In May 2014, Western Michigan University (WMU) will inaugurate the first building for the new WMU School of Medicine (WMed). This facility will be the home to a pioneering class of students, faculty and staff and will remain relevant to those who will follow in their footsteps. The design and execution of the facility has been guided by the medical school’s vision to be distinguished as learner centered, discovery driven, globally engaged, and patient and family focused. The overall goal of the school of medicine is to educate physicians and others in health and human services that have the knowledge, skill and attitudes necessary for the 21st century to participate fully in a team-­‐based approach to patient care. WMed is committed to train physicians across the continuum from medical school through residency and into practice to be outstanding clinicians, educators, researchers, leaders and advocates. The curriculum will incorporate innovative approaches to contemporary instructional strategies including team-­‐based, case-­‐based, problem-­‐based and simulation-­‐based learning as well as interactive lectures, and early clinical and research experiences, all, in a team oriented environment. Health care in America has changed drastically over the last decade – but the way doctors are trained has been the same for over 100 years. Top universities are now redefining the preparation of physicians by adopting integrated curricula, fuelled by dissatisfaction with the way basic sciences have been taught in silos with no clinical application and by growing recognition that the traditional instructional modes no longer meet current demands for interdisciplinary inquiry and practice in medicine. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) are calling upon new medical schools to try and do some different things, not just follow existing traditional pathways and models. Snapshots of how new schools are now approaching medical education reveal several similar themes, including early clinical experiences and case-­‐based learning and longitudinal, integrated curricular structure. There is also a heavy emphasis on inter-­‐professional learning (IPE), with medical students working in teams with other health professions students, and organ-­‐system, or case-­‐based, approaches to teaching basic science. IPE is a key component of the medical school curriculum as a tool to accomplish linkages between the education system and the health care delivery system. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) this tool was developed to achieve three aims, better patient care, better health outcomes, and more efficient and affordable educational and healthcare systems. WMed has established extensive partnerships with other area learning institutions that offer disciplines such as nursing, occupational therapy, social work, blindness and low vision studies, speech pathology, audiology, physician assistants, interdisciplinary health studies, holistic health, pharmacy, respiratory therapy and Emergency Medical Services(EMS). Key features of the WMed Curriculum. WMed has planned an integrated approach to the curriculum. Cognitive theories of learning suggest that an integrated approach to education may have important benefits for learning and retention because it facilitates contextual and applied learning, and can promote development of the well-­‐
organized knowledge structures that underlie effective clinical reasoning. The first two years of medical school covers a 78-­‐week learning experience that builds the foundational knowledge of basic sciences that is integrated with the clinical sciences and applied to the clinical environment. Next, nine organ-­‐system courses will include normal structure and function as the basis for understanding the abnormal structure and function of each specific organ system. Principles of diagnosis, treatment and prevention will be taught. The organ-­‐system courses will include relevant and applicable aspects of preventive medicine, acute and chronic disease, continuing, rehabilitative and end of life care. Threaded horizontally throughout the curriculum are key disciplines that tie basic sciences and clinical disciplines together, including preventive medicine, nutrition, gender-­‐ and age-­‐related issues and epidemiology. Clinical encounters are an essential part of the continuum of learning that begins in the fifth week of the first year and build progressively throughout the four year medical school experience. This is a key component of the curriculum design. As students progressively build their medical knowledge and understanding of disease, experience in the clinical setting enables them to appreciate illness and how patients and their families are affected by it. The Profession of Medicine is a longitudinal course horizontally spread throughout four years of medical school that integrates the art and science of medicine to ensure a well-­‐rounded, compassionate physician that meets the needs of patients, families and society. Simulation Laboratories and Advanced Technologies In the new medical school building on the W.E. Upjohn Campus, the entire lower level will be the new state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art Simulation Center with eight simulation rooms, procedure labs, task trainer rooms, 12 standardized patient exam rooms, and six classrooms. Simulation is a bridge between the classroom and clinical arena. The new medical school undergraduate curriculum will include well over one hundred hours of simulation-­‐based learning (SBL), a quantum leap from what most medical schools are delivering currently. SBL in the medical school curriculum is an educational method in which a realistic representation of an anatomic structure, a patient, a situation, a setting or a system is used to provide long-­‐term learning from a combination of short-­‐term experiences and directed feedback. The purpose of simulation is to help learners develop, master, and maintain cognitive, technical/procedural, teamwork and communication skills. Simulations are customizable learning experiences conducted in a controlled and patient-­‐safe environment that serve as a bridge between classroom learning and real-­‐life clinical experience. Simulations can be used to assess competency. Simulation can also serve as a research tool to enhance understanding of human behavior in settings in which professionals operate.