Passing the Baton: The Role of Targeted Transition Programs in Medical Education at an Urban Medical School

A Brief History of the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences (GW SMHS)

Founded in 1824 as a medical department within Columbian College (now known as The George Washington University), the George Washington (GW) Medical School was the eleventh medical school founded in the US and the first in the nation’s capital. GW has long offered curricular innovations designed with the goal of graduating “Physician Citizens” committed to local, national, and global public service through excellent patient care, scholarly inquiry, leadership, and advocacy for change and innovation.

GW has developed a comprehensive curriculum with aspects of the curriculum intentionally designed with the aim to support select student cohorts through known periods of academic and professional identity transition in medical education. The authors will discuss two GW programs which highlight the importance of curricular innovations to support UME students through transitions. As evidenced from student feedback, these programs have been associated with success in mitigating these transitions.

The Pre-Matriculation Program (PMP) is an academic four-week summer pre-enrollment program which provides pre-clinical content exposure to prepare select incoming medical students for the academically rigorous learning environment of the GW medical school. After the second year, the baton is passed to the Foundations of Clinical Practice course—a course which prepares students to make the move from the preclinical to the clinical years. Finally, the baton is passed to the Transition to Residency course, which prepares fourth-year students for internship and residency. The authors will discuss the first two courses, highlighting their more innovative aspects. All in all, these courses are specially designed to bring learners to the next step of their learning and professional identity development.