FORT WORTH – Students who started medical school during the COVID-19 pandemic received their hoods, signifying their successful completion of their M.D. program.
The Burnett School of Medicine at TCU’s second graduating class had the doctoral hood placed over their heads by department chairs from the medical school.
“The Hooding process symbolizes the culmination of our medical students’ training and represents their transition from student to becoming physician and colleague,” said Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., Founding Dean of Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. “We will follow their progress with pride and interest. They will embrace their futures as empathic scholars that are selfless in their care for others.”
Family and friends of the graduates filled TCU’s Van Cliburn Concert Hall on Friday, May 10.
TCU President Daniel J. Pullin, gave the charge to the graduates to believe in themselves and know that their contributions can make a difference.
“As you embark on your journey with residencies and future roles as attending physicians continue to innovate,” President Pullin said. “Advances in medicine are made by those who dream big with no boundaries and limits. Through your Scholarly Pursuit and Thesis (SPT) projects you’ve learned to answer to complex questions that aren’t always clear at the beginning. We have great confidence in you to make the world a better place and continue to improve how we take care of patients.”
The keynote speaker for the event was TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr., who spoke about the joy of watching the graduates and faculty mentors on stage together in celebration of scholarly achievement and an academic tradition.
“The relationship between teacher and student symbolizes a unique connection that includes mentorship, intellectual growth and personal support,” Chancellor Boschini said. “As any student or professor will tell you – this relationship is mutually beneficial and enriches both parties’ lives. These connections happen across our campus every day and are what makes TCU unique.”
Antonio Igbokidi, M.D., addressed the crowd as one of eight students from his class inducted into the Burnett School of Medicine’s chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). The GHHS is a community of medical students, physicians, and other leaders who have been recognized for their compassionate care, which is essential for the health of patients and clinicians. The organization has more than 180 chapters in medical schools and residency programs and more than 45,000 members.
Igbokidi was selected by his classmates to speak at the Hooding Ceremony for being a true representation of an Empathetic Scholar®.
“Class of 2024, I’m inspired not just from the times when you delivered your first baby, aced exams, connected with the Fort Worth community, or your ability to hold your patient’s hand during their last moments of life and show them the upmost compassion,” Dr. Igbokidi said. “I am inspired by when others told you that you couldn’t that you did. I’m incredibly proud of who you all are. What you have overcome and no matter what people have said continue to reach for the impossible.”
The Hooding Ceremony is a traditional part of the yearly commencement celebrations. It dates to European universities in the 11th or 12th Century to differentiate students as they completed their academic careers. Graduates from the Burnett School of Medicine wore purple gowns with black velvet. The regalia also includes a Doctoral Tam, which is traditionally a soft tam.
The Doctoral Hood, worn around the neck and draping down the back, features the colors of the graduate’s university on the inside and the color of the academic discipline on the outside. For graduates of the Burnett School of Medicine, Kelly green (representing medicine) adorns the hood and the inside color was purple, representing TCU.
Throughout Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University will highlight some of its students, faculty and staff who will share the importance of celebrating the month and the importance of representation.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and is a time to reflect and celebrate the important role that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have played in our shared history.
Throughout the month, we will be sharing stories and voices from our medical school and important historical figures throughout medicine.
Marisa Fat, MS1, Class of 2027, shares the importance of representation in medicine and for the community:
Ashley Kenney, MS1, Class of 2027, shares the importance of celebrating the month and representation:
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Great! But what does that mean, really?
I’m a words guy. Yes, I talk and write too much, but that’s not my point. I mean that words matter. I had a teacher who used to say, “the clarity with which we define something determines its usefulness.” I couldn’t agree more. So, what do we mean when we say “mental health”?
Let’s start with health.
While I could dissect the bad and useless definitions of health, let’s jump to my favorite. According to the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, “Health is a resource for daily life, not the objective for living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing personal and social resources as well as physical capacities.”
Now, let’s add mental to that. Mental being that which is experienced in the mind, psychologically, and emotionally.
Mental health is a resource for daily life, not the objective for living. Mental health is a positive concept emphasizing personal and social resources as well as physical capacities.
