5 Ways Medical Schools Aim to Teach the Doctors of Tomorrow

Early immersion in patient-centered care, in which doctors consider life circumstances and personal preferences along with symptoms and vital signs, is just one of the trends changing the face of medical education these days.

Calls for reform have been issued loud and clear given the monumental shifts taking place in medicine, by groups from the Institute of Medicine to the Carnegie Foundation.

And medical schools are responding with innovations at a rapid pace, as well as aiming to admit a more diverse set of students armed with both people skills and smarts.

"The next generation is going to transform the practice of medicine. They need the tools and skills to do it right," says Sherine Gabriel, dean of the Mayo Medical School at the Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic.

Here are some of the most significant emerging trends.

Learn about [three top reasons medical school applications are rejected.]

1. Face time from the start: Traditionally, the first two years of med school have been spent in the classroom studying basic medical science. But "people learn much better if they learn a body of knowledge in the context in which it's going to be used," says Bonnie Miller, senior associate dean for health sciences education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

So first-year Vanderbilt students are "part of the care team," she says, conducting interviews with patients in clinics and helping them understand any new drug prescriptions. Second-year students engage in the transition from hospital to home, helping with discharge arrangements and in some cases following up with house calls.

Through such programs, trainees see how putting the focus on the patient prevents costly readmissions and leads to better health outcomes.

2. Training in multidisciplinary teams: Putting that early training into real-world settings also gives doctors-to-be experience working with other health professionals, a taste of the high-powered team medicine they are expected to practice.

"In every other industry -- business, aviation, whatever -- in order to be more efficient and get good outcomes, you need to take a team approach," says Stephen Klasko, president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System in Philadelphia. "The only way for that to happen in medicine is to start from the beginning, in school."

Medical students at Jefferson, with students of nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy and other health professions, are assigned to a "health mentor," a patient in the community. The team meets with the person periodically to take histories and create wellness plans. They aren't delivering care per se, but might focus on fixing a safety hazard in a mentor's home or check for drug interactions, all while beginning to understand what the other experts bring to the table.

At other schools, groups from different disciplines use training exercises to learn how to interact effectively. New York University, for example, pairs medical and nursing students to provide care for "virtual" patients with conditions ranging from hip fractures to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, using electronic health records and email to communicate.

Get a [peek into the evolution of medical school education.]

3. Developing a sense of social mission: More medical colleges are creating opportunities to help their communities, particularly underserved populations. The strategy: to let students see the health consequences of social and economic inequality, an urgent concern among public health experts.

The University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth dispatches students with doctors, nurses and social workers to disadvantaged neighborhoods in a new mobile pediatric unit to administer screenings and vaccines.

In tiny Eastland, Texas, meanwhile, fourth-year UNT student William Griffin, 28, is completing a rotation in a Rural Osteopathic Medical Education program that has also included stints in several other towns since his first year. "I'm in a unique position to see the whole spectrum of health care," says Griffin, who has helped deliver babies and scrubbed in for surgeries.

4. Customizable curriculums: No one starts med school with the same knowledge and experience or learns at the same rate, and those variations will only widen as admissions officers look beyond scores and grades. So a growing number of schools are turning to "competency-based" curriculums that allow students to progress after mastering certain skills or reaching defined milestones.

The idea is to shift from producing doctors who have memorized a lot of information to those who are excellent at what they do and are skilled critical thinkers. At Indiana University School of Medicine, meeting a competency like "professionalism" -- which encompasses such concepts as respect for patients, families and other professionals and commitment to serving others -- entails, for example, treating donor cadavers with dignity and writing papers on what it means to be a good doctor. Preceptors use checklists of professional behavior to do evaluations.

See [how commitment is a key theme for medical school applicants.]

5. A focus on systems of care: The curriculum used to hinge on two things: basic science, or the design and function of the human body, and clinical care, which involves diagnosing and treating bodily ills. Lately schools have focused on a third category of essential intel: system science -- how to deliver safe and effective care within a complex system, including everything from reducing errors to understanding costs and how care is financed.

"The health care model is completely changing from fee-for-service, based on volume, to pay-for-performance, which is based on value," says Michael Williams, a physician and the president of UNT Health Science Center. "We haven't been giving students the right skill set to make that adjustment."

To practice being wise stewards of health resources, students on rotations at Mayo use a tool that records the cost of each pill, test and procedure ordered. Later, they reflect back on clinical decisions.

The medical school of tomorrow clearly is a work in progress. But the revolution is underway -- and gaining momentum.

This story is excerpted from the U.S. News "Best Graduate Schools 2016" guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.