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Journal of Hospital Librarianship

ISSN: 1532-3269 (Print) 1532-3277 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/whos20

Supporting a Pathway Scholars Program: Howa Librarian Can Add Information Literacy toPremedical Education

Kathleen Carlson

To cite this article: Kathleen Carlson (2016) Supporting a Pathway Scholars Program: Howa Librarian Can Add Information Literacy to Premedical Education, Journal of HospitalLibrarianship, 16:2, 186-191, DOI: 10.1080/15323269.2016.1150751

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15323269.2016.1150751

Published online: 20 Apr 2016.

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PATCHWORK

Supporting a Pathway Scholars Program: How a LibrarianCan Add Information Literacy to Premedical EducationKathleen Carlson

Arizona Health Sciences Library, The University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix, Phoenix,Arizona, USA

Introduction

The Pathway Scholars Program (PSP) at The University of Arizona Collegeof Medicine–Phoenix is intended for students who may have had fewerresources available to them because of socioeconomic status, educationalopportunities, and geography, or may have been a first-generation collegegraduate. The PSP serves as an alternate pipeline of medical student candi-dates (1). In the fall of 2013, the College, along with financial support fromtheir community partners, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Arizona Public Service,DPR/Sundt Construction Inc., the Arizona Community Foundation andUnited Healthcare, began accepting applications for the program. The PSPis completed in less than one year and runs from June through May.

All applicants to the PSP must be Arizona residents and although theapplication process for the Pathway Scholars Program (PSP) has changedsince its inception, this requirement remains constant. During the 2014/2015Academic Year (AY), 288 student applicants were rejected from the MDprogram; they then had the opportunity to apply to the PSP program at theMedical College. The first cohort of 10 Pathway Scholars began their journeyin May 2014.

During the 2015/2016 AY, 188 applicants had to choose between the MD(Doctor of Medicine) program at UA College of Medicine–Phoenix or thePathways program. Students could apply to either the MD Program orPathway Scholars Program, but not both programs. For the 2016/2017 AY,applicants were able to apply to both the MD program and the PathwayScholars Program. The deadline was December 1, 2015.

In addition to these considerations, PSP applicants for the 2016–2017Academic Year were required to have:

● Earned a four-year degree prior to the start of the PSP.● A minimum GPA of 3.0 in undergraduate or graduate coursework.

Comments and suggestions should be sent to the Column Editor: Michael Heyd mheyd@comcast.net

JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL LIBRARIANSHIP2016, VOL. 16, NO. 2, 186–191http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15323269.2016.1150751

Published with license by Taylor & Francis © Kathleen Carlson

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● Completed the medical school core academic prerequisite courseworkrequired for admission to the medical college.

● Taken the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) 2015 (no mini-mum score is required) or receive a composite score of at least an 18 onthe Old MCAT within the last three years (2013, 2014, and/or 2015).

● The ability to obtain an Arizona Department of Public SafetyFingerprint Clearance Card.

Background

The Pathway Scholars Program incorporates the elements of peer-assistedlearning and structured study in the medical curriculum, as well as medicalschool coursework to assess the students’ ability to endure the rigors of themedical school curriculum. The College provides educational resources suchas private and group tutoring appointments, learning workshops, individualconsultations with a Librarian, the Princeton Review MCAT prep material,supplemental instruction, block director/faculty office hours, a LearningSpecialist dedicated to Pathway students, and support for students to retakethe Medical College Admission Test. Students gain clinical exposure whileshadowing health care providers in clinical settings in Phoenix, Arizona.

Upon successful completion of the Pathway Scholars Program, studentsare granted a Graduate Certificate in Professional Studies in Health Sciencesand, if the student has achieved set milestones and competencies, willmatriculate into the UA College of Medicine–Phoenix (2). The importanceof the PSP is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students(URM) that enroll in medical school and the need for high-quality healthcare to the unserved and underserved (3, 4).

Embedded librarianship

The library’s participation in the PSP began in May 2014 with a physical tourof the library and an online tour of library resources. The two-hour didacticsession also included a hands-on session and provided the necessary intro-duction to the library’s electronic resources, including the online catalogue.The Millennium-III integrated library system is used to find books, e-jour-nals, DVDs and other library owned resources. On the Arizona HealthSciences Library’s (AHSL) home page, the ‘Top Resources’ drop downmenu on the blue banner gathers all electronic databases for medicine in aone-stop area called ‘Quick Links’. This link leads to the rich collection ofdatabases, point of care tools and non-medical resources.

