UMHS Partners with McGraw-Hill Medical to Offer AccessMedicine

UMHS is breaking new ground with AccessMedicine and its Custom Curriculum module, providing a comprehensive online auxiliary portal for course materials, assignments, activities and assessments for the basic science courses and the clinical science core rotations. Virtually all the U.S. medical schools are utilizing AccessMedicine to supplement both their Basic and Clinical Science Program. UMHS is among the first Caribbean medical schools to offer such a comprehensive online platform delivering course support in partnership with AccessMedicine, and is the first to use the Custom Curriculum module on an institutional level.

(Photo, inset right) Learner view of AccessMedicine homepage

The UMHS Endeavour looks at what AccessMedicine is and how UMHS Basic Sciences and Clinical students can utilize this innovative product from McGraw-Hill Medical. We will include interviews from staff at the UMHS South Portland, Maine campus who have been using AccessMedicine, as well as information from Ann Celestine, UMHS Director of Library and Educational Applications, Dr. Jane Harrington, UMHS Course Director and Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and additional details from McGraw-Hill Medical.

What is AccessMedicine?

Following are facts about AccessMedicine, according to materials provided by McGraw-Hill Medical, and the creator of the concept.

• AccessMedicine provides a complete spectrum of knowledge from the best minds in medicine, with essential information accessible anywhere.

• Authoritative, trusted, and continuously updated with optimized content for any mobile device, AccessMedicine is guided by a preeminent Advisory Board that includes three of the medical field’s top academic experts, Mark A. Graber, MD; Diane Levine, MD; and Anderson Spickard, III, MD.

(Photo, inset right) AccessMedicine: Learner view of AccessMedicine Custom Curriculum homepage

• AccessMedicine provides medical students with a variety of resources needed to excel in basic science studies and clerkships; with instant access to
  videos, self-assessment, and leading medical textbooks that facilitate decision-making at the point-of-care; enables faculty to create, track, and report
  their students’ progress through a curriculum tool that eases workflow; and allows practicing physicians to brush up on their medical knowledge to
  ensure the best patient outcome.

• Leading medical textbooks – More than 85 medical reference books help students and residents succeed throughout their medical education, including the latest editions of the world’s most respected medical texts such as, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine and CURRENT Medical Diagnosis & Treatment. Find the full list of texts on AccessMedicine at: accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/textbooks

• Extensive multimedia library – A unique collection of more than 250 examination and procedural videos, patient safety modules, audio files, and animations that feature complicated concepts presented in terms students can understand are available, including videos illustrating fundamental medical concepts drawn from the world’s most trusted medical textbook, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. For a complete listing of videos and animations go to: accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/multimedia

• The Custom Curriculum module helps ease the workflow for program directors by customizing and managing resident training from one convenient site. It provides a portal for class assignments and activities as well as making other course content, such as lecture Power Points, ancillary materials, etc. to be accessible to the students remotely. The 6 Core Clinical Clerkships will be making extensive use of this module to deliver a custom, standard UMHS curriculum to the clinical students on core rotation. The intent is to keep everyone connected in a sense and on the same page by providing all with access to the same key resources, materials, assignments, and assessments no matter they location.

• With regard to the Clinical Program, UMHS has created online lecture series/modules for all the core clinical rotations, which includes didactic education at all clinical sites in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. In addition, UMHS firmly believes that the average Step II pass rate and scores will increase as a result of this new program.

• Self-Assessment – Extensive Q&A from leading references such as Harrison’s Self-Assessment and Board Review, William’s Obstetrics Study Guide and the LANGE textbooks, to assist students and residents in exam preparation.

• Cases – A selection of cases from across the popular Case Files series and Pathophysiology of Disease helps medical students better understand and evaluate real world experiences by offering questions to frame the case and the approach to the patient.

