The Office of Generalist Education of the College of Medicine strives for the following:
Goals:
To provide a general professional education for medical students at the University of Florida College of Medicine. This education will produce students with:
- A knowledge base that includes and emphasizes generalist and primary care training, and at the same time
- Allows differentiation into specialty and subspecialty providers.
- Exposure to practice in a health care team.
- Involvement in community-based service-learning.
Objectives:
Support the development and management of curricula that support generalist education
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The Office provides oversight for clinically-oriented coursework in the
first two years, and efforts in generalist education for the second two
years of medical school. Examples of those curricula that address issues
of generalist education include the Essentials of Patient Care continuum,
which includes courses in the first and second years. These courses include
instruction in physical assessment, interviewing and communication skills,
ethics, and evidence-based medicine. Preventive medicine is taught in
the context of home visits with selected community volunteers in the Keeping
Families Healthy program, described below. The Office has also developed
a continuum of educational efforts regarding aspects of managed care.
Develop interdisciplinary educational programs
The Office directs the Keeping Families Healthy program, an interdisciplinary
learning practicum jointly involving the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing
and Pharmacy. This program involves instruction in preventive medicine
and team practice in the context of visiting volunteer families in their
homes, and involves more than 400 students, over 70 faculty, and 150 volunteer
families from the Gainesville community. For more information, please
go to:
http://www.cop.ufl.edu/SAFEZONE/DOTY/kfh/index.htm
Current efforts of the Office involve the development of a Center for Interdisciplinary Education in the Health Sciences. The Center will provide support for projects like the Keeping Families Healthy program that involve interdisciplinary education and practice, and will include all six colleges in the Health Science Center.
Recruitment of Community Physicians
In order to provide our students with a "real-world" experience, we hope to involve community physicians in the educational process. We currently have between 15 and 20 community-based faculty who participate on a regular basis, and over 85 physicians that are involved with the two-week Primary Care Preceptorship which takes place in December for first year students.
For further information, please contact:
Educational Coordinator |
Rhondda Waddell LCSW, MSW |
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Program Director |
Richard A. Davidson, MD, MPH |
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