Pathway Scholars have access to over nine thousand peer-reviewed journalsthrough the library’s e-journals link. A demonstration of how RefWorks can be

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used to enhance research in papers and Scholarly Projects was given. Similarbibliographic managers like Endnote Online (available through the Web ofScience) and an open source resource called Mendeley were also briefly shown.

While the UA Pathway Scholars program was designed and implementedin an academic library, hospital librarians could easily add their knowledgeand expertise to similar programs. Hospital librarians can promote andparticipate in literacy programs at their institutions and could offer assistanceto postgraduate high school students interested in medical school and toundergraduate college students who are taking premedical coursework. Incollaboration with a Pathway program or on their own, hospital librariansare uniquely qualified to deliver 60- to 90-minute instruction on evidence-based medicine databases such as PubMed and MedlinePlus (both freeaccess), using an online catalogue, and accessing full-text articles, ande-books in the hospital setting.

The PICO question

A second class of ten Pathway Scholars was admitted to the program in May2015. Following the 50-minute library resources session it was determined that asecond session would be dedicated to a hands-on demonstration of how toformulate a patient centered question using the mnemonic PICO. This acronymis used in formulating a patient-centered or diagnostic question in an evidence-based way. PICO is based on these four areas of knowledge and action:

● Patient or Problem or Population● Intervention (therapy/prevention, diagnosis/screening, cause/harm orprognosis)

● Comparison or Control● Outcome

This evidence-based method of searching the medical literature is designedto make a valid, successful decision based on the skills and knowledge of theresearcher and clinician, the values of the patient, and the best availablemedical evidence.

Assessment

This second class of 10 Pathway Scholars was asked to evaluate the instructorof the library resources session. The assessment is based on the Likert Scale.A scale from 1–5 was used to allow the individual to express how much theyagree or disagree with a particular statement. Two of the ten PathwayScholars were mandated to participate in the assessment of the librarysession. On the Likert Scale (Table 1), the ratings were:

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Table 2 shows the post-session questions asked.Comments made by the students in the assessment were as follows:

● The examples presented for the class to look up information on theirown worked well.

● There were too many examples and it became repetitive.● The session should be shortened slightly. It went over the allotted time.● I appreciated that the lecturer tested our understanding of informationpresented, by prompting us to answer questions, find articles and searchfor authors on our own. This made the session interactive and promotedactive learning.

● Presenting information about medical information and research, andrelating them directly to our scholarly projects was very helpful. Doingso, helped me better understand not only how to find information, butalso how to use it and apply to scholarly research.

● Lecturer communicated information clearly and expressed willingness tohelp us if further assistance was needed.

● Session was a little overwhelming because there was a lot of informationpresented for allotted time. As a result, session wrapped up after sched-uled ending time.

● In the future, it would be beneficial to extend lecture time or reduceinformation.

● Another suggestion, might be to create a handout for lecture; one withresearch and data Web sites available for students.

Table 1. Likert Scale Ratings.Likert Scale

1.00 = Strongly Disagree2.00 = Disagree3.00 = Neutral4.00 = Agree5.00 = Strongly Agree

Table 2. Evaluation Questions.15% of Pathway Scholars assigned to evaluate

MaintainedProfessionalBehavior

PresentedMaterial in aclear andunderstandablemanner

Pacedsession tosupporteffectivelearningfor timeallotted

Provided asafe andsupportivelearningenvironment

Usededucationalmaterials(PPT, videos,internet,whiteboard,etc.) toenhancelearning

Offeredinteractiveactivities,activelearning,and/orproblem-solvingexercises

Wouldbenefit frompresentingthe sessionas anIndependentLearningModule(ILM)

4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 5.0 5.0 4.0

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Successes

The first class of 10 Pathway Scholars received a Graduate Certificate inProfessional Studies in Health Sciences and met the competencies and mile-stones to matriculate into the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix in July 2015.

Summary

Each year the Director and Program Coordinator of the Pathway ScholarsProgram have determined whether it is important to include a library literacysession for the students. The author appreciates that they think of the libraryand health literacy when fostering new physicians and is hopeful that eachyear additional questions will be considered for the post session assessment.Upon approval of next year’s program, the author plans to create library preand post evaluation instruments to find out what the Pathway Scholars knewprior to and after the library instruction session.

