the next 2.5 years the Department of Medical Education would work closely with Facilities and Information Technology on outfitting floors 2 through 5 and common areas to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff.
Topping-Off Ceremony November 2018: USF celebrates the completion of the building’s supporting structure during a topping-off celebration. A construction crane slowly lifted an 800-pound white beam signed by leadership, community leaders, donors and students.
DME Staff Touring the Building Spring 2019: Throughout 2019, DME staff would routinely tour the building, getting a sense of what their new home will look like and continually providing input to the various teams working on designing and constructing the building, classrooms, office spaces, and common areas.
DME Staff Touring the Building
Immersive TECH-IT Out Lab June 2019: DME Staff did a naming competition to come up with the Tech-IT Out Lab. An office in the Shimberg Library was outfitted with furniture and dry erase boards that would be in the learning rooms and classrooms in the downtown building. There were also Microsoft devices to include a Hub, Surface Studio, and various types of Surface tablets and laptops to test drive. The Grand Opening for leadership, faculty and staff was held June 5th, 2019. Learn more here.
Test Driving the Technology and Furniture July 2019: The 1st and 2nd year MD students did small group rotations in the Tech-IT Out Lab during their orientation week. The students were able to get hands-on experience with the suite of Microsoft applications such as Teams and OneNote that would be made available in the coming months. They also got to take virtual tours of the downtown building using VR goggles.
Learning the Technology: Hands-On Training November 2019: In order to start working and learning in the new building without delay our staff and students had to get familiar with Microsoft Teams and how to use the various technology in a short period of time. Microsoft representatives and USF IT helped get us up to speed with trainings. We were even provided a Surface Hub to get familiar with using the whiteboard app and other innovative features.
Packing and Moving November & December 2019: The DME staff work diligently to pack all their offices, event supplies, and equipment; all while continuing to do their work to include recruiting the incoming class, teaching and supporting the current classes, administering exams, providing guidance and support for residency interviews, and planning activities and events for the students!
On our last day on main campus we were doing a Teams call on the Hub with Jason Hair, IT Director, when Mayor Jane Castor and Dean Lockwood, who were touring the MDD building, walked in and greeted us from downtown.
Promoting the Future of Academic Medicine November 2019: The Morsani College of Medicine partnered with Microsoft to host an exhibit booth at the annual Association of American Medical Colleges conference in Phoenix, Arizona. We were able to showcase the technology like Surface Hubs, and how we use Appian and Microsoft Power BI to build our curriculum mapping and matriculation dashboards. Learn more on how USF Morsani College of Medicine is transforming medical education here.
Sharing Our Story - Secrets to Success January 2020: We were invited to speak to various groups regarding the tremendous effort it took to make a move into a new innovative space a success. Below are photos from a presentation to Microsoft’s Eastern region K-12 and Higher Education account managers. In June we also presented virtually at a North Carolina Higher Education Summit and were accepted to present at the Association of American Medical College’s GIR Conference in June 2020 (which was canceled due to Covid).
Grand Opening! January 8th, 2020: The big day arrived. Political and community leaders, partners, the media, as well as USF leadership, students, faculty and staff were able to explore the building and test drive the technology.
Orientation for Students January 10th, 2020: MD students were oriented to their new learning environment. Orientation began in the auditorium. Then Microsoft representatives demonstrated how to use the Surface Hubs in our configurable small group learning rooms, while Anatomy faculty and ELS staff introduced students to their experiential learning lab.
Settling into our New Home - Students January through March 2020: Students got familiar with their new academic home by decorating their collegia rooms (student lounges) while exploring the building and all that the downtown Tampa area has to offer. The Collegia Olypmics held in January was the last big in-person event prior to Covid lockdown.
Settling into our New Home - DME January through March 2020: Faculty and staff were getting acclimated to their new open seating collaborative work spaces and offices with views, and local amenities. Staff also enjoyed the new transportation options (riding the trolley and commuting from home on an electric scooter).
Just as we were getting accustomed to navigating our new environment, the world went on lockdown. By mid-March 2020 everything had to pivot online in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.
The DME staff and faculty quickly worked together to turn in-person events to virtual offerings, learned to work cohesively while balancing outfitting their homes as work spaces, and came up with creative ways to manage stress while staying engaged with students and the team.
