Loyola University Chicago (Stritch School of Medicine)

Stritch School of Medicine is a Catholic and Jesuit institution where individuals from a variety of
backgrounds and traditions come together and learn the demanding art and science of medicine. Stritch emphasizes personal growth, excellence in academics
and character, strong personal work ethic, openness to the spiritual dimensions of life, and a clear intent of developing women and men who will serve others, no
matter what their final career path in medicine.

Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine reaffirms its primary goal of the education of medical students, as well as its dedication to higher education and excellence in teaching, research, patient care and community service; consistent with our Jesuit tradition of disseminating knowledge and generating innovations in basic and clinical research, patient care, and education; and emphasizing the social, moral, and spiritual growth of students, patients, faculty, and employees.

Through all four years, students are able to interact with faculty, chaplains, and allied health professionals on a one-on-one basis. This takes place formally and informally, to foster learning and professional growth. Of particular importance to Loyola is exposing students to a variety of physician, faculty, and staff mentors through whom they can explore their own personal, professional, cultural, and ethnic identity. Through these experiences, students are nurtured to become physicians who provide individualized, patient-centered care that respects the multiple cultures of their patients.

Many other opportunities exist for faculty and students to build relationships outside the academic program. Students are invited to programs, workshops, and fairs where they can interact with faculty members through the Office of Student Affairs. Many faculty members serve as advisors to student organizations, which often leads to personal connections. And the school’s many social gatherings provide another opportunity for contact between students and faculty.

Loyola's Educational Experience
Stritch requires students to be adult learners who will take responsibility for their own education under the careful guidance of the faculty. The curriculum is
designed to provide our students with the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for residency
training. Our competency-based curriculum expects our graduates to be competent in the six following
areas:

• Medical Knowledge. You cannot be a physician without medical knowledge --- and there is a lot to
know! We expect our graduates to demonstrate knowledge about the basic biomedical and clinical sciences, as well as the skills and attitudes
necessary to use this knowledge effectively as a physician.

• Communication Skills. Effective communication is a fundamental skill of medicine without which persons feel poorly treated even if their medical care has been otherwise technically adequate. That is not acceptable at Stritch. Our graduates will be competent in
basic communication skills and aware of the importance of effective interaction with patients, families,
healthcare workers, and others who affect the health and well being of patients.

• Professionalism. We expect Stritch graduates to be valued members of their residency training programs and then later to be the kind of physicians and
researchers that the community looks up to and respects for their caring demeanor, commitment to
others, and service to the poor.

• Patient Care. Competence in patient care depends on medical knowledge, communication skills, and professional behavior. We train our students to use their
knowledge, skills, and attitudes to provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective.

• Practice-Based and Lifelong Learning. Medicine in the 21st century is increasingly evidencebased. The traditional reliance on anecdote and the opinion of
experts is being replaced by recognition of a need for improved quality and an ability to recognize and incorporate the best research evidence for new treatments, procedures, and therapies. Our graduates
will recognize that their process of learning is lifelong and will demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to begin to evaluate their method of practice, use appropriate tools of evidence to analyze clinical practice, and understand concepts of quality improvement in healthcare.

• Social and Community Context of Healthcare. As students educated in the Jesuit tradition that the
promotion of justice is an essential part of higher education, our graduates will demonstrate a basic
understanding that what happens to persons in the American health care system is not just about basic
science, evidence, and research. It also is about the ability to pay, social and ethnic backgrounds, access to care, and other economic, cultural, psychological, and social factors.

• Adult learning. Students bring a variety of strengths and experiences to Stritch that we believe are
the cornerstones to build on in the study of medicine. The successful student is already an active learner,
one who takes the initiative to study rather than waiting for the faculty to fill in every detail. Adult learning encourages the student to study independently, use course objectives as a guide for one’s own research, and work effectively with colleagues. Effective learning
depends on active participation, previous preparation, and an approach that fosters a sense of personal responsibility for learning.

• Hybrid curriculum. Students are exposed to a variety of learning formats throughout the educational
experience. Lectures are used as a guide to active learning with extensive small-group and casebased
sessions in the first two years. In the third and fourth
years, traditional clerkship and elective experiences are supplemented with small-groups.

• Small-group sessions. Instead of sitting passively through endless lectures, students take an active
part in their own education through the experience of smallgroup instruction. Meeting with a facilitator in groups of about ten students, a variety of problems,
cases, and topics are explored. This format requires self-motivated students, cooperation among classmates, and the willingness to listen and speak up when appropriate.

