2016 Fact Book

62 To sustain its place at the forefront of osteopathic medical education, the college consistently reviews and updates its curriculum by implementing progressive programs and interactive student-learning tools. The use of high-fidelity manikin simulators and standardized patients allows students to further hone their arsenal of clinical skills. Various modes of education and of cutting- edge technology, such as Second Life virtual software, have offered our students ample hands-on learning opportunities. Students receive clinical training in a vast and comprehensive network of affiliated public and private hospitals, medical practices, ambulatory centers, and public health units, as well as at the NSU health care centers. A notable aspect of the clinical training program is a required three-month rotation in medically underserved practice settings. For two months, students rotate in rural and urban clinics throughout the state of Florida, assisting in providing health care to medically underserved and indigent patient populations and learning to treat ethnic groups whose lifestyles, practices, and cultural attitudes toward health care differ from those in more traditional training sites. This enriching educational experience is one that cannot be taught in the classroom. The third month can be at a site within or outside the United States selected by the student and approved by the college. Physicians do not work in a vacuum; they are part of a health care team. The college uses the resources of the university’s multidisciplinary health care centers to provide a comprehensive learning experience. While on campus, medical students share faculty members, classes, and campus facilities with other Health Professions Division students and participate along with other disciplines in the comanagement of a diverse patient base as part of their clinical training. The college exposes students to all aspects of managed care and integrated health care systems to provide them with the knowledge and skills they will need to function in the constantly changing health care environment. The college keeps pace with the changing health care system through partnerships with community, health, and educational organizations to better prepare students and residents for their future professional roles. It offers more than 100 internship, residency, and fellowship programs, which provide nearly 1,400 training positions through its Consortium of Excellence in Medical Education. Practice areas in training programs include a wide variety of specialties and sub-specialties. The Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) Program is an accredited graduate-level degree program designed to prepare students to define, critically assess, and resolve public health problems. The program, offered on-site or online, provides training in the theories, concepts, and principles of public health and their application. To meet the rapidly changing needs of health service professionals, including preventive medicine specialists, the curriculum is structured to accommodate diverse backgrounds and individual career goals. The M.P.H. program covers a minimum of 42 credits of study, consisting of 27 credits of required core courses, including a public health field experience (6 credits), and a minimum of 15 credits of public health elective courses. Coursework may be taken on a full-time or part-time basis. An on-site orientation is required of all students. M.P.H. students are required to complete their course of study within five years of matriculation. The program also offers two graduate certificate courses (18 credits each) in health education or public health. The College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics (M.S.B.I.) degree has grown extensively since its inception in 2006 and is now recognized as a leading program in both national and international arenas. The 43-credit program is designed to train future leaders in the development, dissemination, and evaluation of information technology as it relates to the health care environment, such as hospitals and health systems, health information technology system vendors, e health companies, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and academic institutions. This is done through a combination of required core courses (31 credits) and elective courses (12 credits) to yield a diverse and fundamental program of study. With its focus on clinical informatics, the program’s curriculum emphasizes the areas of computer science and its clinical applications in medical informatics, management, and program evaluations in health information technology. This innovative program uses both on-campus and online formats to enable working