A gubernaculum, from an old Latin term meaning "helmsman" or "guide," is a friendly guide to the realities first year students will face when they arrive at your medical school. Through the gubernaculum, you can provide incoming students with information they are unlikely to get from the standard orientation packet. The quality, thoroughness and therefore usefulness of the gubernaculum are limited only by the resources you bring to the project. A suggested template for your gubernaculum follows:
Life as a medical student. This is a description of what to expect from their first year as a medical student, with information about the curriculum, class projects and campus organizations.
The medical center. Will introduce new students to their home away from home, with a guide on parking, dining facilities, the bookstore, the library and the office of student activities.
The university campus. Your university offers more than the medical school. Provide a description of the special events, recreation (sports), cultural activities and miscellaneous services available to all students at the university.
Life in town. Grade the best locations for housing and give new students tips on moving in. For when they get off campus, supply recommendations and a roadmap for entertainment, recreation, restaurants and nightlife in your community.
Appendix. List essential phone numbers and any information which does not fit in the categories above. Coordinate this project with your dean, you will need administration support and all the addresses for the incoming class in advance of their arrival on campus. Finally, the gubernaculum is a great recruiting tool, providing high visibility to your MSS chapter.
Target Audience: First year medical students.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter.
Budget: Printing (150 copies @ $5 each) $750, Postage (150 copies @ $1 each) $150, Total $900
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant State and county medical societies Medical school alumni association
School: University of Florida College of Medicine Gainesville, FL
The student to student guidebook will provide your school's next entering class with the navigational tools to more quickly adapt to the rigors of medical education at your institution. The guidebook is particularly for the problem-based curriculum, where classes are less structured and there are no "required" textbooks. In this environment book buying and study habits can be particularly challenging for first year students.
You should start with a survey of the second year class, publishing the results in the guidebook along with other useful information. Your guidebook will identify the study methods which are particularly helpful, provide guidance on which books to buy, suggest how to make the most of the institution's available resources, list what organizations are on campus for students, describe how to find recreation in town, and provide advice on apartment hunting.
The guidebook also works as an excellent membership vehicle and an opportunity to tout chapter activities. In addition, you may be able to generate some revenue for the chapter by selling advertising space to local businesses. Finally, be sure to include an evaluation form so you can learn how to improve the next guidebook.
Target Audience: First year students at your medical school.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter.
Budget: Printing (entering class of 60) $75, Mailing (envelopes and postage) $40, Total $115
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant.
School: Mercer University School of Medicine Macon, GA
An AMA-MSS chapter newsletter will allow you to reach all students at your medical school with information of local and national interest. You should print your newsletter monthly, over the ten months of the academic year, to keep your copy timely and maintain high visibility for your chapter. You will need to recruit volunteers from your chapter to form a committee with specific responsibilities for the newsletter: developing copy, printing and production, and distribution. Topics your one or two sheet newsletter (two to four pages of copy) can address include:
Introduce class officers. Present your leadership's goals for the year. Announce chapter activities and current plans for community service projects; provide a tentative schedule.
Disseminate information on upcoming sectional and national meetings, with a summary of activity at the preceding AMA-MSS Assembly meeting (national). Legislative update and health system reform (federal and state initiatives). Miscellaneous professional development opportunities.
This format is sufficiently inexpensive to allow distribution to non-members as well, making it a great recruitment tool. While seeking ideas and support, be sure to tap resources available from the AMA as well as state and county societies.
Target Audience: All students at your medical school.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter.
Budget: Production @ $0.06/copy x 500 x 10 months = $300.
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant.
School: University of Florida College of Medicine Gainesville, FL
This weekend retreat focuses on the importance of leadership and teamwork in health care delivery and provides an opportunity for members of all the health sciences to come together for a better understanding of what each does. To initiate this exchange of information contact representatives of the other health fields at or near your university. These can include pharmacy, dentistry/dental hygiene, public health, nursing, occupational/physical therapy, clinical/child psychology, and medical technology.
The retreat will utilize didactic lecture, small group discussions and various activities, with the latter emphasized in order to increase the sense of community among health science students. Specific goals of this cross-disciplinary retreat are:
To encourage a spirit of teamwork and community among health science students, promoting interaction today and in their future working relationships.
To develop a better understanding of the roles filled by other health care providers, enhancing their ability to work together in patient care.
To provide information about aspects of patient care and leadership not covered in the curriculums of health science schools.
An evaluation of the retreat is essential. This way you can monitor the quality and relevance of the program for future retreats.
Target Audience: Students in all health science disciplines.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter and the Council for Health Interdisciplinary Participation (CHIP).
Budget: Lodging and food (70 @ $35) $2,450, Speaker fees and lodging $1,200, Advertising $35, Miscellaneous supplies $300, Total $3,985
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant, The Women Health Professionals and Humanistic Health Committees, Graduate and professional student organizations, University administrative grants, State medical society
School: University of Minnesota Medical School Minneapolis, MN
Through the consignment sale of board review books your chapter can generate some cash and provide a valuable service for the students at your school. Students drop off their review books at the board test center and do not have to think about them again until the check arrives. By handling the consignment sale, your chapter provides a convenient service and raises money.
1. You need to start by obtaining a group of lockers through your student affairs office. Then you should publicize, in advance of the September boards, that boxes for review books will be available both before and after testing. Participants will need to fill out index cards with the asking price for each of their books. You need to ensure that all participants clearly understand the terms for the sale; for example, 10% of the sale price or $1 per book will revert to the chapter.