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Pivoting to Remote Instruction - A Tale of 2 Campuses In response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the 1st and 2nd year medical students received an uninterrupted high-quality 'hybrid' curriculum for academic year 20-21. Following university-approved guidelines for social distancing and measures to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV2, prioritized in-person instruction was limited to clinical skills sessions, anatomy labs, and course summative assessments. All other instructional sessions were delivered remotely by faculty using Microsoft Teams in a 'live' synchronously manner. The hybrid curriculum delivery amounted to >80% virtual teaching and <20% in-person activities based on scheduled course hours. Key performance indicators (i.e., course test results and final grades) demonstrated the students achieved equivalent academic success when compared to 'pre-Covid cohorts' with academic standards remaining unchanged. The only curricular element necessarily cancelled due to the pandemic was DCE (Doctoring Clinical Experience) that prevented students from gaining a half-day shadowing experience with community doctors across Tampa Bay. So despite all the necessary restrictions forced by the pandemic, the 1st and 2nd year medical students are academically ready and prepared to advance to the next year and will remain on-track within their program. Moreover, the health and safety of the students, staff, and faculty were well protected across the year.
Flannel Day for Dr. DeWaay and her team on rounds
Students stayed connected via social media
Faculty, staff, and students shared recipes by doing a virtual Quarantine Cooking Club
Student Success & Engagement Cross Collaborating - Student Affairs In the Liaison Committee on Medical Education’s (LCME) March 12, 2020 response to the impact of COVID-19, the guiding principles were largely focused on how medical school programs could structure learning to ensure that the graduates met the educational program objectives, course and clerkship learning objectives and required clinical experiences, but missing were the recommendations for how to handle the emotional, mental, social, financial, and physical impact that COVID-19 had on medical students this past year.
Student Affairs offices on medical school campuses are essential for addressing the human needs related to education. When those campuses are located more than a thousand miles apart and are now faced with addressing those student needs in a virtual format, the Student Affairs teams at both Tampa and Lehigh Valley collaborated to create impactful programs and practices to advance student success, both in their education and in their wellbeing. As a way to maintain connectedness, faculty from both campuses participated in daily ‘Inside Out’ emails - sharing their personal thoughts, reflections, comedic relief, activities with family and hobbies to manage stress. Clinical faculty also shared their experiences rounding and seeing patients. This was such a great bonding experience, the DME staff made their own Inside Out series for each other.
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Impact on Medical School Progress In addressing student concerns about how COVID-19 might impact their medical school progress, Step exam preparation, residency planning and their overall well-being, the Student Affairs teams coordinated joint regular Town Halls and Class Meetings to allow leadership from both campuses to address ongoing concerns. These meetings allowed for seamless transitions to the next year for the Class of 2021 and 2022, even during the most uncertain of times. In fact, the
Pre-Graduation Questionnaire Year 3 Survey from the Class of 2021 indicated improvements in areas of administration, career advising and financial aid.
Dr. Zwygart
Dr. Kothari
9 months after the start of the daily Inside Out email blasts, the Inside Out newsletter was created
Student Success & Engagement Award and Recognition The Student Affairs teams from both campuses consistently advocate on behalf of the whole student and understand that awards and recognition events matter. As such, the teams collaborated and worked tirelessly on planning virtual celebrations to make events like Match Day, Commencement and Honors Ceremonies not only take place, but to be more inclusive than ever before as family and friends who may have not been able to attend in-person had the opportunity to show their support virtually. The collaboration of the Student Affairs teams between Tampa and Lehigh Valley is an exemplar of open-mindedness, innovation, integrity, purpose and the shared understanding that medical student success is not only measured in academic performance and graduation rates, but also in terms of overall student experience and developing future physicians that are competent, compassionate and caring. Kira Zwygart MD ,Tampa | Melissa Brannen MD, LVHN
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Health & Wellness • • •
Created a virtual wellness resources ‘hub’ Provided virtual health and wellness coaching Began 1:1 counseling sessions for rising 3rd years in partnership with USF Counseling Center
Attitude of Gratitude Challenge 192 students participated in tracking 3 things they were thankful for daily for a month. 76% of students indicated they were moderately or extremely likely to continue engaging in regular gratitude practice as a result of this program.