• Early clinical experience. Patient interview techniques are introduced to first-year students during the first few weeks of school. Students practice these interview
techniques in standardized and real patient encounters. You also are assigned a faculty physician mentor whom you will shadow and observe

• Emphasis on information technology. Success in medical school and competence as a physician depends on one’s ability not just to know what’s important, but also to know where to find information. LUMEN, Loyola University Medical Education Network, offers supplemental course material, interactive educational formats, and resources for in depth study.

• Clinical Skills Center. Developing skills in history taking,
physical examination, and basic procedures requires practice, observation, and refinement of techniques. The Clinical Skills Center features 14 examination rooms equipped with video cameras. The center plays an important part in our competency-based curriculum and is essential for demonstration of successful acquisition
of the competencies. Standardized patients provide a
valuable learning resource throughout the four years.
Students and faculty use videotaped patient encounter sessions to review and critique the student’s work in years one and two. Third and fourth-year clerkships feature structured clinical exercises that require the performance of a history and physical. A computerized
simulation then is completed to ensure that students are capable of accurate diagnosis and making preliminary treatment plans. The curriculum is designed to provide
students with a broad knowledge of what they need to know to succeed in their residency training program and any area of medicine, including research, private practice, and academic medicine.

Stritch School of Medicine is located in the John and Herta Cuneo Center, which opened in 1997. The building is nationally recognized for design excellence and received the Citation for Design in 1999 from the Boston Society of Architects.

This medical education center was designed with the needs of the curriculum in mind and allows for
large and small group instruction, as well as space that enhances student interaction and relaxation.
The five-level design includes large auditoriums, case method classrooms, multi-function laboratory, and dedicated medical student education spaces called Learning Clusters. Each Learning Cluster contains computer workstations, classroom, small-group rooms, and sit-down laboratories that offer a flexible learning environment with space for individual work and study, group projects, and teaching.

The Multi-Function Laboratory (MFL) was primarily designed to meet the needs of the first-year Structure of
the Human Body course. The laboratory accommodates 32 dissection stations that include a computer with access to online educational aids. The portability of the
various fixtures allows tremendous flexibility in setups, including an EKG and lung function lab in Function of the Human Body, brain specimens examination in
Neuroscience, phlebotomy and IV insertion in Patient Centered Medicine (PCM), suture clinic during the second year, and histology practical exam in the first year.

The MFL also houses a Human Simulation Center whose current emphasis is on graduate medical education. Courses are beginning to develop teaching scenarios for the undergraduate medical education curriculum as evidenced by the Function of the Human Body course using the center to demonstrate cardiac function to first-year students.

The building’s aesthetic centerpiece is a second-floor atrium, around which is grouped the Curie, de Porres, and Osler student communities. Each student is assigned to a community while at Stritch.
Community amenities include a lounge, kitchenette, lockers, mailboxes, and study areas.

The second floor also serves as a mall of student activities and services, including offices for admissions,
bursar, financial aid, registration and records, student organizations, university ministry, main computer lab, and learning center. The building also has a cafeteria
and is located next to the health and fitness center.

Stritch School of Medicine is one of eight professional schools of Loyola University Chicago and the
academic heart of the Loyola University Health System. The mission of the university, medical school, and health system comes from our Jesuit roots and is enriched and strengthened by our community of students, faculty,
employees, and patients of all faiths. Five haracteristics stand out.

* Dedication to human dignity from a Catholic/Jesuit faith perspective: We teach the importance of this whole person approach to patient care and endeavor to create a learning environment for our students where they are challenged but also nurtured, called to grow but cared for, and expected to excel but supported in difficulties.

* Reverence for and an ongoing reflection on human experience : Stritch seeks to expand our already
diverse community that brings a variety of perspectives on fundamental human questions that are at the heart of caring for persons in a way that is compassionate,
effective, and consistent with our firmly held Catholic principles of care for the poor, respect for all, and protection of the vulnerable members of our society.

* Creative companionship with colleagues : Learning, growing, caring for patients, and searching for new
discoveries in basic and clinical sciences requires a community of individuals with a variety of talents
and gifts. We encourage dialogue between students, faculty, staff, and administration that we are all
learning and that transcending boundaries can help us create a community even more dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and service to those most in need.