Practically, this means
mental health is something to be cared for, built, and used as a resource
specifically, as a resource for your particular day-to-day life demands
these are inner and outer resources – grow yourself in ways, and a network of relationships, that make better your life and others’
it’s positive, so emphasize your strengths to build more strengths
your physical capacities – your vitality, physical health, energy, stamina, power, flexibility, and strength – are vital resources that when developed physically will manifest in the mind and in your life, too. Your mind and body are one.
Finally, the phrase and concept of “mental health”, especially mental illness, is often stigmatized; it’s been expressed as something worthy of disgrace and disapproval. Being understanding and helping people in a state of illness is not disgraceful, it’s compassionate, healthy, humane, and caring. More so, supporting people to know, accept, and care about and for themselves, realizing and relying on both the power of our inner and outer resources, strengths, and capacities, along with the ability to grow and develop them, and using that all in service of better living, is worthy of high praise, support, advocacy.
This month, support each other wherever you are and however you are, focus on what you have, what you can grow, and where you can go, and spread the positive word, experience, and meaning of mental health.
NEW ORLEANS – The buzz of hair clippers and the foot traffic of men, young and old, going in and out of Dennis Barbershop in New Orleans have been background noise to loud, and colorful, conversations for more than 60 years.
“You look good, you feel good. You feel good, you do good. That’s what we’re about,” says Barber Stan Norwood to about 20 Black men and their sons sitting in the shop as he cuts a patron’s hair.
Outside, a food truck is parked across the street with customers ordering plates to go. You can smell the creole seasonings and fried seafood in the air. Children are playfully walking home from school. This corridor of Freret Street in the historic Uptown New Orleans neighborhood is buzzing with vibrant colored and newly renovated businesses.
However, the modern construction surrounding the barbershop makes it look out of place. Its classic New Orleans shotgun-style building, red-white-and-blue barber’s pole and chipping white paint shows that the old building has weathered many storms. But the building adds character and charm to the street front. It’s sunny, breezy, and not a cloud in the sky. By New Orleans standards, the weather is perfect.
From the sidewalk you can hear Norwood’s baritone voice seeping through the creaky wooden walls of the barbershop. Inside, the mood is darker, serious, and much more intense.
His motivational speaking is part of a larger conversation about mental health for men of color. The focused look on the men’s faces as he speaks lets you know they are getting much more than a haircut on this Wednesday afternoon in late March.
“We just don’t go to a therapist we go to the barbershop, and this is a starting point,” Norwood said.
Oluwatomi Akingbola, a New Orleans native, is getting a haircut next to Norwood. The conversation among the guys weaved through such as self-confidence, mental health stigma, education, and Black men supporting other Black men. However, he remained quiet.
As his barber brushed the excess hair off him and removed the barber’s cape from around his neck, he stood up and interjected.
“For me, the thing I see in my community here in New Orleans as well as in Philly is we have a problem with gun violence,” Akingbola said. “What are we doing about it? What’s the root and the cause of it? Why are we killing each other in the streets? That’s something I want us to talk about in the barbershop too.”
There’s a slight pause of silence. Norwood scans the room and gestures to a wall in the corner with pictures of his clients, cluttered and pinned together. Many are photos of clients on obituary programs from funeral services.
“I’ve lost 33 clients over the course of my tenure of cutting hair,” Norwood said.
He’s been cutting hair at the barbershop since 2007. We can’t hide, he added.
“We’ve gotten to a point where we’re numb to it. It’s not like we should be like, ‘Damn they killed him too,’ ” Norwood said. “That’s now where I am.”
Medical Student On A Mission
The authenticity and raw emotions of this conversation is one of many similar conversations Antonio Igbokidi, MS-4 at Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, has been researching for four years.
Igbokidi, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, who’s family is originally from Nigeria, arrived in Fort Worth at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU during the COVID-19 Pandemic in July 2020.
Even with social-distancing measures in place, he wanted to look good and feel good for his first class of medical school.
“I wanted a haircut to look good through Zoom during the COVID times,” Igbokidi said with a smile.
He ventured out, with a mask, to find a barber. That action became the catalyst for his medical school research project, he would call the Barbershop Talk Therapy Project (BTTP).