• Patient Education – Comprehensive, reliable healthcare information for adults, pediatrics, medicines, and acute settings available in multiple languages and for over 7000 topics.
• Integrated Drug Database – Look up dosing, indications, and adverse reactions quickly from more than 1,000 generic and brand-name drugs, with customizable, printable patient handouts presented in English and Spanish.
• Images - Tens of thousands of photos and illustrations to aid in visual diagnosis are available to save and download for educational purposes.
• Clerkship Corner – An invaluable resource that presents clerks with the complete scope of information they need to be familiar with to successfully become residents. Clerkship Corner provides a suggested reading list for students to master required topics. Content is organized by core topics in internal medicine.

AccessMedicine for 5th Semester

The UMHS Endeavour spoke to Rachael Roberts at the UMHS Maine campus about how AccessMedicine is being used for students in the 5^th semester course - Introduction to Clinical Medicine II.

“We've been using AccessMedicine here in Maine for one semester,” Ms. Roberts said.  “So far, we've really focused on making course materials (classroom handouts, articles, etc.) available through the Custom Curriculum section.  Students can access files from anywhere without bogging down their e-mails or dealing with lots of paper copies.  We're looking into getting Cases/Pathology slideshows up there too, but they're pretty large files with lots pictures, so I'm trying to find some compression methods that preserve them and allow for note-taking.  So far though, it seems like a pretty great ‘one-stop-shop’ for students to do research, practice/test their skills and access course materials.”

“When we went live, Ann Celestine did a Skype info session with our students in the Maine classroom and explained some of the features of the AccessMedicine platform along with some of the other library resources. She pointed out the case studies, the procedural videos (definitely helpful for learning the various physical exams for Virtual Clinic), the drug database, as well as the self-assessment area. In addition, Ann explained that UMHS has purchased an institutional subscription to McGraw Hill’s USMLE-Easy Q-Bank for Step 1, Step 2CK, & Step 3, a great addition to the Kaplan Q-Bank arsenal for USMLE Step 1 prep.”

“We also had a brief info session at the beginning of the semester for our part-time faculty (Virtual Clinic docs and Small Group leaders), just showing them what was available in terms of supplemental resources.  Some of the part-time faculty like to give out supplemental course materials, so the ability to attach these electronically to the class assignments created on Access Medicine will prove very useful, besides reduced paper use.”

Basic Sciences Microbiology course experience using AccessMedicine’s Custom Curriculum:

The UMHS Endeavour spoke to Dr. Jane Harrington, UMHS Course Director and Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology.

 “As a part of the microbiology course, students are regularly engaged in case-based learning through the AccessMedicine portal,” Dr. Harrington says. “After a concept is covered in lecture, a module is assigned that includes completing a study guide algorithm to solve a set of cases, followed by a multiple choice quiz.  The best successes for improved test performance are the bacterial diarrhea and pneumonia differential modules.”

(Photo, inset right) AccessMedicine self-assessments (able to customize questions for test prep from online publications)

Access Medicine App for UMHS Faculty & Students for Mobile Devices

The Access Medicine App is now available to UMHS faculty and students for your mobile devices.

About the AccessMedicine App

Below is information from the McGraw-Hill Medical website about what is specifically included in the AccessMedicine app:

• Quick Medical Dx & Rx is a collection of concise evidence-based outlines of conditions and disorders most often encountered in medical practice – perfect for high-yield review or for quick reference in the clinical setting.
• Fitzpatrick’s Color Atlas of Clinical Dermatology facilitates dermatologic diagnosis by providing color images of skin lesions, plus a summary outline of skin disorders and diseases.
• Differential Diagnosis Tool provides more than 1,000 diagnoses through Diagnosaurus®, a McGraw-Hill Medical tool that efficiently allows you to browse by symptom, disease, or organ system at the point of care.
• Diagnostic Tests, from Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests, is a quick reference guide to the selection and interpretation of commonly used diagnostic tests, including laboratory procedures in the clinical setting.

For more information on AccessMedicine, please visit http://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/index.aspx

(Top photo) The AccessMedicine app. Photo: AccessMedicine

About UMHS:

Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciencesfocuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, “personalized medical education,” and it’s what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada. UMHS is challenging everything you thought you knew about Caribbean medical schools.