March 31, 2010 | March 31, 2010 | A wealth of experience awaits third-year medical students at the new UAMS Northwest campus in Fayetteville as they work in clinics, hospitals and other settings across the area.

Six students arrived in northwest Arkansas for their third year of medical school in July 2009. They volunteered to be the first students at the new UAMS campus, adjusting to a new environment and curriculum format than other third-year UAMS students face.

“The setting here is different, but when it comes down to it; we do the same things here as they do in Little Rock,” said junior Drew Lewis. “We see patients in clinic, in the hospital and we take call. We present our patients, write notes, participate in codes, take shelf exams, attend didactic sessions, get quizzed by attending physicians and try to find time to read in the midst of it all.”

The difference, he said, is being in more of a community setting than if he were at the UAMS campus in Little Rock. Instruction is mostly one-on-one with physician preceptors in a number of settings, from the University of Arkansas student health clinic, to community clinics, to four area hospitals.

The students are seeing a diverse population of patients in a variety of settings, he said. “Most of our instruction comes in a one-on-one setting: presenting a patient, making an assessment and plan and then discussing the patient and pathophysiology,” Lewis said. “We feel this worked very well. All the physicians who are our preceptors have a desire to teach and a wealth of clinical experience to share.”

Lewis said he really has enjoyed his experience in surgery, where he has typically joined a surgeon and a surgical technician in the operating room. This allows ample opportunity to be involved and get “lots of experience suturing.”

Peter O. Kohler, M.D., vice chancellor UAMS Northwest, is now recruiting the next batch of students for the campus. He said he is pleased with the performance of the first group of students.

“They have performed well in all of the ways that we can test – even outperforming their peers in some cases,” he said. “They are really thriving in this setting where they are getting more one-on-one education with physician preceptors.”

Lewis, a Fayetteville native, volunteered to complete his last two years of medical school at UAMS Northwest partly because of the proximity to family. He said he also welcomed the opportunity to be among the first medical students at the regional campus – with their feedback potentially influencing the program.

“Everyone has been receptive to our feedback and incorporating our ideas to improve the program for students,” Lewis said.

He said there was some concern early on about not getting enough experience with pediatric inpatient cases, since most were sent to Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) in Little Rock.

“This concerned us at first but it is easily remedied,” he said. “UAMS will provide room in the residence hall for us to come to Little Rock in our fourth year and take as many of our rotations as we wish so most of us have decided we will do a fourth-year elective at ACH.”

Another difference for the students is the curriculum format. Instead of block rotations, with a student completing one subject before moving on to the next, the campus uses a longitudinal curriculum with multiple subjects being covered at once.

Lewis said he has adjusted to the different format and likes it.

Kohler said the longitudinal curriculum is used in other medical schools including Harvard University and the University of West Virginia. UAMS is using a modified form of the curriculum format used at the University of West Virginia, he said.

“We believe this format allows for information to be retained longer,” Kohler said. “It’s the same content, just presented in an integrated format.”

Eventual enrollment at the Northwest Arkansas campus is expected to be between 250-300 with students in medical, pharmacy, nursing and allied health programs, along with resident physicians who will be serving residencies at area hospitals and clinics.