* Focused care for students : The rigors of medical school can create challenges in academic, social, ethical, and spiritual growth even for the most gifted and mature student. The medical school has a variety of services that assist students with learning problems,
issues requiring psychological counseling, personal health, and spiritual counseling or conversation.
Choosing a particular career path within medicine also can provide challenges. There are programs in place, including a formal advisor system, to give information,
provide mentoring, and allow formal and informal discussion about how to make your hopes for the future come true.

* An education that seeks to form graduates committed to justice and solidarity : The goal of a Jesuit medical school is to graduate new physicians with eyes to see and ears to hear the needs of the world around them. We expect that this is one way that Stritch is different
from many other schools. But our expectation is that Stritch has provided them the opportunity to encounter, learn from, and work with people from other cultures,
economic conditions, and social groups. The Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy
also provides opportunities for reflection on ethical and social issues to allow students and graduates the ability to analyze the practice of medicine in ways that consider the influence on health care of poverty, inadequate health care access, and unjust economic and social structures.

The Integrated Curriculum in Spirituality and Medicine provides many ways for students to learn about the personal and spiritual impact of illness in a patient’s life.
It also allows opportunities for reflection upon how Loyola’s Catholic and Jesuit traditions play a role in caregivers’ work and helps students develop an appreciation and respect for other religious traditions.
The Chaplain Mentor Program is part of PCM I and students have an opportunity to observe and assist hospital chaplains during patient visits. Another
opportunity to explore how the human spirit faces long-term illness, chronic pain, and the process
of dying is during the medicine clerkship. Care and respect for the diversity of our patient population
is emphasized in our curriculum and in the health system’s care for patients. Recognizing and learning
about the spiritual stories of our patients is an emphasis of a Stritch education.

The curriculum focuses on giving students the right tools to be competent to take the next steps in medical training and provides a firm foundation for students to choose from a broad variety of career opportunities. The competency format of our curriculum means that we care about what we teach, but, even more importantly, we demonstrate that students have learned and acquired the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for medical practice.

Stritch medical students have many opportunities to serve in the local community and internationally.
The hope is that students grow in awareness of the needs of others, recognize their personal and social responsibilities as future physicians, and also realize that those who are traditionally considered poor and needy may have much to offer those who are materially
well off and successful. In the Chicago area, students have worked with Loyola faculty physicians in providing volunteer assistance at community clinics. Other
students have worked in homeless shelters in the area. There are multiple opportunities available for volunteer work at Loyola’s hospital and its Ronald McDonald
Children’s Hospital. Many students participate in the
International Summer Immersion experiences coordinated by University Ministry in the summer between years one and two. Students spend approximately two weeks in a variety of sites, mainly
in Latin America and the Caribbean. These include
Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Belize, and the Dominican Republic. Along with other volunteer
health care professionals from the United States, Stritch students have assisted in providing muchneeded clinical care to medically underserved people and learning about how medicine is provided in a country coping with limited resources. The international opportunities available to students may change from year to year for a variety of reasons, including local conditions at a site.

Students can take full advantage of computer technology through the Loyola University Medical
Education Network (LUMEN). This local network, designed by faculty members, is an outgrowth
of our commitment to helping students become active learners through technology.

LUMEN enhances the educational experience and helps students become adept at locating information on the Internet, a valuable skill in medical practice.
Students can find volumes of resources on the network, including interactive lessons and tutorials, video dissections, class handouts, and hundreds of histology
slides and radiologic images.

LUMEN also offers immediate access to the health science library and Web sites affiliated with other
academic medical centers, research projects, and medical libraries.

The material within LUMEN is text and multimedia oriented. Stritch students benefit from LUMEN’s intuitive design, which is enhanced by images, icons, sound,
and video. Faculty regularly add material to the network and students may contribute their own work under faculty supervision. Some course faculty use Web
forums so that they can chat with students who have questions.

Students are required to use LUMEN for some course work and are always welcome to explore on their own. High-speed linkups to LUMEN are available on computers
located throughout the school that allow students free, immediate access to the network. Stritch will soon offer computer/PDA connections. Students also may reach
LUMEN through the Internet.

Stritch offers classes on the acquisition of medical informatics skills, which facilitates students’ development as lifelong learners, clinicians,
educators, and researchers through the use of computer technology.

The library houses over 180,000 volumes and subscribes to more than 2,400 journals, periodicals,
and newspapers. As a designated resource library of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, the library offers immediate access to the collections of thousands of medical libraries worldwide.

