BUSM Opens New Clerkship Sites in California
Boston University School of Medicine has developed an affiliation with Northern California Kaiser Permanente to offer two new clinical clerkship sites for our third-year medical students.
Beginning in May 2015, 12 third-year students will begin their clerkships at Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in San Jose and Santa Clara. After an orientation with their classmates in Boston, six will stay for a full year, while six will stay for six months. Students will rotate in family medicine, OB/GYN, internal medicine, psychiatry and neurology at the San Jose site and in pediatrics, surgery, radiology and psychiatry at the Santa Clara site. Although this program is new for BU, Kaiser has a strong and well-established medical education framework that includes students from Stanford, UC-San Francisco, UC-Davis and Drexel.
In addition to an excellent clinical experience, the Kaiser Campus Third-Year Curriculum Program will expose students to Kaiser’s healthcare technology, preventive medicine and progressive healthcare delivery model. Students will participate in quality improvement training programs, master their electronic health system, and develop their own quality improvement projects.
Kaiser has revolutionized health care and health-care technology, providing more immediate and responsive patient care. A leader in patient safety and quality improvement, the Kaiser system has been the model for the future of medicine. Their focus on preventive care and an outpatient-centered care model reduces hospital admissions and testing.
“We are delighted to offer our students the opportunity to work in another innovative and evidenced-based system that is committed to high-value, high-quality medical care,” said Karen Antman, MD, BUSM dean and provost of the BU Medical Campus.
Despite the distance from Boston campus, students will receive uniform didactic instruction. Program Manager Monica Parker-James is coordinating the online educational experiences. Recorded lectures can be reviewed at the student’s convenience. The students also will be able to participate in live small-group discussions and case vignettes with Microsoft Lync access.
Microsoft Lync is a platform for unified communications including online meetings, instant messaging, audio and video calls, availability info and sharing capabilities.
Dr. Harley Goldberg, who has a long history of service in the Kaiser system and is involved in quality evaluations at San Jose, will coordinate the training and supervision of our students in California. He will work with students via video conferencing prior to June and will orient and mentor the students during their time in the Kaiser facilities. He has worked closely with the BUSM Kaiser Committee and clerkship directors to provide a seamless transition for the students.
Assistant Dean Paige Curran in the Office of Student Affairs will monitor student mental and physical health and support academic and career development through online communication and quarterly visits to California.
The BUSM students will have faculty support while in California and many will also be close to family and friends. In addition, we are planning a California BUSM alumni network for additional student support, mentoring and career development. Several alumni have already expressed interest, including Veronica Santini, BUSM class of 2000, an assistant professor of neurology at Stanford.
“We are impressed by how vested our counterparts in California are in making this a successful partnership,” said Anna Hohler, MD, assistant dean of academic affairs at BUSM. “This collaboration is a win-win. Kaiser will work with students who are smart, dedicated and professional. Our students will train in a leading health care system that shares our commitment to high-quality medical education, devotion to diverse patient populations and a vision for excellence in health care. We are thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity to our students.”