This year I decided to work on my health and spirituality and using this app has helped me stay on top of this goal and has helped me feel so great mentally and physically.
I actually really enjoyed this challenge. Was not really a believer at first, but it definitely works! Loved the walking meditations too. Those were great when I would take a study break in the middle of the day & wanted to get my mind off studying.
Meditation Challenge 137 students and 54 resident and fellows committed to meditating daily for 2 weeks. When asked if this program motivated them to practice meditation, 93% of participants indicated somewhat or strongly agree.
Students returned to the downtown building to resume taking exams in Spring 2021. As a way to help manage stress we set up a temporary Serenity Room equipped with yoga mats, meditation cushions, muscle rollers, a Moon Pod zero gravity beanbag chair, and more.
Student Success & Engagement Collegia Activities Due to COVID-19, for the 2020-2021 academic year Collegia pivoted to all virtual activities. This certainly limited the social engagement component, however, virtual activities provided opportunities for engagement throughout the year. Routine feedback from Collegia Leadership and via bi-annual wellness check-ins revealed that overall, students felt engaged with the members of their Collegium. Virtual Activities included: • Collegia Reveal during Professions of Health (MS1 class) • Big/Little Coffee connection to enhance peer to peer mentorship • Trivia/Jeopardy game night • Pumpkin carving and decorating contest • Stress relief yoga night • Collegia Olympics: A variety of activities and games to close out the academic year
For the Class of 2024 Collegia Reveal we utilized teams to host a live event where we introduced the program and its objectives. Then, each student chair read the names of the first year students who were a part of their Collegium and broke off into groups to virtually meet each other.
MD Career Advising In spite of the shutdown, MD Career Advising was able to engage more faculty within various departments to work with students who were seeking help and advice. We provided an even greater number of virtual advising sessions with student participation (MSII Clerkship Showcase, MSIII Specialty Showcase, MSIV Doctoring 4 Orientation, Workshops and Career Advisor virtual drop-ins). We found that the virtual platform could be an asset for MD Career Advising; the new programming initiated during the shutdown was so effective that we have been able to expand our services even further the following year.
Health & Wellness
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Virtual Match Day - March 2020 After a short two months the landscape of our students’ educational and engagement experience dramatically changed. On the third Friday of March across the country MD students find out where they will continue their medical training during an event named Match Day. The students at USFH MCOM themed their event “The Order of the Match”. Typically we would all gather at a local restaurant, Ulele, but in response to the initial COVID shut down students had to celebrate within their “COVID Bubbles”.
Virtual Commencement - May 2020 For the Class of 2020 we converted their Commencement Ceremony to a virtual hybrid event. The various speakers pre-recorded messages and Dr. Zwygart announced each student with an overlay of student pictures. We worked with USFH Communications to create a digital Commencement Booklet with embedded videos. In addition to the virtual ceremony, the Office of Student Affairs put together a kit of commemorative/celebratory items that were mailed out to each student.
Student Events & Milestones In-Person Match Day - March 2021 Match Day returned as an in-person event at Ulele; the first in-person event for USF since the start of the pandemic.. For those who could not attend in person, they were able to share their match results remotely via Microsoft Teams. Family and friends were not able to attend, but the event was live streamed. Of the 171 senior students, 37 will remain at USF, 79 will remain in Florida, and 57 students chose primary care (internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics) as their specialty.
First USF In-Person Commencement - May 2021 The Class of 2021 commencement was held in-person at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, FL. Being the first in-person commencement for the University since the start of the pandemic, we practiced social distancing (students sat 6 feet apart in the audience and not on the stage). Students were able to invite two guests. Arrangements were made for them to sit outside and watch their loved ones get hooded on the big screen.