There is a need to increase the number of physicians who are identified asunderrepresented minorities and the UA College of Medicine–PhoenixPathway Scholars Program is just one of the ways to do that. The medicalliterature shows that these physicians are most likely to serve minoritypopulations and may be able to provide a more complete type of healthcare because they can identify closely with their patients (2).

Conclusion

Hospital librarians can help to improve library literacy by seeking opportunitiesfor collaboration with academic health sciences librarians, community collegenursing and allied health librarians and high school biology teachers in deliver-ing this type of information to students before they apply to medical school.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Stephanie Hatlestad, Coordinator, Pathway Scholars Program, The Universityof Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona for her help with this column.

References

1. Frohna A. Watch me do it: three trajectories toward medical school admission in apost-baccalaureate, premedical program. Acad Med. 1999;74(10 Suppl):S62–64.

2. The University of Arizona College of Medicine- Phoenix. (2015). Pathway ScholarsProgram. http://phoenixmed.arizona.edu/pathway. (23 Sep. 2015).

3. Tsuhako S, Bell C. Imi Ho’ola Post-baccalaureate Program: one solution to the crisis ofinadequate representation of minorities in medicine. Hawaii Med J. 2002;61(4):75–76.

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4. Manusov EG, Livingston H, Wang A, Berne-Anderson T, Alston S, Foster E, et al.Student’s perspective of success in a postbaccalaureate program. J Natl Med Assoc.2011;103(9–10):822–830.

Further reading

1. Andriole DA, Jeffe DB. Characteristics of medical school matriculants who participatedin postbaccalaureate premedical programs. Acad Med. 2011;86(2):201–210.

2. Birch S, Magid A, Weber A. Library collaboration with medical humanities in anAmerican medical college in Qatar. Oman Med J. 2013;28(6):382–387.

3. Blakely AW, Broussard LG. Blueprint for establishing an effective Postbaccalaureatemedical school pre-entry program for educationally disadvantaged students. Acad Med.2003;78(5):437–447.

4. Bradley CD. Inclusion of qualified underrepresented minority students. J Natl MedAssoc. 2005;97(12):1733,4; author reply 1734.

5. Cooper RA. Impact of trends in primary, secondary, and postsecondary education onapplications to medical school. II: considerations of race, ethnicity, and income. AcadMed. 2003;78(9):864–876.

6. K. Grumbach Commentary: Adopting postbaccalaureate premedical programs toenhance physician workforce diversity. Acad Med. 2011;86(2):154–157.

7. Grumbach K, Chen E. Effectiveness of University of California postbaccalaureatepremedical programs in increasing medical school matriculation for minority anddisadvantaged students. JAMA. 2006;296(9):1079–1085.

8. Hoover E. An analysis of the association of American medical colleges’ review ofminorities in medical education. J Natl Med Assoc. 2005;97(9):1240,1242, 1244–1256.

9. Kornitzer B, Ronan E, Rifkin MR. Improving the adjustment of educationally disad-vantaged students to medical school: The Summer Enrichment Program. Mount Sinai JMed. 2005;72(5):317–321.

10. McDougle L, Way DP, Yash C. Effectiveness of a premedical postbaccalaureate pro-gram in improving medical college admission test scores of underrepresented minorityand disadvantaged students. J Natl Med Assoc. 2008;100(9):1021–1024.

11. Page KR, Castillo-Page L, Poll-Hunter N, Garrison G, Wright SM. Assessing theevolving definition of underrepresented minority and its application in academicmedicine. Acad Med. 2013;88(1):67–72.

12. Ranum DL. “Pre-medical” informatics. Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care.1993:743–746.

13. Reeves RE, Vishwanatha JK, Yorio T, Budd M, Sheedlo HJ. The post-baccalaureatepremedical certification program at the University of North Texas Health ScienceCenter strengthens admission qualifications for entrance into medical school. AcadMed. 2008;83(1):45–51.

14. Saha S, Guiton G, Wimmers PF, Wilkerson L. Student body racial and ethnic composi-tion and diversity-related outcomes in US medical schools. JAMA. 2008;300(10):1135–1145.

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