Medical students in the first 18 months of their curriculum (Foundations of Medicine) have weekly Clinical Skills sessions. Facilitators for these sessions will lead their small group in the activity of that week. Each session comes with a well-developed and detailed discussion guide, which facilitators use as the foundation for sharing their experience and perspective on each topic. These 90-minute sessions are held in the Robertson Life Sciences Building on the South Waterfront. 

The greatest need for teachers each year is during Fall term, which is early August – early December. Classes are on Monday and Tuesday afternoons during this term and are from 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. and faculty can teach at one or both times.

The second term is January – mid-March and the greatest need is for faculty with an Epidemiology background. Classes are every Tuesday afternoon, 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.

The third term is late March – July, and it is a good time for anyone who wants to co-teach a group or spend some time getting the feel for these sessions to join, since there tends to be a greater number of volunteers for fewer spots during this term. Classes are every Tuesday afternoon, 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. Volunteers can sign up for a whole term or share it with a colleague.

Peter Sullivan, MD, directs this program.

In-class facilitators work in pairs to help small interprofessional groups of students (12-14 students) work through a series of exercises focused on interprofessional collaborative health care and patient safety. Major topics include healthcare role, teamwork, communication, and interprofessional ethics. The course involves early healthcare learners from all schools on campus. 

The course meets three times throughout the academic year (generally ~4 hours on the second Wednesday afternoon of the term in October, January, and April). Facilitators would ideally be available for all three sessions to maintain continuity. A detailed facilitator guide and online training for the sessions are available, and as a facilitator your primary duty is as a guide and not a content expert. Experienced healthcare professional facilitators are a wonderful addition to the course. Visit the IPE site for more information.

 Email ipe@ohsu.edu if interested.

Facilitate discussions of MD students’ reflective essays about their preceptorship experiences. Facilitators will lead small group discussions for groups of about 10 medical students; facilitators’ guides will be provided. This is a great opportunity to push the conversation further with students and help them develop their confidence in reflective practice. 

These 2-hour sessions are held on four Wednesday afternoons between February and November from 1 – 3 pm in the Robertson Life Sciences Building on the South Waterfront.

The Narrative Medicine Program is directed by Elizabeth Lahti, MD. For more information or to volunteer, contact her or the program coordinator, Matthew Rempes.

Each medical student completes an inquiry-based project as part of their required curriculum. These Scholarly Projects reinforce life-long self-directed learning. They may follow traditional models of clinical or basic research, or take a novel approach such as proposing a legislative bill related to human health, creating a documentary film about a public health issue, or developing a business plan for a medically-related start-up. Learn more about Scholarly Projects, or contact Will Ragan, Program Technician, Scholarly Projects, raganw@ohsu.edu.

A dedicated team of faculty members is teaching the nuts and bolts of ultrasound use in clinical care to medical students as well as residents and CME participants. They are looking for people who are willing to have these techniques demonstrated on themselves.

The sessions vary but, for example, the elective training for medical students meets for 4 weeks on Thursday afternoons for about 75 minutes. 

Students will practice cardiac, lung and abdominal ultrasound. Patient modesty is always practiced. Abdomen ultrasound is performed with the abdomen exposed and pants low around hips, with a towel tucked in to keep gel off of clothes. The pelvic view can be a bit low with transducer just above symphysis. For the cardiac views men typically remove their shirts and women leave bra or sports bra on and wear a gown. Lung ultrasound typically is over the entire chest on men, around bra on women. Volunteer comfort is a priority, so the faculty do their best to make sure they are warm and content during practice. Volunteers interested in one type of scanning but not others can schedule accordingly. Volunteers are able to watch and ask questions about the ultrasound, but should know that this is in no way a diagnostic ultrasound, but for education practice only. We will close the loop with their PCP if any pathology is found.

If you are interested and would like to put your name on a list of potential volunteers to be emailed as needs arise, or would like more information, contact Chrissy Schutzer, Director of Operations, OHSU Point of Care Ultrasound.

In 2011 the OHSU School of Medicine joined a cohort of medical schools using the multi-mini interview tool in the MD admissions process. The MMI is a series of short interviews with standardized scenarios and questions. These short interviews require an applicant to respond to a prompt that is often health–related, then to discuss this with a rater. Some scenarios have the applicant interact with an actor while a rater observes, while others have the applicant complete a structured task with verbal instructions. Each rater is required to attend a 90-minute training session prior to participation, and to commit to a minimum of four sessions of rating the MD applicants between September and March. 

Each session is three and a half hours long, primarily on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings; volunteers can select the days that work best for themselves. Volunteers need to be present for the entire session. Scoring is completed during the session and there is no preparation required ahead of time. 

