The University of Nebraska Medical Centers educational vision for the
21st century foresees interactive learning and small-group discussion;
state-of-the-art classrooms in which informational technology plays a key
role; and intimate settings in which students learn clinical skills that
will prepare them for their professional work.
To bring that vision into focus, UNMC is constructing the Center for
Health Science Education Building. No state tax dollars will be used for
construction of the building. The University of Nebraska Board of Regents
approved a program statement for the new building at its meeting on Saturday,
Dec. 13.
UNMC is a national leader in many areas, and its important that we
remain a leader in educational training to best serve the needs of Nebraskans,
said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. This project is essential
if we are to be a national educational leader in the 21st Century. Nebraskans
deserve top-notch care from their care providers, and this project will
go miles toward assuring them that UNMC will be on the cutting edge in
medical education in the years to come.
Rubens Pamies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNMC, said
the current buildings at UNMC are not conducive to the educational experience
that will be necessary to train physicians in the next century. Dr. Pamies
said the new building will allow students to learn in settings that have
been deemed most effective for health-care training. Classrooms would provide
ample opportunity for professors and small groups of students to interact.
Gone are the days, Dr. Pamies said, of I teach; you learn.
The new building will allow our educational vision to become reality,
Dr. Pamies said. We need to look at the teaching environment as an educational
laboratory. Small-group discussion and interaction has been shown to provide
the best results, in terms of learning.
The 131,296-square-foot Center for Health Science Education will be
located at the northeastern corner of 42nd Street and Emile Streets. It
would be home to the UNMC College of Medicine, Dr. Pamies said.
We are tremendously excited for the opportunity to take our students
educational experiences to an even higher level, said John Gollan, M.D.,
Ph.D., who began as dean of the UNMC College of Medicine on Monday, Dec.
15. This universitys vision for excellence extends to education, and
this building would allow us to educate and train the next generations
of physicians, so that they can diagnose and treat Nebraskans at an exceptionally
high level.
Dr. Gollan credited the vision of Dr. Maurer and other campus leaders.
In all, building the Center for Health Science Education will cost $52.7
million. This amount includes: construction of the new center; the demolition
of properties currently on the site; the relocation of departments and
units currently there; construction of a greenway along Emile Street from
42nd Street to 40th Street; the remodeling of 12,500 square feet of space
in Wittson Hall, the current home of the College of Medicine; and the construction
of a sky bridge across 42nd Street, from the new building to Wittson and
Bennett Halls.
Don Leuenberger, UNMC vice chancellor for business and finance, said
the Center for Health Science Education will replace obsolete and insufficient
facilities with state-of-the-art classrooms and class laboratories, including
a clinical skills learning and assessment facility and small-group instruction
rooms.
In essence, the new building would create a heart for UNMC education
activities and serve as a front door for the campus, Leuenberger said.
It will allow our students and faculty to interact in a building with
a multitude of functions.
Leuenberger said many other Midwestern universities, such as the University
of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin, have taken similar approaches.
The UNMC College of Medicine is the major training environment for
physicians who practice in Nebraska, with about 120 physicians graduating
from UNMC each year. In addition, 13 UNMC clinical departments provide
postgraduate graining for about 400 residents.
In addition to ultimately providing better care to patients, medical
students would also benefit from the new buildings 12 rooms designed to
simulate clinical settings. Beginning in 2005, graduating medical students
will need to take a Clinical Skills Assessment Exam (CSAE), in addition
to the traditional written exam, to become board-certified.
Currently, our students learn clinical skills in four rooms that are
small and outdated, Dr. Pamies said. These new spaces will provide a
much more realistic view of what the students will encounter during their
board examinations and ultimately, when they enter private practice.
Dr. Pamies said the possibility of a new learning environment excites
him.
Great clinical care is taking place at UNMC clinics and at our partner,
The Nebraska Medical Center. Our outreach won a national award from the
Association of American Medical Colleges. Our research growth is outstanding,
and the Durham Research Center will further fuel that. Now, we need to
become even better in the educational arena. This new building will allow
us to do that.