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Innovating Experiential Learning & Simulation A cornerstone of medical education is the clinical experiences within the clerkship years. When educational program objectives, course and clerkship learning objectives and required clinical experiences cannot be met in the clinical environment, simulation is often viewed as the “next best thing.” However, what happens when the in-person simulated environment is also not
an option to meet the educational objectives? In order to overcome the obstacles of a pandemic, the simulation teams at USF-MCOM and LVHN worked together as one unified team to provide a safe, virtual learning environment for its faculty, staff, learners and standardized patients. In addition, the teams collaborated on efforts to improve student success and learning outcomes by developing and sharing new virtual simulation technologies, techniques, practices and programs that transformed the students’ simulation experiences. Utilizing Microsoft Teams, the two campuses co-created and built virtual simulated learning experiences maintaining the same standard of excellence achieved previously through in-person simulation. This was made possible by: •
Virtual meetings to train standardized patients
•
A shared repository of case files and training materials
•
Scheduling moderators for each simulation event
•
Cross-trained and shared standardized patient pool
Student Success & Engagement
Student / patient encounters in Academic Year 20-21 Created a formative virtual Comprehensive Clinical Performance Examination that tested all rising MS IVs on their critical thinking and clinical reasoning
Virtual patient experiences
Created a Telehealth training module that was rolled out for all MS IIIs in Intro to Clerkships and MS IVs in Intro to Doctoring 4
Flipped the 13 Interprofessional Education modules to a virtual platform for MD, Pharmacy, Nursing, PA, DPT and AT students
As with the adoption of any novel modality, the collection of user feedback has been
critical and the teams’ ability to take feedback, innovate and iterate, has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Course director and student feedback led to immediate improvements within the design and delivery of the virtual cases; identified the need for additional moderator training and support to adequately provide physical exam findings; and, highlighted the strengths of the modality, furthering the many possibilities for the continuation of this platform, even after the return to in-person simulation. Lastly, the students expressed their appreciation of having a safe platform by which to continue their clinical learning and commented on the simulation teams’ “behind the scenes” planning and organization to make the delivery of the of virtual simulations so seamless.
In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic posing challenges to the delivery of in-person simulation, the role for student-centered virtual simulation-based training and assessment has become even more important. As such, the connectivity between the simulation
teams, albeit far geographically, are now just a click away. - Dawn Schocken Tampa | Tiffany Epting and Valencia King, Lehigh Valley
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Poverty Simulation The Office of Student Diversity and Enrichment‘s (OSDE) largest live action simulation has been our Poverty Simulation. In the past we ran it with 80 students/participants and more than 20 support workers. The workers included professionals from Positive Spin working with at risk families in the Tampa area who were able to provide the families and their own perspectives to the simulation debrief. Our COVID challenge was to provide a similar learning experience in an online format.
In our redesigned poverty simulation, we were able to access a different group of professionals, Promise Neighborhood, a non-profit organization in Lehigh Valley. As a grass-roots organization they provide a first-hand account of the challenges of individuals striving to escape the grip of poverty. We added a more intensive work assignment into this session and built in real-life expenses and locations. Participants addressed social determinants; housing, transportation, education, and employment. This allowed tailored tasks to include representation of geographic challenges, age specific tasks and online information collection on government programs designed to alleviate poverty. The initial program response has been extremely positive and has been added to the 3rd year curriculum for the MD program. We look forward to introducing the online session to
our other USF health professional programs.
AΩA Award for Excellence in Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in Medical Education and Patient Care Congratulations Deborah DeWaay MD, UME Associate Dean and Shirley Smith, Director of Student Diversity and Enrichment The University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine was awarded one of the 2020 AΩA Award for Excellence in Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in Medical Education and Patient Care. The award recognizes the leadership and innovative curricular thread integrated into all four years of training called Humanism in Action. This curriculum involves teaching
students the communication skills necessary to elicit the values of their patients and then integrate those values into the medical plan for the patient. The students’ understanding of their patients’ values and culture improves the students’ ability to respect and reflect their patients’ values and culture in the medical care they are providing. These award funds will be used to support the implementation of the Humanism in Action curricular thread.
Diversity & Enrichment Unsung Heroes Our Unsung Heroes Initiatives is a
series of videos narrated by USF MCOM students that highlight the accomplishments of underrepresented minorities and their foundational achievements that have evolved into life-changing medical advances. We honor these individuals by bringing their discoveries and inventions to the forefront and inspiring the next generation of healthcare professionals.
