The spotlight shined on medical education for one April week – highlighting the University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville’s depth of simulation education, showcasing the importance of academic health centers and grooming the next generation of medical students by partnering with a local high school.

Those activities and many more over the week of April 9-13 injected several doses of enthusiasm into students, residents, fellows, faculty and staff during the 4th annual Medical Education Week on the Jacksonville campus.

The week has grown steadily each year since Jacksonville expanded to its own weeklong celebration to give more people the opportunity to participate in the lectures and activities, said Constance K. Haan, M.D., M.S., senior associate dean for educational affairs on the Jacksonville campus.

Faculty, residents and fellows submitted abstracts about various leaps forward in medical education and three presenters were chosen for separate noon lectures throughout the week. All of the posters were available for viewing on Thursday, including about 20 from local students, most of who were from Darnell Cookman Middle/High School, School of the Medical Arts.

Student projects ranged from whether kids learn better from adults or from other kids, the effects of different suturing patterns on the strength of a stitch, and the effect video games have on the length of time teenaged girls can tolerate pain.

"It sort of gets us revitalized when we see what the high school students are doing and, to be honest," Haan joked, "it makes me wonder what I’ve been doing with my life."

Awards were given to the top faculty and resident presentations. Christopher B. Scuderi, D.O., an assistant professor of community health and famly medicine, won for his presentation "From crawling to running: innovative medical student rotation curriculum for PCMH chronic disease registries."

The top resident award went to emergency medicine residents Jonathan Journey, M.D., and Charles Fawsett, M.D., for "Pediatric emergency care safety initiative (PECSI): an e-learning educational program for just-in-time training and continuing education."

The Jacksonville campus’ prowess in simulation education again showed during Sim Wars, where interdisciplinary teams were put through a simulated emergency and were scored on their performance.

The competition continued to focus on interdisciplinary teams – a growing trend in the practice of medicine. It’s a paradigm shift the college is really trying to emphasize and instill in the educational process.

"We use the phrase 'We work as we train,'" Haan said. "If we train as a team, we’ll work as a team."

Those in the audience learn from the various scenarios, as do the residents taking part in front of their peers and mentors.

"It really showcased areas where they showed good judgment under the spotlight, which is what we want in our doctors," Haan said.

The winning team was Teri Mayfield, M.D. (emergency medicine); Virginia "Ginny" Winston, M.D. (obstetrics and gynecology); Amita Singh, M.D. (internal medicine) and Vinoo Ramsaran, M.D. (internal medicine).

Daniel R. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., vice president for health affairs and dean of the UF College of Medicine—Jacksonville, gave the keynote speech on Thursday, discussing the importance of academic health centers on the national health care system.

Only 3 percent of the hospitals in the U.S. are part of academic health centers, but they perform more than a third of all hospital care for the uninsured.

"We have some of the best doctors in the state treating some of the sickest patients in the state, without always the regard from the community that is warranted," Wilson said.

Haan said Wilson’s speech had something for everyone, including the high school students in attendance.

As the event continues to grow, Haan said campus leaders are looking at how to make the event more of a community spotlight, yet still keep it the size where residents and faculty can pop by during breaks in their day to catch lectures or scan the poster presentations.

"It gets better every year," Haan said. "We want to continue to show this campus as a resource to the whole community."