Draft of Academic Medicine / Scholarly Project Ideas for Class of 2018

Academic Medicine Project expectations include:

Project Definition goals, objectives, methods, anticipated results, recommendations
Time Commitment: the equivalent of eight hours per day, five days per week for four
weeks = a total of 160 Hours
Project Advisor: All projects must have a Project Advisor and a proposal cannot be
submitted without one.
Posters must be completed by March 31, 2018.

Project information is housed in the Academic Medicine Folder on Blackboard.

Student Affairs > MS 1 MS 4 > MS 4 > Academic Medicine > Academic Medicine 2017-18.

Academic Medicine Projects include (though this is not an exhaustive list):

A. Study Assistance
Fourth year students are needed to assist the first and second year students with developing
effective study habits. There are several components of this in which students can get involved.
See below:

Coordination of Study Assistance

Students are needed to help organize and coordinate study assistance. This is one of the most
important projects and has a range of responsibilities, but it is a great way to develop leadership,
teaching, and communication skills. Students will work with faculty from each block from the
first two years to ensure that support systems are set up for students. They also will work with
fourth year students who will serve as mentors and study assistants for the first and second year
students.

Summer Review Project

The purpose of this is to help students who have experienced some academic struggles during the
first year of medical school with a summer self study program. Students involved with this will
mentor students as well as serve as facilitators of case discussions related to first year
curriculum.

Step 1 Study Prep

The purpose of this project is to help second year students get organized so they can be well
prepared for the boards. This will include helping them to keep the meaning of step 1 in
perspective, develop solid study habits, ensure that they are taking care of themselves.

General Mentoring / Study Assistance

Fourth year students who are interested in this component will be assigned to work with the first
and second year students over the year, helping them with a range of issues from study strategies
to maintaining well being.

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B. Review of Student Affairs Information
Located in Blackboard is Student Affairs information and materials for first through fourth years.
This information needs to be assessed for relevance and currency. This project also entails
reviewing current literature and updating the information that is there. Students may decide to
focus on a particular year (example: adjustment to medical school, developing good study habits,
how to get involved or do research, etc. that is more relevant for first year or explore and address
issues related to step 1 preparation). This will be discussed and negotiated in terms of time
commitment and student interest.

Updating of the Academic Medicine Catalogue

Of particular note, assessing and updating the Academic Medicine Catalogue. This has
important information and has been well designed. There are several updates needed, along with
including materials for developing the project, preparing and presenting it, and designing a
poster, paying attention to the role that competencies and references have in the presentation of
the poster. Material in this document needs to be integrated in the academic medicine catalogue.

Residency Preparation Guide

Students have gathered information about the various specialties, researched how to prepare for
residency interviews, and surveyed students about their experiences. This needs to be updated
on a regular basis.

Clerkship Guide for Third Year Students

This is a student to student handbook with essential information about rotations from a student
perspective.

C. Well-being Projects
Increasingly, student well being is being addressed on a national level. There are many
programs, opportunities, etc.that focus on how well being needs to be integrated into medical
school, with respect to work life balance but also in terms of curriculum. This project could
entail the development of a well being program, a literature review of what is happening, an
assessment of what LKSOM is doing with recommendation for potential projects.

Students also can develop a well being elective. For example, students have assembled materials
about integrative medicine, talked about the importance of learning to swim, prepared
cookbooks, watched films, read books, taken yoga classes, and wrote about why this pursuit is
important. How to construct the project will be reviewed and negotiated with the faculty mentor.

D. Leadership for Temple OWLS

Desginated as a Peer Wellness Program, fourth year students are needed to help provide
structure to the program, conduct literature reviews in order to provide resources, and participate
(take leadership) in designing an evaluation of the program.

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E. Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine
This includes a range of projects that are overseen by Doug Reifler and Mike Vitez. Students
have written articles, reflections, developed electives and have produced the literary magazine,
The Pulse.

F. Community Service Projects

There are many programs and opportunities for students to work with local organizations to
provide a range of programs. There are a few established projects, but there are opportunities for
developing a project in an area of interest. If you were involved in the first two years with a
particular organization and would like to re-connect, the academic medicine rotation offers a way
to do that.

Examples of projects have included:

a) My ER Academy at Lincoln High: For more than five years, fourth year students have
collaborated with Lincoln High faculty to work with students in the 10th and 11th grades
on a health careers project. This entails mentoring high school students, assessing their
interests in areas of health science and helping them to develop and present a
presentation. This program begins in the fall, around October and concludes in April. It
is very important to have involvement and has been extremely successful.

During the 4th year capstone course the fourth year students, for their community service
project invite the high school students to LKSOM for a day of tours, workshops, and
discussion about life on the health science campus.

b) Bethune Elementary Health Fair This offers a great opportunity for students to have a
leadership role in organizing and implementing the health fair with the first and second
year students. The elementary school students conduct science experiments, starting with
a hypothesis and finishing with results and recommendations.

c) HERO: students have worked with the HERO staff to write grants, develop
programming and offer a range of assistance, based on the needs the organization has.
Involvement with HERO has been going on for almost a decade and med student impact
has been great. Ms. Doris Phillips is in constant need of assistance as she works to
sustain this grassroots organization.

G. Working with the Office of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion:

As OHEDI develops, its need for student input is great. There are various projects in which
students have been involved from helping to develop STEM programs and mentoring
undergraduate students, to conducting research on what other schools are doing in this area. If
you have an idea that you would like to pursue in the area of diversity and inclusion, this is a
great chance to do that.

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H. Skull Yearbook
The Skull Yearbook is an annual publication. Students who take leadership in its production for
the planning and development of student life, faculty and staff, patrons / advertisements can
receive academic credit

I. Developing an Elective
There have been various electives developed over the past several years. Students have an area
of interest, conduct research on it, develop a curriculum, locate speakers, and submit it for
review by the curriculum committee. Some have come to fruition such as the Palliative Care
elective and the TEAC elective.

J. Create Your Own Project

Students can develop a project based on their interests, career goals, etc.