Click here to see Dr. Bath’s video
This is a collaboration between our Office of Student Diversity & Enrichment (OSDE) and the MCOM Student Council on Diversity and Inclusion, with the support of USF Health Communications and Marketing. The videos can be seen on the large display in the lobby of the downtown building. The first black woman and black man to earn PhDs in psychology
Click here to watch their videos
Addressing Racial Inequities in Health Care As part of a larger initiative to enhance the cultural competency content in the curriculum, this Professions of Health module was first introduced in 2020. The purpose of this module is to explore the intersectionality between the social determinants of health, race and healthcare. Attaining health equity requires valuing everyone equally through efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of health and healthcare disparities. Race and culture play a critical role in the manifestation of health disparities as well as the development of patient-physician relationships. These modules aim to contribute to health equity by addressing how race and racism manifest in different settings. These didactic as well as interactive discussions and activities aim to better equip student physicians in their care of diverse patient populations. Responding to student feedback from 2020, eight clinical faculty members from across USF Health were recruited to leading small group activities to provide connections between clinical practice and cultural competence.
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Health Registrar Registrars and Career Advisors for medical students have long known that away rotations can be integral to the process of
applying for a residency position. A global pandemic that severely limited travel really hit this point home. Following recommendations from the Coalition for Physician Accountability (COPA), in-person away rotations were severely limited. Only those students who planned to apply to a specialty residency program that was not available at their home institution would be permitted the opportunity to complete an in-person away rotation. COPA also recommended that students remain in the same geographical vicinity to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Marrissa Cook, MA
USF Health Registrar
MCOM stepped up in two big ways. First, we were able to of-
fer four elective rotations virtually that could be taken by any student at any accredited MD or DO program in the US, regardless of region. Three of those virtual rotations remain for the 21-22 academic year, providing opportunities that might not have been available to students without the resources to travel. Second, USF interpreted the regional limitation to include both Florida and Puerto Rico, and accepted students who met the COPA guidelines from schools in those locations. Early on, we were one of the only schools in Florida to accept in-person visiting students, and worked closely with other schools in Florida to ensure that their students had exposure to specialties that would not have been available to them. In addition to helping MCOM departments offer visiting students virtual opportunities, the Registrar’s Office also transitioned to successfully offer many services to students virtually. To do this, our team member Wendy Steiger worked from the office a few times a week to print and mail transcripts as well as graduation verification forms that are required by state medical licensing boards.
Volunteer COVID Testing
Shane Puckett, PhD (Director of Curriculum Management) and Edwing Daniel, PhD (Assistant Dean of MD Admissions and Scholarships) volunteered at various USF Drive-Thru Covid Testing sites during the height of the pandemic.
Continual Quality Improvement Assessment & Evaluation The Office of Assessment and Evaluation implemented many new projects during the 2020-2021 academic year. Below is a highlight of a few initiatives that were introduced to enhance the academic programming at the Morsani College of Medicine MD program.
Reporting for MCQ Assessment Items: In 2015, a system was
implemented to tag internally developed multiple-choice exam questions with a series of categories. The categories included rigor level, vignette type, Step 1 standard, organ system, and basic science discipline area. These were put into practice to provide preclinical students with performance statistics on a variety of metrics and to provide rich data for curricular program evaluation. This past year, the Kelly McCarthy PhD system underwent an audit to ensure the existing categories were Director appropriately tagged to the current items in our test banks. The project took over 250 hours to complete, and almost 4,000 items were reviewed by a basic science subject matter expert. Feedback from this project is currently being evaluated and the designated modifications made during the 21-22 academic year. By implementing the changes identified in the audit, we are ensuring accurate data for future academic and programmatic assessment.
Standardizing Evaluations: Over the last year and a half, we have been updating evalua-
tions across all four years of the MCOM MD program. Evaluations were edited to improve readability, to ensure applicability of content for the respective courses/clerkships, and to collect data that is necessary for LCME accreditation. Through work groups with Clerkship Directors, additional updates were made to mid-clerkship feedback forms, case logs, and clinical grade sheets. These systematic updates will ensure the college will receive more specific, relevant, and comprehensive feedback from students and faculty which can be used for future programmatic improvement.
