The four years of medical school are loaded with requirements, and ensuring that those lessons stick can be a challenge for medical educators. Gary Beck, Ph.D., director of the Office of Medical Education at University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha says medical schools must get creative if they want to improve education in areas such as LGBTQ health.
“You could have students in school for eight years, and they still won’t have learned everything,” he says.
Beck, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics at UNMC, led a workshop as part of the University of Vermont College of Medicine’s Teaching Academy’s Seminar Series, titled “Infusing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Topics into a Packed Medical School Curriculum” on September 25, 2015. His presentation was designed to enhance clinical and basic science curriculum at the College.
The College wants its faculty well-versed on LGBTQ health issues and able to cover that in course work, says Kathryn Huggett, Ph.D., the Teaching Academy’s inaugural director. “At the same time, we are very conscious of not overburdening our students, not overscheduling them,” she continues, noting that students also are encouraged to take time outside the classroom for experiential learning. “At the end of the day, there are only so many hours.”
A longtime expert in medical education, Beck is executive director of the Alliance for Clinical Education, which fosters collaboration across specialties to enhance clinical medical instruction. He also oversees the Clerkship Administrator Certificate Program for the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Central Group on Educational Affairs. During his UVM visit, Beck also conducted a certificate-related training for clerkship and course coordinators in the College’s Office of Medical Student Education to improve their LGBT health knowledge and skills.
William Jeffries, Ph.D., senior associate dean for medical education, invited Beck to UVM because of his background in both career development for curriculum coordinators and incorporation of LGBTQ content in medical training.
"Having known him for many years, I knew he would provide our faculty and staff with a wealth of ideas to advance our efforts in both arenas," Jeffries says.
Beck’s approach aligns well with the Teaching Academy’s goal “to build community around great teaching and evidence-based teaching,” Huggett says. The Teaching Academy emphasizes collaboration among medical faculty and the chance to learn from the experiences of peers working at places where they might otherwise not intersect, she adds. “We’re doing this to benefit our learners and especially their patients.”
At UNMC, Beck launched an initial panel discussion on LGBTQ health disparities within the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course and now is working to incorporate LGBTQ health issues throughout the curriculum. He echoes the sentiments of a student who participated in his last panel discussion: “I hope we do not have to have this conversation in five years, because it’ll just be a normal part of what we learn.”