Lake COMO House of Fades Barbershop in Fort Worth is where he heard frustration and pain being shared by men.
“They were complaining about feeling isolated, shame, guilt and all these different things with no outlet,” Igbokidi said.
After witnessing these conversations several times, Igbokidi thought the required Scholarly Pursuit & Thesis (SPT) research project at the medical school would be a great way to find a solution.
“The SPT program is really important to give the students a basic understanding of research and to get them involved with doing the research themselves,” said SPT Director Michael Bernas, M.S.
Igbokidi’s study asked if implementing therapy-led focus groups in barbershops, as community-driven safe spaces, could effectively contribute to improving mental health outcomes for minority males, particularly in underserved communities such as Fort Worth.
Another study published by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) says that one in three men with daily feelings of anxiety or depression took medication for those feelings, and a little more than one-quarter talked to a mental health professional. Among men with daily feelings of anxiety or depression, 43% of non-Hispanic white men were more likely to have used either of these mental health treatments in comparison to 36% of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic men.
Igbokidi had a personal interest in this project and psychiatry, which is a great starting point for research, Bernas said.
“That’s all part of research where you start from the very beginning with your question then work your way through to the analysis,” Bernas added.
For Igbokidi, the barbershop has an emotional connection. His father, who passed away, was normally reserved and quiet, but would engage in conversation at the barbershop.
“When I think about my childhood and my dad, he spoke a lot more at the barbershop than he did at home,” Igbokidi said.
His research project began with a virtual panel he put together with Fort Worth ISD Family Action Center and Burnett School of Medicine faculty physicians. He invited men of color from Fort Worth to join him via Zoom for a discussion about mental health. Once pandemic restrictions eased in 2021, Igbokidi found an ally who gave him a space to hold in-person discussions.
Igbokidi’s barber, Landter Goodrich, owner of Lake Como House of Fades Barbershop, was skeptical at first but understood Igbokidi’s heart and mind were in the right place.
“He said I’m doing this to bring men together and have a safe space to talk about things that we’re not normally able to talk about,” Goodrich said.
Igbokdi developed a 26-question electronic survey that gauged a participant’s knowledge and accessibility to mental health resources in Fort Worth. Through BTTP, Igbokidi provided free haircuts to barbershop patrons during a 2-to-4-hour open discussion with a mental health professional. In the beginning, only a handful of people showed up, but he still held the discussion with whoever came.
“He’s putting himself out there,” Goodrich said. “I decided to use my connections in the community to encourage more people to come out.”
Igbokidi also found collaborators to help him expand services at the events. The Black Owned Businesses (BOB) of DFW connected him with entrepreneurs who helped spread the word. The Black Heart Association collaborated with him to offer free health screenings. Medical students from the Burnett School of Medicine’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), which is the oldest black medical student organization in the United States, volunteered to help with health screenings.
A year later Igbokidi, dozens of men, young and old, showed up to events in Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth’s Historic Stop 6 and COMO communities. The men shared emotional stories about relationships, job loss, police brutality, and issues with the legal system. He even brought free haircuts and mental health discussions to Fort Worth’s unhoused population.
“It started with true collaboration with the community, and I think that’s why it’s worked out so well,” Igbokidi said.
He applied for grant-funding and received $10,000 from National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and $4,000 from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to take the initiative nationwide while collecting data along the way. The funding covers the cost of the barbers’ services so patrons can get free haircuts during the mental health discussions.
He’s held barbershop events in Washington, D.C.; Hartford, Connecticut; and New Orleans so far. Going through the process gives students an appreciation for research, Bernas said.
“He started from zero,” Bernas said. “When you’re going out into the community and you’re having other people join you in your research and getting funding it’s wonderful.”
Dennis Sigur, who’s owned Dennis Barbershop in New Orleans for 46 years, opened his doors to Igbokidi for the event. He also had Rahn Kennedy Bailey, M.D., Chairman Department of Psychiatry at LSU School of Medicine, serve as the mental health professional to guide the discussion.
Casually dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, like he’s done in every BTTP discussion, Igbokidi stood in the center of the barbershop and introduced himself. He shared background about his research and opened the floor to the men to share whatever they might be feeling.
