Course to provide physician shadowing opportunities
For undergraduate students considering a future in medicine, the application process and requirements for medical school can be daunting. A new course is currently being developed, which will have Rice students shadow physicians at Methodist Hospital and will be offered next year to help those going through the process.
Gia Merlo, the new Vice Dean for Health Professions, said the course comes from a task force she created to strengthen the affiliation between Rice and Methodist Hospital to provide opportunities for students pursuing medicine.
“Students will shadow physicians at Methodist and will attend a didactic component that places emphasis on professionalism, ethics [and] reflection on the shadowing experiencing,” Merlo said.
According to Merlo, the program’s first goal is to develop an intensive physician shadowing program available exclusively to Rice undergraduate students, beginning in fall 2015. This new course will provide students considering the medical field an assortment of 25 physicians to shadow.
The three-credit course will include three to four hours of shadowing and one to two hours of coursework and reflective seminars per week. Currently, the course has 164 slots for undergraduate students. In order to gauge student interest, Merlo’s team sent out a poll, which received 246 responses. The details of the program’s shadowing structure are still being finalized.
Merlo said the mission of the program is not to increase the number of medical school applicants accepted, but to enhance the students’ experiences and help them determine if a medical profession is the right fit.
“Medical education is undergoing a major transformation for the first time in over 100 years,” Merlo said. “Historically, the focus of medical colleges was almost exclusively on science competencies. Now, the new holistic approach includes focusing on understanding human behavior and the needs of an increasingly diverse patient population.”
The medical school application process requires more than just research and a strong GPA, and applicants’ lack of clinical exposure and reflection of experiences is noticed during the interview process, according to Merlo.
Christian Capo, a Jones College freshman looking to go into medicine, said he was eager for the new course, but was doubtful he would be able to register for it.
“I think more courses should have [a reflective aspect], as it lets students think personally about their courses,” Capo said. “I just fear that the course would be too heavily desired and that many won’t be able to get [medical] perspectives.”
The Rice Premedical Society currently runs Doctors Offering Shadowing Experience, a student-run program that connects select RPMS members with a physician willing to be shadowed. Merlo said the new course would provide shadowing opportunities to more students.
“Last year, [DOSE] had over 150 applications and only were able to match about 20 students,” Merlo said. “Therefore, the program was not very effective recently.”
DOSE co-coordinator Caroline Zhu said the new course originated from and will replace DOSE.
“We were notified last semester that the university would take over the shadowing program and build formal affiliation with hospitals so that eventually all interested students can get spots,” Zhu, a Martel College junior, said. “Now the shadowing course has a different format than DOSE, so essentially DOSE doesn’t exist anymore. We already handed over all DOSE information to Dr. Merlo, and are currently assisting her in planning the shadowing course next year, along with the task force.”
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