Your voice matters! Student feedback is critically important to continuous quality improvement in all phases of our curriculum and every part of our school. Please feel free to submit a suggestion here.
Here’s how PittMed has responded to student suggestions and input:
WINTER 2025
FOUNDATIONS
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FEEDBACK
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ACTION ITEMS
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Improve image quality on exams
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We have worked to improve image resolution and are monitoring more closely.
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Alter office hours to allow more student attendance
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We are working with leads so, where feasible, office hours can be provided after 5p, to allow all students to attend. We are also making sure that no new material is presented in office hours, just review.
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Release material earlier
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We continue to work with course leads on this—upcoming courses should allow for earlier material release.
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Promote written material in conjunction with presession videos
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We need to ensure that the written material is identical—a "script" of the video. We are encouraging course leads to complete these so students have more choice. Upcoming courses should have this more consistently.
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Coordinate release or presession learning to align with session timing
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This is hard, because (as above), some students want material released early, and some don't want that. We will try to make it clear when material will be covered so students can be clear on what they need to do when.
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Limit access to student assessment data
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As per ELEAP's recommendation, we eliminated LE access to student test scores.
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CLERKSHIPS/BRIDGES
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FEEDBACK
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ACTION ITEMS
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Improve site assignment process
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We are working to alter procedures to give students more time to request alternate assignments, and better clarity over options. Most importantly, we are trying to standardize procedures across all clerkships.
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Provide opportunities for radiology electives
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We have clarified what elective students can take if they are interested in radiology, working closely with departmental lead Dr. Branstetter, who will individualize experiences for learners.
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Make 2-wk electives open to CO26
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We need to prioritize CO27 students because of the structures of their schedules, but when slots are available, we will not open them to CO26 students as well. CO26 students will still need to complete 32 weeks of electives.
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FALL 2024
FOUNDATIONS
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FEEDBACK
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ACTION ITEMS
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| Improve small group consistency | We continue to work with LE/CSP leads around this issue. Content should be the same, but process may vary (within limits). We continue to promote best practices and monitor performance of LE/CSP faculty through observation and student feedback. We are now using more content videos created by leads to supplement in-person LE/CSP training; this will help promote consistency. |
| Make content in SGs easier to understand | We are working with leads to keep cases simpler and to use floating content experts more consistently. We are also working with blocks to better divide content between small and large groups—content that really requires subspecialty expertise could perhaps be better taught in large groups. |
| Improve quality and consistency of pre-session learning | We are trying to vary the type of prework, especially to include more video, keeping the video and the written identical in content. We are planning to simplify prework, moving from 1 hour of prep per 1 hour of class time to 30min of prep for 1 hour of class—this will take time to standardize but should reduce study demands. We will better vet materials. |
| Better align the difficulty levels of formative and summative exams | These assessments should be comparable. Formatives should prepare students for summatives. This year we are working to better vet formative questions, now that we have a more established set of summative questions. This will take time—we are working with leads and the Assessment Subcommittee to standardize. |
| Increase practice time with diverse SPs in the PE course | We are updating the schedule to enhance equity across groups. We are expanding office hours with SPs for extra practice. |
| Improve the POCUS component of the PE course | We will promote best practices around POCUS use to avoid the awkwardness of scanning peer volunteers—tag-teaming volunteer exams before SP practice will improve quality. We are working with CSPs to standardize the approach here. |
| Enhance preparation for the PE OSCE by making PE more rigorous | We will try to ramp up rigor without losing the safe learning environment for practice. A key part of the plan will be to message better about what the OSCE will be like, and opportunities for practice during and after the course. |
CLERKSHIPS/BRIDGES
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FEEDBACK
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ACTION ITEMS
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| Improve consistency around needlestick procedures | We have updated our policy and procedures, and we have communicated more clearly to clerkship/AI/elective course directors about expectations and resources. There remain issues related to management at some non-UPMC facilities and off-hours injuries, but these are being addressed. |
| Clarify the approach to potential conflicts around clerkship grading based on prior relationships. | We are in the process of updating our policy to shift responsibility from students to faculty when there is a prior health care relationship that could bias grading—faculty must recuse. We are also specifying other possible conflicts (e.g., family relations) that would prompt recusal. |
| Clarify what electives "count" as clinical rotations for that graduation requirement. | An updated list was distributed. |
| Provide two-week electives to allow for low-risk exploration of content areas | As part of the new curriculum, we have created 19 2wk pass/fail electives (so far), with over 40 slots per period overall, to give students exposure to particular areas. These electives will be flagged in the catalog for easy searching. |
SUMMER 2024
FOUNDATIONS
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FEEDBACK
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ACTION ITEMS
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More consistency in CAP Community Partner Organizations (CPO’s)
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We have limited the distance of CPO’s from the school, enhanced CPO orientation, and are conducting site visits to ensure greater consistency in your experiences.
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Greater flexibility in CAP assignments
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We have built more focused orientation materials and shifted the focus from “time spent “to “project completion.”
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Clearer expectations for both CAP and LAP
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We have enhanced orientation materials, added more information to the website, and will contact you and your classmates more frequently to ensure expectations are clear. Faculty are also holding office hours to answer your questions!
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An easier way to log LAP encounters
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We changed Elentra to make it much easier to log encounters.
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An easier way to track progression through medical school
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We are excited to introduce you to Slate this year – we anticipate this system will be much more user friendly.
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Consistent approach to pre-work materials posted in Elentra
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Task force set best practices, will follow; also creating videos/open hours for tips.
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A more stable exam platform
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We have shifted back to ExamSoft – this change has already eliminated the issues we saw with using Elentra.
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Curriculum: Clearer learning objectives
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All of our learning objectives undergo continuous quality improvement through our professional instructional designer, feedback from students and LE’s, and faculty review/revision. We will continue to improve our learning objectives every year!
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Consistent, high-quality pre-work that supports your learning in small groups
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We have set new standards for the “right” amount of pre-work and have incorporated your feedback about front-loading each week of the curriculum. By popular demand, many more videos will be produced “in house” this year!
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Greater numbers, diversity, and consistency in faculty educators
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We are actively recruiting faculty with an emphasis on diversity, and supporting our current faculty with “expert floaters” (who visit your small groups to answer content questions). All faculty receive ongoing education through development sessions and their growth is closely monitored through your feedback and formal observation.
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More practice questions!
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In addition to embedded Elentra questions, we have expanded student access to UWorld, which includes a question bank of over 3500 items for students to use as practice during the curriculum. Students will now be able to enjoy a one-year subscription, beginning with Organ Systems and running through Step 1.
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More ways to share your feedback
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In addition to Feedback Friday (which will continue!) and course evaluations, we have incorporated more options to share your thoughts. Check out the Elentra “immediate feedback” button (now active!), visit expanded faculty and dean office hours, and come to one of the “School Administered Survey” focus group sessions to dialogue about your 3RC experience. We want to hear from you!
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More quiet space to study
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We added 160 quiet study seats in testing room which is also a designated quiet study space. We moved to 24/7 card access only to all teaching spaces, which allows for increased medical student only space unless scheduled by others. Other things we did: set ground rules for student study, including signage; worked with the library to improve noise control.
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