Undergraduate medical education (UME) has been an area of tremendous activity within the Office of Medical Education (OME). After several years of planning for curriculum renewal, the office instituted major changes in the curriculum for first and second year students beginning in 2001. The interdisciplinary Science and Practice of Medicine course and the Isidore Cohn Student Learning Center were both created to introduce more clinical teaching in the afternoons during these years of medical school. Basic science teaching serves as the foundation for clinical problem solving and our courses in anatomy, cell biology, prenatal development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, neuroscience, pathology, microbiology, clinical pathology, pharmacology, dermatology, and psychiatry remain rigorous.

Our students receive excellent clinical training in the third and fourth years of school. Most clerkship rotations are completed at Charity Hospital and University Hospital. Curriculum renewal in the clinical years is ongoing. All students now spend 8 afternoons in the Human Simulation lab during the junior year. Here they have the opportunity to manage critically ill patients with a variety of different conditions. In this lab students decide which medications to give (and the dosage) and they perform all necessary procedures. The simulator responds physiologically, so students see the direct results of their management decisions. The Curriculum Committee is currently evaluating the structure and content of the core clinical clerkships (internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, family medicine, ENT, urology and [in the senior year] neurology/neurosurgery). The introduction of additional interdisciplinary teaching may be necessary, but we remain committed to teaching fundamental clinical skills and knowledge.

Richard DiCarlo, M.D.
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine
2020 Gravier St., Suite 716
New Orleans, LA 70112
504-568-4006 (Phone)
504-599-1453 (Fax)