A three-year accelerated medical school curriculum designed to encourage and facilitate primary care careers

Abstract

For the past decade there has been declining medical student interest in primary care. The cause of this trend is multifactorial and includes issues of salary and indebtedness. Educational leaders have called for careful selection of medical students and the creation of three-year medical school curricula to counter these factors. On April 30, 2006, the American Osteopathic Association Commission on College Accreditation voted to approve a new accelerated curriculum at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) in Erie, Pennsylvania. This pathway accelerates the traditional four-year medical school curriculum into three calendar years. In addition to reducing the time necessary to complete medical training as a primary care physician, this pathway reduces the expense involved in obtaining a medical education. This paper describes how LECOM positioned itself to address key strategies believed to be at the heart of rekindling student interest in primary care. In the accelerated curriculum, summer vacation between the first and second medical school year is eliminated. Clinical education is streamlined by focusing on 16 rotations relevant to primary care and eliminating elective experiences. Primary care mentors are assigned at the start of medical school. Case-based capstone sessions are added throughout the clinical years to reinforce primary care concepts. Students in this curriculum are designated "primary care scholars" to recognize the fact that they are engaged in a rigorous, goal-directed curriculum. Consistent with published recommendations for increasing medical students' choice of generalist careers, a detailed description of the LECOM accelerated curriculum effort is provided.