Implementing Focus Group Feedback: Focus groups were employed with preclinical students to gain insight on their opinion of our evaluation software, how we could improve our existing processes, and how to reduce survey fatigue. We were able to implement several of the students’ suggestions; of these, scheduling changes garnered the greatest positive feedback. The schedules for when evaluations were released were modified, improving timeliness of feedback. Students were also moved into evaluation groups, which alternated each week. These changes have helped reduce evaluation burnout as confirmed by our student liaisons representatives.
Administering End of Year Surveys: In addition to the periodic student surveys that are
facilitated by the AAMC, the MCOM MD program wanted to implement our own end year climate surveys to gain student insight on our academic programming. Surveys were created using the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) and Independent Student Analysis (ISA) as a guide. These surveys were administered to MD students in years 1-3 of the program. Presentations were created from the data collected and were shared with all relevant stakeholders in an effort to improve curricular offerings, clinical activities, and student satisfaction.
Extraordinary Responses to Covid USF Prometric Project - Helping the State of Florida In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prometric, the company that is
contracted to administer the US Medical Licensing Exams (USMLE), initiated a nationwide closure of all testing centers. It did not take long for a backlog of students
needing to reschedule exams to develop. A proposed solution by the USMLE governing board was for medical schools to serve as regional testing hubs and operate a temporary Prometric center on their campuses. Due to the extensive requirements, only six schools were able to successfully open and operate a center - USF MCOM was one of them. On the surface, creating a temporary testing center seemed like a straight-forward process as MCOM administers web-based exams on almost a weekly basis to students. However, as project details emerged from the NBME and Prometric teams, MCOM began to realize the complexity of this initiative and that inter-departmental collaboration would be necessary to make it a success.
Information Technology was critical as they were tasked with setting up the physical testing
center. This involved installing individual computer stations, mounting the 24/7 audio and visual monitoring system, and configuring all the technology so that it communicated real-time with Prometric servers. The Facilities and the Building Concierge Services team were vital in ensuring that testing and break spaces were sanitized every evening and that daily access was arranged for test takers with building security. Once the physical space and building logistics were solidified, the Academic Support Center and Assessment team sprang into action to facilitate the actual operation of the center. The ASC kept track of the requests from all the Florida medical schools and submitted these requests to NBME daily for processing. The function of the center would not have been possible without the assistance of Department of Medical Education (DME) team members to serve as proctors.
Stronger Together
DME team members went through Prometric certification
Days in operation (7 days a week for 9 weeks up to 11hrs/day)
Students were able to take exams (Step 1, 2CK, Step 3)
Hours contributed by DME team members to run the center
The MCOM site was the first medical school location to go live and the last center to close. While many test-takers were USF students, the MCOM site served medical students throughout Florida. For many, this meant they no longer needed to travel out of state for their examination and it ensured they had a reliable place to test.
The Assessment team oversaw the daily management of the center - this involved the setup and breakdown of each test session, running the examination system, troubleshooting technical issues, coordinating proctor schedules, and ensuring that all protocols were being observed during exams. Feedback was solicited from test-takers after the completion of the project. A short survey focused on how well the project met learners’ expectations was sent to all who tested at USF. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. Almost every test-taker reported that the MCOM center, and its
staff, met their expectations; many also stated that the option to test at USF made the examination process less stressful.
The survey also included an option to provide narrative comments. The USF MCOM Prometric center was described as clean, well-organized, socially distanced, secure, and very conducive to test-taking. Test-takers commended staff for a great job, and for being friendly, helpful, and professional. Overall, the test center was highly rated as an amazing, excellent, comfortable, and stress-free environment.