2. During the testing days, you should have a table in a visible location to collect the books. Plenty of boxes and extra cards should be kept at this site.
3. You can now store the books in the lockers until you resell them. One option is to conduct a sale in February when the rest of the MS4's will be needing review books for the March boards. You need to decide when students can collect the unsold books, either at the end of the sale or at some other more convenient time. Students may also ask that their books be held for a later sale.
4. Your chapter treasurer will need to do the accounting, preparing checks or cash for those students receiving rebates and collecting the chapter's contingency fee. Rebates can be distributed a couple of weeks after the sale.
Target Audience: All students at your medical school who are sitting for boards, which is everybody at some point.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter.
Budget: Nil. A stack of 3x5 cards and a few flyers to promote your service. This is primarily a fundraiser for your chapter.
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant.
School: University of Minnesota Medical School Minneapolis, MN
The peer counseling program offers students a resource to help them deal with the stress of medical school. The program's goals are:
1. To provide a confidential personal support system.
2. To offer a sharing, cooperative approach to education.
3. To teach physicians while still in medical school that they are not infallible and that it is acceptable for them to need help and to seek counseling.
4. To foster positive development and personal growth, and to prevent the negative consequences of the stress of medical school.
You will need to enlist the services of a faculty member or qualified professional to serve as the program director. The program director will conduct training sessions for the peer counselors, the student volunteers who will serve in the program. This training will take about fifteen hours over several weeks. Some of the topics this training should address include: relationship problems, family problems, death and dying, how and when to refer, personality conflicts, feelings of inadequacy, difficulties in self disclosure, crisis intervention, cultural and sexual differences, and the importance of knowing, setting and communicating limits. All the sessions need to emphasize the importance of listening skills.
MS2 peer counselors can work with groups of five MS1's from orientation through their first set of exams. MS3's can meet with the MS2's to introduce life in clinical rotations and discuss board preparation. They can also sponsor a confidential "hotline" for support and advice two weeks before the Boards. Year round support can be extended by staffing an office and hotline with a rotation of the peer counselors.
To assure maximum effectiveness for the program you need to communicate peer counseling activities to all students, faculty advisors, administrators and course directors.
Target Audience: The students at your medical school.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter.
Budget: Food and refreshments for the training sessions $210, Develop and print training guide $125, Total $335
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant, State medical society
School: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine
This ten-week self-defense program is designed to provide individuals with a means of conditioning both mind and body, with special emphasis on nurturing self-discipline and self-confidence. The program promotes personal safety by helping individuals become more aware of their environment. Interested students at the medical school or other members of the community with appropriate skills can be solicited to lead the sessions.
Target Audience: The program is for all members of the medical school community.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS Chapter.
Budget: $250 to cover flyers, promotion, refreshments, handouts, and the purchase of instructional materials.
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant.
This program features a combined violence awareness/self-defense course that incorporates both education and training into the program. You should schedule the class to meet two hours a week for six weeks, with half an hour of lecture and an hour and a half of hands-on practical instruction. The easiest space to secure is on-campus, at your health or fitness center. You will also need to contact a local martial arts instructor or an equivalent expert in self-defense to lead the sessions. Guest lecturers can include a member of the police department and an emergency room doctor to discuss the physician's role in stopping domestic violence.
Program goals:
To create an awareness that violence permeates our culture and will play a major role in our professional lives.
To sensitize participants to the needs of victims of violence and encourage referral to appropriate law enforcement agencies and medical support groups.
To provide participants with the necessary protocols for diagnosing and treating victims.
To create an awareness for participants that they are not exempt from becoming victims of violence.
To provide participants with techniques of self- defense and to educate them to recognize potentially dangerous situations.
Target Audience: Primarily medical students; other medical professionals can be invited.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter.
Budget: Instructor's self-defense manual (50 copies @ $4.00 each) $200, Advertising and lecture handouts $50, Total $250
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant.
School: Creighton University School of Medicine Omaha, NE
This program targets issues for health care delivery to Hispanic populations in the U.S.; however, the concept can be adapted for other groups as your MSS chapter deems appropriate. For your program to provide a full spectrum of information on providing culturally sensitive care to Hispanic populations, plan to invite two speakers. One speaker can present the issue from the social worker's perspective, for example describing the realities for migrant agricultural workers who, often undocumented, face exposure to toxic and/or debilitating working conditions and substandard sanitation in the living facilities.
Your second speaker should be a Hispanic American physician who can discuss how these conditions result in a high rate of preventable medical maladies such as hygiene and trauma related dermatologic problems, upper respiratory and chronic obstructive pulmonary problems (e.g., tuberculosis), tooth decay and serious vision problems. Both speakers should be able to address the following topics in Hispanic culture:
Individual vs. family decision-making.
Attitudes toward pregnancy.
Care of infants.
Responsibility to the aged and infirm.
Diets.
Women's health and the role of women in the family.
To keep the program inexpensive, you should reserve a lecture hall for use immediately following dinner and only serve beverages. For help in locating speakers and developing handouts you can contact the Hispanic American Medical Association or the AMA Advisory Committee on Minority Physicians.
Target Audience: Medical students and interested members of your local medical community.
Participating Groups: The AMA-MSS chapter.
Budget: Beverages $75, Flyers and handouts $50, Total $125
Funding Sources: AMA-MSS Policy Promotion Grant.
School: College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Pomona, CA