The Internet-based medical information network provides access to thousands of full-text electronic
journals, clinical trials, and patient education handouts; numerous medical textbooks; hundreds of medical databases; and the university library’s online catalog of over 1.4 million titles. Interlibrary loan services permit students to obtain print resources not found in the
Health Sciences Library. The library offers a variety of training classes to help students perform information research and use the electronic resource tools.

There’s more to life than classes and clerkships - even in medical school. We want our students to have a life beyond the classroom so that their educational experience includes personal and academic growth. That’s why we encourage participation in campus organizations, medical school committees, community service opportunities, faith-building activities, and other
extracurricular pursuits. We allow time in the schedule for these endeavors, particularly during the first two years. Many classes end in the early afternoon, leaving students plenty of time to study and get involved - on campus, in the community, or in the great city of
Chicago.

As one of the top academic medical centers in the United States, Loyola University Medical Center
is renowned for its high-quality care, medical education, and research. Loyola’s medical center opened in 1969 and provides skilled, compassionate care to patients; educates future physicians, nurses, research scientists, and allied healthcare professionals; and conducts research in areas such as cancer treatment and organ transplantation. The medical center’s 70-acre campus is adjacent to Edward J. Hines Jr. Veterans Affairs Hospital and is home to many facilities, including
Loyola University Hospital, Loyola Outpatient Center (opened in June 2003), Cardinal Bernardin Cancer
Center, and a Level I trauma center for children and adults. Children receive specialized care at the
Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center.

Loyola healthcare professionals demonstrate unparalleled expertise and compassion with a dedication
to excellence that reflects the medical center’s Jesuit heritage of caring for the whole patient - body, mind, and spirit. Community service is integral to this heritage,
and Loyola practices it by sponsoring programs and services to promote good health in the community. Many of our physicians and nurses volunteer their time serving patients in underprivileged areas in metropolitan Chicago and around the world.

The medical center offers the full spectrum of clinical services in virtually every medical and surgical
specialty, treating patients with difficult or complex conditions that require advanced expertise and
sophisticated technology. Our areas of emphasis include cardiac care; high-risk obstetrics, neonatology,
and pediatrics; cancer care; emergency, trauma, and burn care; and the neurosciences.

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Stritch School of Medicine Medical School Location

Stritch School of Medicine Courses

FIRST AND SECOND YEARS

Years one and two provide a combination of instruction in the basic sciences and in developing skills in
communicating with patients, taking a history, and performing a physical examination. All courses
feature a combination of lecture and small-group experiences. Some courses have other learning
formats, such as required laboratory sessions. Practical experience in the fundamentals of clinical medicine
is provided by the Patient Centered Medicine course (PCM) that is described below. The basic science courses seek to provide foundational competencies in
medical knowledge, communication skills, and professionalism along with an introduction to practice-based medicine, lifelong learning, and the social and community context of healthcare.

The first year begins with Molecular Cell Biology and
Genetics. The emphasis here is on making sure all our students have a firm grasp of these topics that are
crucial for understanding medicine in the 21st century. During this course, students consider different
ways in which they learn best and spend time in small-groups on problem solving exercises, as well
as collaborating on group projects. Structure of the Human Body begins after our fall break and combines gross anatomy with embryology. This course expects
students to spend considerable time in dissection of a human cadaver and computer-based study.
The hands-on type of learning characteristic of the structure course is part of what medical practice entails today: traditional methods supplemented and
enhanced with new information technology. The second semester begins with Function of the Human Body, a course that explores human physiology through a combination of lecture, laboratory sessions, and interactive problem-based sessions. This course spans the entire second semester. In the spring, students
study the building blocks of human immunology in the Host Defense course.

The break between first and second years provides students with a variety of opportunities for independent
study and service. Although not required, many first
year students engage in a research project or take part in one of the international immersion programs
sponsored by University Ministry.

The second year begins with the Neuroscience course in which students learn the basic science of the human nervous system and the pathophysiology of diseases affecting the nervous system.
Neuroscience is combined with Therapeutics and Pharmacology. This course spans the entire second
year and coordinates information about drugs, other therapeutic modalities, and alternative medicine with the appropriate organ system being studied. From October to May,Mechanisms of Human Disease runs in parallel
with Therapeutics and Pharmacology. This course
emphasizes the pathophysiology of disease and considers clinical processes that affect various organ
systems. An important feature of this course is the frequent smallgroup sessions where students meet and consider various cases that help them develop their skills in differential diagnosis and begin to consider possible treatment options. These small-group sessions
have clinical faculty members as facilitators and allow students the opportunity to have a yearlong experience with a clinician, providing the opportunity for clinically
relevant interaction and opportunities for informal advising and mentoring on residency and career issues.