“This is a very good way to break the cycle and issue of stigma,” Dr. Bailey said. “If you have been exposed to trauma for example early in life and you don’t get a chance to address it professionally it may last the entirety of your life.”
“Mental health goes into that conversation [on gun violence]. I work at a Level One Trauma Center and we see gun violence almost every day,” Akingbola said. “Unfortunately, what you see is that it affects young Black men disproportionately. I kind of wanted to put that into the conversation as well if we’re going to keep it real.”
Keeping it real and being a listening ear for clients is important to Norwood.
“Although sometimes it’s a lot, I have to be that ear for them,” Norwood said. “If they have the sense of comfort to come in here and talk to us, we have to be that.”
‘We need more.’
Igbokidi will begin his Psychiatry residency at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience this summer.
He presented his research project at the American Psychiatric Association’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The 26-question survey he created was given to barbershop patrons voluntarily regardless of if they received a free haircut or not. He had more than 200 participants and about 100 surveys were completed.
Fifty-nine percent of people who took the survey believed their barber is like a therapist and talk to their barbers about sensitive topics they do not talk to anyone else about. Ninety-three percent of those surveyed felt more optimistic and less stressed after leaving the barbershop. Fifty-three percent said after attending a barbershop event, they probably or definitely would consider seeking a mental health provider. Fifty-seven percent felt more reassured about accessing mental health resources at the conclusion of the project.
Over the course of the research project, Igbokidi provided 500 free health screenings and 250 free haircuts. He plans to continue this initiative beyond medical school. This could be an opportunity for stakeholders and community leaders to make a difference, he said.
“What I keep hearing is we need more, we need more,” Igobokidi said. “Maybe this could be a platform and opportunity for us to spread to different parts of the country.”
Giving men of color across the country a space to freely discuss issues close to their hearts can make an impact. Igbokidi has done it for several years, so it shows sustainability, Dr. Bailey said.
“It’s heartwarming and his heart’s in the right place,” Dr. Bailey said. “It also points out that he is a young doctor going into psychiatry that understands what we do has as much impact on our communities as other areas of health care.”
For his efforts, Singh was awarded the 2024 Excellence in Public Health Award from the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service Physician Professional Advisory Committee. The awards program recognizes medical students who have done exceptional work in their local community promoting public health and disease prevention.
“I’m extremely honored and really humbled to be selected for this award,” Singh said. “Throughout my medical school journey, I’ve really been involved with the community.”
Dr. Ikwo Oboho, M.D., ScM, Director of Infection prevention and control program at U.S. Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System, made the announcement via Zoom.
“Anand is very deserving of this award,” said Ric Bonnell, M.D.,Director of Service Learning at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. “The committee nominated Anand based on his impressive dedication to public health since entering medical school including projects for adolescent mental health, the homeless and socioeconomically disadvantaged cancer patients.”
Aside from his local community efforts, Singh is one of two medical students nationwide elected to the American Medical Association Foundation Board of Directors where he’s made it his mission to improve public health in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
He was granted an Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, which led to a partnership with local schools to create a community program called Unity Healing Campsthat focuses on behavioral health of middle school kids in underserved communities.
Antonio Igbokidi, MS4, the 2023 Excellence in Public Health Award winner, presented this year’s award to Singh at TCU.
“Anand getting that award was special,” Igbokidi said. “He’s a dear friend of mine and I’m really excited for everything he has in store in his career. He’s going to make substantial change to the community and the medical field at large.”
FORT WORTH – Wiping tears from his face, Sam Sayedlooked at his teenage daughter and made her a promise: “You will never…ever…need a dime for college.”
This bold statement encapsulated the spirit of generosity that Sayed’s keynote speech exuded during TCU’s 34th Annual Scholarship Dinner, which recognizes and honors all endowed scholarship donors and their recipients.
“Tonight, we commemorate not just the contributions made by people like Corey and Tammy Hutchison, but also the transformational power of education and opportunity,” Sayed said.
During his speech, Sayed, recounted his past hardships including losing his mother to an asthma attack when he was 3, then losing his 16-year-old sister to gun violence. Dayna, who became a mother figure to him and his brother, Sharif, was the inspiration for the nonprofit the brothers created called Dayna’s Footprints.
