TUSM MMC Maine Track 2014 Program rePort

It has been another strong year for the Maine Track Progrm. The entering class of 2018 is at capacity with 36 students, 23 of whom are from Maine. Total applications to the program have

more than doubled since the Maine Track Program’s inception in 2009 and applications by Maine students have tripled. Accordingly, Maine’s national ranking for the number of students applying to medical school has risen from next to last (49th) to 47th.

Our pipeline of future students is growing as well. Maine has four colleges (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, and University of Maine) participating in the Maine Track’s early assurance option – students who demonstrate high acheivement in the premedical sciences and who have volunteer or employment experience within healthcare are eligible for interview and possible early acceptance. Currently, 9 Maine students are enrolled in future classes.

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Maine Track Curriculum (Abridged)

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Foundations:Classroom/Lab

Foundations:Classroom/Lab

Clinical Preceptorships

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Class of 2018 Class of 2017 Class of 2016 Class of 2015 Class of 2013 & 2014

Maine Track Curriculum (Abridged)

The Maine Track Program clinical system includes Maine Medical Center and rural hospitals and practices located in 46 towns throughout Maine. Together we have formed a new model of medical eduation tailored to meet the unique needs of rural medicine that ultimately improves the quality and patient safety components of the curriculum for medical students.During Year 3, students have the option to participate in the program’s hallmark 9-month Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC), an innovative training model most reflective of a true primary care experience. The LIC covers all six core clerkship disciplines by having students follow a personalized panel of patients as they move throughtout the healthcare system. Strong faculty guidance and mentoring paired with self-directed learning modules creates flexible educational programs tailored to the student’s individual needs.

2014-15 Teaching Sites

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47% of LIC Students reported seeing an individual patient more than 10 times during their clerkship last year. In the traditional block format it is rare to see an individual patient more than once.

Class of 2015 lIC student feedbaCk (1 = strongly disagree/poor; 5= strongly agree/excellent)• If I had to do it again, I would sign up for the LIC: 4.6 (up from 4.1 previous year )• Overall the LIC experience was excellent: 4.7 (up from 4.3 previous year)

The LIC program is equally meaningful to rural faculty physicians. 64% say that their overall job satisfaction has increased, 86% say it is important to them personally to be involved with the program and 91% would again choose to participate. Consequently, new rural training sites are coming on board each year.

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March 21, 2014 brought a second round of residency match data demonstrating that the Maine Track Program is continuing to meet the expectations set in these early years of the program.

Primary care as choice of specialty This is the second year that the Program’s graduates chose primary care (defined as family medicine, internal medicine or pediatrics) at a rate greater than the national average: 46% of Maine Track students (13 of 28) compared to 39% nationally. And emergency medicine – another critical shortage area for Maine – demonstrated greater choice than the national average (11% Maine Track vs. 8.5% nationally).

A Maine hospital for choice of residency Fewer Maine Track students opted to remain in Maine for their residency in this class compared to last year (4 students compared to 10). Anecdotally, more students in this class share a mindset of looking to rural

programs outside of Maine to glean expertise that they can bring back to the state post-residency than did the preceding class. The trend of attracting additional medical residents from the broader Tufts University School of Medicine class, however, is growing with the addition of 6 of these students for a grand total of 10. This remains significantly greater than the 3-4 students on average that were retained when Maine Medical Center served as a clerkship site with other universities in the past.

It also remains encouraging that 53% of the class, a total of 15 students, will be staying within New England for their residency. This geographic proximity bodes well for the potential that these students will practice in Maine after they complete their training. Like our first graduating class, many have already voiced their desire to return post-residency.

Educational results that are competitive nationally For the second year in a row, 100% of Maine Track students have received appointments in residency programs of choice and as many Maine Track students as traditional TUSM students were elected to the AOA (the medical school honor society), demonstrating achievement above even TUSM’s high standards. These considerations, along with the caliber of residency program where the students are matched, are a strong indicator of the Maine Track program’s academic success. In addition to MMC, Maine Track students will again be in prestigious programs such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Brown University Program, Harvard University Programs at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, among others.

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National Comparison of Specialty Choice

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gs The Maine Track Program’s overarching goal is to create a new pipeline of physicians with robust skills in,

and understanding of, the practice of rural medicine. And, to encourage these new physicians to practice here in Maine, particularly as primary care physicians in our underserved rural communities.

Central to meeting this goal is to offer Maine’s brightest students the financial means to pursue a career in medicine. This is accomplished by subsidizing half the tuition ($25,000/year) of 20 Maine students in each class through scholarships. That works out to a savings of $100,000 for each recipient, enough to reduce the pressure that might otherwise lead them to choose a higher paying specialty than primary care or a more affluent area than a rural state like Maine can offer.

When forming the Maine Track Program, Maine Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine took on the responsibility of underwriting these scholarships through philanthropic support. Each year the Maine Track Program provides $2,000,000 in tuition support (80 scholarships at $25,000 each) through outright and endowed scholarship funds to support the 20 recipients in each of the four class years.

Ultimately, the goal is to raise $40,000,000 in endowed funds to sustain these 80 program scholarships for Maine’s future. Today, 36 endowed scholarships have been established toward our goal. Concurrent to our focus on securing endowment donations, we continue to pursue outright donations for current scholarship requirements. This year, 44 new philanthropic partners have joined this visionary effort. This includes the following new and renewed named scholarship funds:

Bramhall Family Endowed Scholarship FundDan Burke Memorial Scholarship FundDoctors for Maine’s Future Program (supporting 4 students)Bud Higgins Endowed Scholarship FundDonald L. McDowell Scholarship FundQuesada Foundation Scholarship FundElmina B. Sewall Scholarship Fund (supporting 2 students)Vincent & Barbara Welch Scholarship Fund (supporting 2 students)

For more information or to support a student in the Maine Track Program, please visit our website at www.mmc.org/mainetrack or contact the Maine Medical Center Development Department at (207) 662-2669.

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$1,000,000

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$15,000,000

Outright Scholarships Endowed Scholarships Rural Training Sites

$15,338,940

Medical Education - Maine Track Program

$9,741,647

$849,406

Maine Track Program Funds Raised as of July 2014