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Research, Innovation & Scholarly Endeavors
of the c/o 2024 were recruited into the Scholarly Concentrations Program
of MS1 students had at least 1 one-on-one TEAMS meeting w/ RISE
c/o 2021 Scholarly Concentrations Program retention
Students were recipients of the 2020 Summer Scholarly Award Experience
“Historically we increase how many students we meet with 1:1 each year. However, a silver lining to working remotely is we were able to exponentially increase how many students we meet with. Thanks to Microsoft Teams, I was able to meet with a record number of 120 of 180 1st year MD students.” Roberta Collins, RISE Director 11th Annual Student Symposium •
Keynote: Christian Bréchot, MD, PhD
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70 student presenters
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4 rooms running concurrently, and presentations recorded
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Judges review slides in advance
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Qualtrics formative assessment after each presentation
Academic Year 2020-2021 Activities •
A record 122 medical student submissions with 65 MSII submissions in a Covid-restricted year for the 31st Annual USF Research Day (virtual event)
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Modified the RISE Travel award to include other charges in lieu of in-person travel
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Developed in conjunction with the Shimberg Library a new resources for student/resident publishing
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Developed and went live with a RISE Project Posting for faculty
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Expanded GME Support Services to include statistical assistance
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Expansion of MD student research efforts with an aggressive push at the James A Haley VA Hospital and improved collaboration with the Moffitt Cancer Center, HCA, and LVHN
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Participated in development and promotion of the MCOM Medical Student CV Template and Instruction document
Research & Innovation Robert A. Good Honor Society Mission: To recognize and honor medical students, faculty and alumni who have demonstrated exemplary commitment to improve health outcomes through research, innovation and scholarly endeavors.
Virtual Induction Ceremony
Total Membership in 5 years
21 students | 7 faculty
104 MD students | 2 USF Alums | 22 Faculty
Bulls on the RISE is a monthly email blast highlighting MD student and alumni research efforts. In AY 2020-2021, the incredible achievements were as follows:
Medical Students
Alums
First author oral or presentations
First author publications by students
Publications
Awards
Extraordinary Responses to Covid Academy of Distinguished Educators The Academy of Distinguished Educators was created in the Fall of 2020 to recognize
and acknowledge exemplary health sciences educators.
The charter class inductees were selected in January 2021, and formally inducted during a small ceremony in July 2021. This award was developed as a collaborative effort between the Department of Medical Education, the MCOM Faculty Council and the Office of Faculty Affairs to enhance the practice, quality, and scholarship of teaching and learning at USF Health MCOM through educational service, consultation, and research. A faculty member must submit two letters of recommendation, hold an active appointment at MCOM for a minimum of two years and hold the title of at least associate professor to be considered. In addition to demonstrated excellence as a teacher, nominees must demonstrate exceptional contributions to the education mission in one or more of the following ways:
• •
• • •
Research in education Innovations and scholarly approaches in curriculum development and instructional design or assessment of student learning Mentoring and developing of faculty as educators or educational researchers Individual learner mentoring and development Leadership in education
Congratulations to the Inductees • • • • • •
Kevin O’Brien, MD, FACP – professor, MCOM Department of Internal Medicine Jessica Dominguez Rieg, PhD – associate professor, MCOM School of Physical Therapy and
Rehabilitation Sciences; associate professor Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology Burt Anderson, PhD – professor and associate dean, MCOM Molecular Medicine Rebecca Edgeworth Ditwiler, PT, DPT, OCS – associate professor, MCOM School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences Douglas E. Haladay, PT, DPT, PhD, MHS, OCS, CSCS – director, MCOM School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; associate dean and associate professor Amanda J. Tritsch, PhD, LAT, ATC, CSCS – associate professor, MCOM Orthopedics and Sports Medicine; associate professor, MCOM School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
Not Pictured:
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Bryan G. Kane, MD – associate professor, MCOM Department of Medicine; assistant program
director of research, Lehigh Valley Health Network Emergency Medicine Residency Emad Mikhail, MD, FACOG, FACS – associate professor, MCOM Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
DME Faculty & Staff Highlights Robert A. Good Honor Society
Rahul S. Mhaskar MPH, PhD
Faculty Director, Research, Innovation & Scholarly Endeavors (RISE) Associate Professor, Research Methodology and Biostats Core, Office of Research Dept of Internal Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine College of Public Health
Culture Coin Recipients Faculty and staff who exemplify the values of USF Health are recognized and awarded with a culture coin for their outstanding dedication to our mission of Making Life Better through education, research and patient care.
Seema Martinez
Bryan Bognar
Shirley Smith
January 2020
June 2020
October 2020
Kelly McCarthy
Amy Hart
Andrea Matthews
Brian Fisher
Freddie Coleman
October 2020
October 2020
October 2020
February 2021
April 2021
DME Faculty & Staff Highlights Faculty Promotions Associate Professor
Professor
Joann Quinn PhD
Deborah DeWaay MD
Assistant Professor
Pamela O’Callaghan PhD
Outstanding Staff 2019
Kristy Andre
Kelly McCarthy PhD
Shane Puckett PhD
Awards 2020
Outstanding Team Award
Kristy worked tirelessly with numerous colleagues in IT to ensure the move to the downtown building was a success. She assisted with email consolidation, the Tech-IT Out Lab, Teams and Hubs trainings, the MultiTaction Wall, and the AAMC exhibit.