“The Burnett School of Medicine has helped take this initiative from a small project serving one community to a nationally recognized organization serving 6 communities and raising more than $200,000 of purchased shoes,” he said.
Sayed was especially proud of being able to translate this mission into research to gauge the tangible effects to the community. Recently, his research on Dayna’s Footprints was featured on Good Morning America. “This is incredibly important to me as participating in this non-profit is a way for me to help reconciliate the traumas of my past,” he said.
Sayed, who graduates in May and will begin an Emergency Medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says it’s crucial for a physician to understand and care for their community “even before encountering them on their most challenging days.”
When he turned to his daughter, Sayed told the audience that “the most authentic expression of my gratitude to TCU, the Burnett School of Medicine and this community lies in acknowledging the ultimate key to my success – my daughter, Sophie.”
“The people at TCU and the faces behind the funds have helped me realize grandma’s dream and we should be forever grateful for them,” he said to Sophie.
While the Schollmaier Arena thundered with applause, Sophie ran up to the stage to give her father a hug.
A native of Big Spring, Texas, Wade Simpson grew up on a large family ranch. When it came time to select a college, he admits to being influenced by his parents, as both his mother, Modesta, and father, James, had attended TCU. It seemed natural for Wade to follow suit, especially given his interest in medicine and the excellent reputation of TCU’s pre-med program.
A leader on campus, Wade served on Interfraternity Council, was a student government class representative, and was selected for Who’s Who his senior year. A family crisis interrupted his studies and derailed his journey to medical school, but he still earned his bachelor’s degree and graduated with the Class of 1959. After a brief time back in Big Spring, Wade returned to Fort Worth, joining the Air Force Reserves and serving as a flight medic based out of Carswell Air Force Base.
His professional career moved in multiple directions over time, first in the oil and gas industry, where he and his partner founded and sold a company, and then to a pecan exporting business that took him around the world. Through it all, Wade retained his love for the medical field and healing. Enjoying retirement in Austin, he began to think about a legacy he wanted to leave and heard about the new medical school recently established at his alma mater.
“I saw the opportunity to establish an endowed scholarship at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine as a most positive way to feed my passion for all things medical,” Wade said. “I love that my gift will always support the future of medicine as it assists in the education of new doctors.”
Wade decided to make part of his gift now, and the balance as part of his estate plan. Doing so will provide him the opportunity to see his legacy in action as students begin receiving and benefiting from his generous scholarship, knowing his endowment will grow substantially through his estate.
“The opportunity to share in the education of medical students, their future achievements, and their development of the profession and knowledge for the good of mankind brings joy to my heart,” Wade concluded. “I believe these students will fulfill my desire to advance medical health.”
NEW ORLEANS – A procession of performers in elaborate and colorful costumes heralded the beginning of the Student National Medical Association’s conference with rhythmic beats and song.
“It’s really a blessing and really a privilege,” said Igbokidi, who served as SNMA Chair of the Board of Directors for the past academic year. “Learning about everything that really has to do with making this organization thrive has been a privilege I won’t soon forget.”
Sharing this moment with Igobikdi, who graduates in May, is special, said Founding Dean Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., who was one of the keynote speakers at the conference’s Opening Ceremony, which was sponsored by the medical school.
“I feel so grateful that he picked our medical school. He’s been a leader for his class. He’s been a leader for our medical school,” Dean Flynn said. “He’s going to leave a wonderful legacy of this is how you do it as a medical student not just at our medical school but at any medical school across the country.”
More than 4,500 medical students and medical professionals came together in New Orleans in late March to take part in SNMA’s 60th Annual Medical Education Conference (AMEC).SNMA is the nation’s oldest and largest independent, student-run organization focused on the needs and concerns of students of color who are underrepresented in medicine. Boasting more than 190 chapters across the nation including one at the Burnett School of Medicine, the SNMA membership includes more than 7,000 medical students, pre-medical students, and physicians.
Igbokidi was not the only Burnett School of Medicine student leaving their imprint at the conference. Several medical students were a part of panel discussions in different medical specialties alongside physicians.
