Last in this series, but foremost and with emphasis intended, is EDUCATION.

 

Education at the medical school and graduate levels is the core mission of the MCG School of Medicine. It is the principal reason that we assemble learned professors who all have the role, to varying degrees, of being educators. It is the basis for allopathic medical school accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. By combining educators and matriculating students within a structured curriculum for learning, we graduate approximately 180 new doctors of medicine every year (190 starting with this year’s freshman class). By introducing new graduates into the clinical practice environment of our faculty, and with consideration of the new Accreditation Council core competencies, we also render young physicians eligible for national board certification in 40 specialized medical disciplines.

Accomplishing this state-mandated responsibility does not occur by accident. Our core education mission is supported by an administrative infrastructure and by dedicated professional educators in the school’s Offices of Academic Affairs and Graduate Medical Education. We at MCG are fortunate to have the appropriate infrastructure and the dedicated people, many of whom are nationally recognized for excellence and leadership in their fields, to assure the continuing quality and full accreditation of our educational programs.

The Association of American Medical Colleges’ motto is “Learn, Serve, Lead.” The AAMC is the main advocacy group and think tank for 125 U.S. medical schools, including the MCG School of Medicine. Why would the AAMC include the word “learn” as a key precept? In part, it refers to the desire of the AAMC to be a learning organization, interactive with its members and its external environment. We at MCG School of Medicine share that value, and participate in that process.

But “learning” is also the receptive part of the educational process. It is as important for our school and its residency program to attract and accept good learners as it is to assemble the best faculty educators. It is as important for our school to stress the importance of continuous learning as a skill, as it is to prepare its students and residents to be good test-takers. The value of an education cannot be judged on the basis of scores on multiple choice examinations alone. The body of educational information we must convey extends beyond “just the facts,” into the realm of knowledge and personal values at the core of medical practice. This too is an important aspect of the educational process.

So to conclude this series of messages, I will leave you with our new motto… to ponder… to apply to your daily service… to challenge if necessary: at MCG School of Medicine, we CHANGE, INNOVATE and EDUCATE.

Our campus is your state. Our classroom is your community. Our goal is your health.
 

Sincerely,
D. Douglas Miller, M.D., C.M.
Dean, MCG School of Medicine