The Nova Southeastern University (NSU) College of Allopathic Medicine has received preliminary accreditation – a major milestone that allows the new medical school to accept an inaugural class of 50 students into its innovative and coveted Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program, which will matriculate in August 2018.
The accreditation follows a site visit and a favorable review by a survey team of educators from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the organization that accredits M.D. programs in the U.S. and Canada. The college is now the eighth M.D. program in Florida and one of only 148 in the United States.“The accreditation decision is a transformational moment in the history of NSU which brings the university another step closer toward NSU’s Vision 2020 and its goal of becoming a nationally recognized, top-tier university of teaching, research, service, and learning,” said NSU President Dr. George Hanbury.
“NSU has made remarkable commitments to medical education, research and patient care, building a strong foundation for an innovative, research-intensive medical program,” said Johannes W. Vieweg, M.D., FACS, Founding Dean of the college. “As a new medical college, we are in a unique positon to leverage institutional resources and external partnerships to create a new educational model that will transform the delivery of health care in our community and beyond.”
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) East Florida and its hospital network is the preferred academic medical partner of the new college, providing student training experiences in clinically relevant settings. HCA soon will break ground on a 200-bed hospital which will evolve into a teaching and research hospital on NSU’s campus located within walking distance to the university’s educational and research facilities, including NSU’s newly opened $100 million, 215,000-sq.-ft. Center for Collaborative Research.
The new college’s educational program will be taught in conjunction with the other seven life science colleges in an interdisciplinary fashion within NSU’s Health Professions Division, using existing renovated space to accommodate the new M.D. student class and the college’s active-learning curriculum. To meet demands in all of its life science academic programs as well as the M.D. program, NSU is planning to build a more than 200,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art interdisciplinary medical education building to complement its vast health professions facilities and health care centers.
Developed by a team of more than 100 medical educators, physicians and researchers, NSU’s innovative curriculum integrates didactics on ethics and humanities, genomics, inter-professional collaboration, biomedical informatics and leadership. The curriculum also includes a heavy emphasis on research, technology and innovation throughout the educational program leading to the M.D. degree.
Medical students will train to become active learners and work in small groups using active inquiry under the direction of a faculty facilitator. Students will be challenged to solve real-world medical problems using clinical cases and a team-based approach. Compared to passive, lecture-style teaching, the college’s curriculum is designed to better prepare medical students to interact with patients and health care team members. During clinical rotations, residencies and as practicing physicians, these lessons will provide necessary skills for leadership and upholding excellent standards of care.
After meeting specified requirements, students will enter clinical rotations halfway through their second year of medical school, providing additional real-world training during the four-year program. Students will have the opportunity to apply for clinical rotations throughout HCA East Florida’s network of hospitals, at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center, and eventually at the HCA teaching and research hospital planned to be built on NSU’s campus.