Rebecca Sobolewski, MS-4 at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU and SNMA Vice Chair of Convention Planning, helped organize and plan this year’s conference, which had more than 300 speakers and more than 100 volunteers.
“We had a lot of involvement at AMEC this year which is extremely exciting,” said Sobolewski, who begins her Emergency Medicine residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville this summer.
These young people are the future of medicine, Dean Flynn said.
“This is the next generation of physicians from an underrepresented population,” Dean Flynn said. “It’s special to be able to come here and have the opportunity to greet them, thank them and just to challenge them a little bit to go out and make medicine better.”
The Burnett School of Medicine’s mission is to create Empathetic Scholars® that can walk in a patient’s shoes and have a capacity to care a community and patients from diverse backgrounds, beliefs and identities. The medical school’s involvement in the AMEC conference is one way to encourage more underrepresented groups to go into health care.
“We have to increase that component of health care,” Dean Flynn said. “It has dire consequences when you don’t. I love seeing these students and in the coming years I would like to see more of them.”
The conference’s theme, “From Pressure to Purpose: Illuminating the Path to Excellence,” reflected SNMA’s mission. The organization strives to ensure that medical education and services are culturally sensitive to the needs of diverse populations and to increasing the number of African American, Latino, and other students of color entering and completing medical school.
“We are important as it pertains to increasing the number of clinically competent and socially competent physicians,” Igobikidi said.
As SNMA chair for the 2023-2024 academic year, Igbokidi oversaw the organization’s 14,000 members and learned about the day-to-day operations.
“It’s really surreal and it fills your cup up,” said Igobokidi, who will begin a Psychiatry residency at UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience this summer. “It really makes you feel more engaged and more galvanized.”
Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University Founding Dean Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., gives the keynote speech at the Student National Medical Association’s 60th Annual Medical Education Conference in New Orleans on March 28, 2024.
By title and organizational flow, I am a leader. With that realization, I often turn my inclination for introspection to my leadership, to me as a leader. What I continue to find is that I am not where I would like to be. I want to, can, and will grow as a leader. And to do so, I have a lot to learn, skills to develop, and ways of being to nurture and share.
What’s most important? According to leadership expert Mike Erwin, “Leadership is a relationship.”
Erwin teaches that good leadership involves understanding and meeting the needs of others, fostering a sense of belonging and purpose, and empowering individuals to reach their full potential. To do so, effective leadership goes beyond mere authority and control, focusing instead on building meaningful relationships built on respect, communication, trust, and empathy. As empathetic scholars, leadership as a relationship aligns with, and perfectly informs our mission.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” That, for me, is sage advice to recognize, value, and emphasize relationships.
In some areas of your life, you are surely a leader. Answer Roosevelt and Erwin’s call. Be an empathetic leader. Build and care for your relationships and lead on from the heart.
Craig Keaton, PhD, LMSW
Burnett School of Medicine at TCU Director of Wellbeing
“It’s exciting to present something that we are doing different,” said Sandra Esparza, M.D., Director of Clinical Skills at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. “We hope that other schools can also carry this through, so we’re just trying new things that hopefully will benefit the students in the long run.”
The Geriatric Escape Room was created with the safety of the patient in mind and giving first-yearmedical students theopportunity to learn how to spot potential hazards when treating elderly patients.
“We can talk about hazards, and we can teach them about hazards in a lecture format, but when they’re exposed to an environment, and they can see those real-life situations they can retain it a little better,” Esparza said.
Nico Martinez, MS-1, said one of the reasons he decided to study at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU was its creative approach to learning. “I wanted to join an environment that was doing innovative things that you don’t see elsewhere,” he said.
During the Geriatric Escape Room activity, students walk into a room set up as a patient’s home living environment. They encounter a Standardized Patient (SP) who is trained to act out what could take place during a real patient visit. The SP also offers feedback to the students after the exercise.
“We really value our Standardized Patients,” said Clinical Skills Manager Victoria Dunson, MSN, RN. “We know that they have a huge impact on our students. We want it to be as realistic as possible.”
The Clinical Skills team’s SGEA presentation will focus on piloting this new way of learning as well as trends of gamification in medical education.The SGEA conference will be April 11-13 in Houston.