Finishing the year, students take Behavioral Development, a course designed to bring things
together from molecules, cells, organs, and drugs and focus on the human person throughout the lifespan from conception to death. This course provides a panoramic
view of pregnancy, childhood, adult years, aging, and death and dying.

At the end of the second year, students have a flexible period of time to study for USMLE Step 1 with the bulk of the class studying independently. Students set their date
for the exam directly with the National Board of Medical
Examiners. Passage of USMLE Step I and Part A of Step II is a requirement for graduation. Students also must take Part B of Step II.

Patient Centered Medicine (PCM) is a three-year interdisciplinary course and one of the core experiences
in developing the competencies necessary for successful practice. PCM combines lectures and
small-group learning and heavily relies on a variety of experiential activities. Students practice interviewing
with standardized patients in our Clinical Skills Center and gain in history taking skills by working with the patients in our hospitals and physician mentors’
offices. Students follow these physician mentors on visits that allow them to see the day-to-day life of practicing physicians and work on clinical skills.
Students also take time on duty with our chaplains in Loyola University Hospital to gain perspective on the
spiritual experience of patients.

In the first year, PCM I is focused on developing communication skills with patients, especially
learning how to take a good history. But a number of other topics are included that are essential for a successful career in medicine in the 21st century:
ethics, biostatistics and epidemiology, clinical reasoning, evidence- based medicine, economics of health care, and prevention.

In the second year, PCM II focuses on increasing skills in physical examination and introduction to clinical topics needed for clerkships.

In the third year, PCM III takes a different format from the
previous two years. PCM III meets for six to eight daylong sessions where students come together from their various clinical clerkships and participate in a forum that mimics the best practices of continuing medical education for practicing physicians. The day begins with a one hour small group reflection where students share their personal clinical experience. Topics include ethics and professionalism, errors in medicine, end of life care, and successful teaching and learning in the clinical arena.

THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS

During the third and fourth years students participate in a number of required and elective clerkship experiences. Third-year required clerkships include internal medicine, surgery, family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, and psychiatry. Clerkships combine inpatient experience with
extensive time in the ambulatory setting, using one of the private office settings available to students and taking advantage of Loyola University Hospital, the adjoining
Hines Veteran’s Affairs Hospital, and several outstanding community hospitals in the metropolitan
Chicago area.

The third-year is meant as a time of learning while serving as an apprentice in clinical medicine.
The clinical curriculum provides students with a breadth of learning needed to maximize their career choice by allowing a tailored program, especially in the fourth year,
to give students the best possible preparation for successful residency training. Students are carefully
supervised by resident and attending physicians, yet they are encouraged to develop their skills and
appropriate independence in formulating plans for diagnosis and treatment. Students also consider
possible future residency choices and career paths in medicine through formal sessions run by the Office of Student Affairs and interactions with residents and attending physicians. Many clinical departments sponsor interest groups that provide information about different specialties, as well as advice and strategies for those
interested in a particular career path. A third-year elective is offered in several subspecialties for a limited number of students who are serious in their consideration of a subspecialty not offered in Year 3 and opt to have a clinical experience to help guide their
choice of residency.

The fourth-year features a combination of required subinternships and elective experiences. It also is
time when students are making their choice of residency programs and need advice on interviewing, outside electives, application processes, and strategies for the
match program. We strive for demanding and rewarding clinical experiences that will make Stritch graduates ready for residency while providing a series of programs, advising, and support to assist students
in choosing for their future. We view the fourth-year as a critical part of education and have high standards:

• Two one-month long subinternships are required in internal medicine and intensive care. Students have the option of choosing from a neonatal ICU, surgical ICU, or medical ICU.

• A month-long clerkship in neurology also is required.

• Electives are chosen in consultation with the student’s advisor and planned to help the student become prepared for residency. These may be taken from the
broad selection of electives available on campus and at other accredited medical schools.

• There are some opportunities for international experiences. The advisor also helps the student think
about what residency programs are a good fit for the student’s plans and hopes, as well as giving guidance about developing a final list for the match.

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