Robert Cloutier, MD, Asst Dean for Admissions notes: “The MMI has allowed us to evaluate applicants using multiple lenses and permits a broad cross-section of the community to participate in the MD admissions process.” 

Find additional information on the website. To volunteer, please email the M.D. Interview Coordinator at mdinterviews@ohsu.edu.

Review and provide feedback on students’ reflective essays about their preceptorship experiences. Each MD student will submit up to 6 essays about their preceptorship experiences during an academic year. Volunteers will be asked to read up to 10 students’ essays. A detailed rubric and orientation on how to provide feedback is provided. For those interested in more student contact, volunteers are also recruited to facilitate small group discussions of these essays four times a year (see below).

The Narrative Medicine Program is directed by Elizabeth Lahti, MD. For more information or to volunteer, contact her or the program coordinator, Matthew Rempes.

Becoming a preceptor is a rewarding way to enrich the learning experience for first- and second-year medical students. The School of Medicine asks physicians and advanced practice providers (M.D., D.O., N.P. or P.A.) to allow students in their clinic for four hours, one half-day a week. This is a student's first foray into a clinical setting — a formative and memorable experience. Students interact with patients and learn to become part of a health care team. Preceptors demonstrate how to start thinking like student-doctors, which includes developing communication skills, both with faculty and patients. The school depends on preceptors for this important experience; thank you for your generosity and expertise. 

Please contact Preceptorship Coordinator Matthew Rempes directly with any questions.

Each block in the Foundation of Medicine Phase of the MD curriculum closes with a week of studying and assessment, followed by a week of enrichment activities. Students who do not need to remediate any of their assessments select and participate in three (3) or more sessions/activities outlined on the Enrichment activities schedule. The goals of every Enrichment Week are to promote self-directed, independent learning and to enrich the student’s education with structured sessions and activities that will help solidify knowledge and comprehension of core concepts.

The sessions are usually 2 hours in length and often relate to the organ system-based materials taught in the preceding block, but any topic or activity could be considered. 

Contact,Tracy Bumsted, MD, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education  to learn the dates for these sessions throughout the year, or to suggest a topic.

Ph.D. students and early career faculty in the basic sciences work long hours in their labs and can become isolated from the rest of their department or their cohort. In addition, this is a difficult career path, and a good conversation with someone who has successfully traveled it can be a big morale boost. Often the perception when looking at an accomplished scientist is that they had a smooth trajectory when, in fact, nearly all senior scientists have struggled along the way. Sharing these struggles and how you overcame them can be very helpful to trainees and junior faculty.

Contact Monica Hinds, Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Affairs for graduate students to match up with a student; or Allison Fryer, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, for an early career faculty mentee.

A nano course refers to a short course, offered for 0.5 credits. They are intended to be special topics courses that capitalize on timely subject matter, visiting expertise, and/or highlight new developments in a field. Flexibility in scheduling and course leadership (i.e. not part of the permanent curriculum) will insure these courses are nimble. Nano courses are only offered once. If a course is deemed to be worth offering regularly, it will go through the regular course review and approval process. Nano courses can be initiated by faculty, students, or postdoctoral fellows and have no prerequisites. They are taken for elective credit only, with P/F grading.

To get a nano course approved, complete and submit the nano course proposal form.  For additional information contact Allison Fryer, PhD. The course should have learning objectives and assessment/measurable end points and must fit into 0.5 credit format. Course materials will be posted on SAKAI and evaluated through BLUE 4. Re-approval is required to run the course a second time. Any nano course offered more than twice will require formal course approval via graduate council.

OHSU Research Week is an annual university-wide event that celebrates research performed by students, faculty, postdocs, and staff across all schools, centers, institutes and education programs.

Research Week  kicks off with a usually includes a poster session reception, for which volunteers are needed to judge the posters and take part in the fun.

Contact Kate Stout for more information.

The Symposium on Educational Excellence hosts a yearly spring gathering to share education research and innovation coming out of OHSU programs. The Symposium would welcome your expertise and enthusiasm on a judging panel for the Poster Session, which generally takes place on Friday afternoon of the meeting.

If you are interested in volunteering as a poster judge, please contact educollab@oshu.edu This volunteer opportunity is a 4-6 hour commitment (a couple hours reviewing PDF’s of posters in the week prior to the Symposium, a quick rubric scoring training, and a few hours during the poster session itself), and a great way to learn about what’s new in education on campus.

This volunteer opportunity needs no explanation — just remember how special it was to have been invited to a faculty member’s home when you were a trainee.

Invite a medical student, graduate student or postdoc (or several) to your home for a meal, and help make a special memory of their time at OHSU.

Contact Amy Garcia, MD, to host a medical student, or Allison Fryer, PhD, to host a grad student or post-doc.