The MSTP program integrates clinical and research training throughout all stages of medical and graduate education, ensuring scholars develop strong clinical skills while advancing their research expertise.
Clinical Experiences during Graduate School
Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)
Every February, all MSTP Scholars in graduate school take the OSCE. The OSCE is a timed multi-station examination that simulates real clinical encounters using standardized patients and actors trained to portray various scripted clinical scenarios. It also assesses skills that cannot be evaluated by written assessment.
The Scholars’ history taking, physical exam, counseling, and communication skills will be evaluated with specific grading rubrics completed by faculty and/or the standardized patients. The OSCE is a well-established method to assess a learner’s clinical skills, including history-taking and communication skills,1 and has been proven to be a reliable form of clinical skills assessment at various levels of learners.2
The exam will be in February, giving MSTP Scholars transitioning back to medical school feedback on their skills with enough time to remedy any weaknesses
Clinical Mentoring During PhD Training:
Dr. Zarrinpar oversees the clinical mentoring program as part of the Transitions Program. He meets with each Scholar to facilitate their pairing with a Clinical Mentor during graduate school. The Clinical Mentor meets with the Scholar for 0 to 4 hours monthly for clinical activities, including performing a history, physical examination, case presentation, and formulating an assessment and plan.
Other optional clinical experiences available to Scholars throughout their MSTP include a longitudinal clinical experience in the Equal Access Clinic and attendance at case presentations and patient rounds with their Clinical Mentors. Involvement in these clinical activities would increase in frequency in the months before the return to third year of medical school.
The timing of the various elements of the Transitions Program, such as the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and the Clinical Re-immersion Program, are shown in Figure 1. In addition, during the third and fourth years of medical school, an essential element of the Transitions Program will be advising the Scholars on choosing a residency program (Residency Planning).
Clinical Re-immersion Program:
Four to six weeks before the third year of medical school clinical rotations, a GuidePoint Meeting between those MD-PhD Scholars planning to transition to third year of medical school and current third and fourth year medical school Scholars will be held to discuss tips and guidance for re-entering medical school. In addition, Scholars will rotate for one week on an inpatient internal medicine service and one week on a surgical service. During these two weeks, Scholars will perform history and physicals, round with the medical and surgical team, present patients, write progress notes, and carry out all the activities of a third year medical student. The rotations will be with faculty members who excel at giving effective feedback. In addition, the Scholars can elect to take the Clinical Re-entry Course offered by the medical school.
Research Experience During Medical School:
As part of our principle to integrate clinical and research training throughout all years, there will be opportunities to be involved with research during medical school (Figure 2).
Team Clinical Research Project:
Since 1993, the MD-PhD Team Clinical Research Project, currently directed by Coy Heldermon, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Division of Hematology & Oncology) and an experienced clinical investigator, has offered a longitudinal, cohort-based clinical research experience. During the MSTP Orientation, skills, such as team science, are fostered that will help the cohort plan and execute their clinical research project. Ethical and regulatory considerations, such as HIPAA compliance, IRB, the Declaration of Helsinki, the Belmont Report, the US Common Rule, etc., are also introduced.
Each cohort’s Team Clinical Research Project will be carried out over five to six years with the MSTP Scholars designing a study, developing a budget (first year), submitting a proposal for internal research funds, and obtaining IRB approval (second year).
The application for funds to support the study will be submitted to the CTSI Office of Clinical Trials. After obtaining IRB approval and funding, subjects will be enrolled, data will be collected and analyzed, and the results will be prepared for publication (graduate school). The Scholars have access to a Biostatistician. Table 1 displays the research topics of the more recent Team Clinical Research Projects executed at UF. The results of the projects have typically been published in impactful journals (Vaccines3; JCI Insight4).
- 1. Bergus, G.R., Woodhead, J.C., and Kreiter, C.D. (2009). Trained lay observers can reliably assess medical students’ communication skills. Med Educ 43, 688–694. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2009.03396.x.
- 2. Sloan, D.A., Donnelly, M.B., Schwartz, R.W., and Strodel, W.E. (1995). The Objective Structured Clinical Examination. The new gold standard for evaluating postgraduate clinical performance. Ann Surg 222, 735–742. https://doi.org/10.1097/00000658-199512000-00007.
- 3. Wildes, T.J., Grippin, A., Fasanya, H., Dyson, K.A., and Brantly, M. (2019). Effect of atorvastatin on humoral immune response to 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination in healthy volunteers: The StatVax randomized clinical trial. Vaccine 37, 1313–1324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.01.023.
- 4. Sebastian, M., Hsiao, C.J., Futch, H.S., Eisinger, R.S., Dumeny, L., Patel, S., Gobena, M., Katikaneni, D.S., Cohen, J., Carpenter, A.-M., et al. (2020). Obesity and STING1 genotype associate with 23-valent pneumococcal vaccination efficacy. JCI Insight 5, 136141. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.136141.