Emily Pernas
Outstanding Staff Award
During quarantine, Emily served as the communication liaison between Prometric and the NBME. She organized and managed testing reservations with all Florida Medical Schools ensuring students received their testing vouchers and logistical information.
2020
Seema Martinez
Emily Pernas
Shaterra Blocker Andrea Matthews
Amy Hart
Outstanding Team Award USF MCOM was one of six medical schools in the US to serve as a Prometric testing center during quarantine. It operated for 9 weeks and was open 7 days a week up to 11 hours per day. To make the project a success, many individuals contributed to its execution and operation. This team assisted while concurrently satisfying their normal job duties. Michael Andrews from facilities and Anthony Avila from IT were also a part of this Team Award.
DME Faculty & Staff Highlights Celebration of Success - Staff Awards October 2020 the Department of Medical Education held a virtual Celebration of Success to honor the efforts and hard work of its staff. Congratulations!
Frankie Cunningham
Shaterra Blocker
Hoda Bizri & Emily Meyer
Erin May
Adrienne Kinsella
Lyette Pate
RISE Office
Physician Assistant Program
Fatema Siwji
Wendy Steiger
Jasmine Kinsler
Emily Pernas
Deborah Nava
Courtney Johns-Rejano
Student Affairs
MD Admissions Office Academic Support Center
MD Career Advising
Health Registrar Finance
The entire ELS team
Operations
Office of Student Diversity & Enrichment Undergraduate Medical Education Undergraduate Medical Education
Experiential Learning & Simulation
Retirement Well Wishes!
Thank you Gail Carter for 22 Incredible Years of Service!
Gail throwing a successful pitch at the 2017 Dunk-a-Dean event
Gail at one of her favorite events, Match Day
Gail receiving the Unsung Heroes Award at the 2018 DME Holiday Party
Everyone enjoying the fact that Gail then Pat hit the target that dunked Dr. Bognar at the 2017 Dunk-a-Dean event
I have worked with Gail for probably 10+ years in her role supporting the Year 2 courses and can't express enough my appreciation for all her efforts in helping those courses run as smoothly as they have through the many transitions we've experienced together. She's not only been the consummate team player, but also a valued team contributor that has helped to improve the multitude of processes that make the faculty and student experience so much better. Her infectious smile will surely be missed, and I wish her the happiest of retirement years that she most deservedly has earned. Thank you, Gail! - Craig Doupnik, Assistant Dean UME Preclerkship Curriculum
I have had the pleasure of knowing Gail since she joined MCOM. We worked together in Internal Medicine those many years ago, and we transitioned to the educational affairs office about the same time. She has always been the most consistently professional, student-centered colleague one can hope for. She leaves behind a legacy of great work, many friends, along with lots of smiles and laughs. What more could you ask for? Two decades of alumni, students, faculty and staff are better for having crossed her path. I can personally attest to that. Thank you, Gail, for all that you have contributed, both seen and unseen. Best wishes for the journey ahead! - Bryan Bognar, Chair Department of Medical Education
Looking Ahead
T
he past few years have been an incredible journey for the Department of Medical Education. Since its inception in July 2018, the department has been driven to bring to fruition the charge of Dean Lockwood to transform the Morsani College of Medicine into a top 25 medical school. As we reflect on our shared accomplishments of navigating TWO once-in-a-generation, transformational moments: MCOM’s move to Water Street Tampa followed by the unprecedented response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are energized as we renew our commitment to leading transformational change. The year ahead will bring into sharp focus our upcoming LCME re-accreditation preparations another opportunity to showcase MCOM’s accomplishments while continually raising the bar. We look forward to working with all of our MCOM, USF Health and many partners in what I know will be an amazing future.
- Bryan
DME Staff held themed virtual get togethers during quarantine to stay connected. From Tea with the Queen with a friendly competition, to our favorite music era, sports team, and Disney character.