(Republished with permission from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This article originally ran in the Business section on Thursday, October 13, 2005)
By Judith VandeWater
Of the Post-Dispatch
Academic medical centers translate scientific discovery into lifesaving treatments. The process requires the exchange of ideas between scientists, who explore theories, and clinicians, who treat patients.
The new Farrell Learning and Teaching Center at Washington University School of Medicine was designed to start those conversations early in medical careers.
The $35 million building, which opened in August, brings graduate students in the biosciences together with first- and second-year medical students. Third- and fourth-year medical students, who spend most of their time in the hospital, are welcome, too.
Besides formal lecture halls and wet and dry labs, the six-story building offers plenty of comfortable gathering spaces, where faculty and students are encouraged to meet as peers.
“What sets Washington University apart, and makes it a premier institution, are the people who work here, teach here and learn here,” said Alison Whelan, associate dean for medical education. “We felt throughout, if we could create a space that could bring those people together so they could get to know each other, that will enhance medical education.”
Washington University wanted a building that would be a fitting focal point for one of the nation’s top medical schools, said lead architect Gyo Obato.
The site on Euclid Avenue near Barnes Plaza was so cramped and challenging that it necessitated the closing of Scott Avenue. Now in its place, a soaring entry atrium serves as the medical school’s town square.
The light-drenched lobby still draws plenty of foot traffic. It houses an Internet cafe and is a direct route from student residences to the sprawling hospital and research complex.
Enclosed walkways connect Farrell to the North laboratory and administration building, to a conference center and to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The imposing brick facade of the North building forms an interior wall for the atrium. Students climbing the four-story, open stairway in Farrell’s lobby can look across at young scientists at work in the North building laboratories.
The limestone and brick of the North building is repeated in Farrell’s facade. Obato designed the Farrell windows to be similar size to those in the North building. The result: Farrell is distinctive without appearing out of place on the historic campus.
The building accommodates creative teachers and insomniac students: It is open 24 hours a day.
“A long time ago, much of what we did was lecture,” Whelan said. “We’ve evolved from that, as have most other medical schools.”
There are still lectures in large halls, but much of the learning now is in discussion groups of eight to 15 students. These sessions meet in smaller rooms that can be configured to suit the moderator.
“Our teachers tend to take very creative approaches,” Whelan said. For example, a neurologist is host for a game-show-style course review.
“It’s fun and educational, and at the same time she is reinforcing the concepts,” Whelan said. “One pathologist writes songs and sings them. There are some things you just need to memorize, and it’s a really great way to get across facts.”
When the core lectures and labs wind down in the afternoon, the building gets a second wave of activity. In one session, post-doctoral students and medical residents learn to make formal presentations at scientific meetings. In another, foreign students study English as a second language.
“We’ve been booked from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days of the week,” said Amy Meyer, director of the center.
Much of the time students spend at Farrell is unstructured. They study individually or in small, self-selected groups; the groups are assigned study rooms for the year.
Rooms are larger for first-year students, because in that initial pass-fail year, emphasis is placed on building collegiality, Meyer said. The groups and rooms shrink in the second year, when the course work becomes more rigorous.
Every classroom seat, lab table and study carrel has ports for Internet access and power. Some students still take notes on paper, but most use laptops. Lectures, supporting slides and other course materials are searchable in a comprehensive database.
“The use of technology is very important to us,” Meyer said. “Here, you can use it everywhere you go.”
Quick study
The high-tech carries over into the high-touch courses, too.
A clinical-skills suite has 13 exam rooms surrounding a central staging area. Here, students learn to get comfortable touching and examining patients, asking personal questions and delivering unwelcome news.
The rooms are really stages equipped with recording devices; the patients are actors trained to mimic symptoms and critique students’ techniques. Instructors observe through a one-way mirror or follow the action on a central video panel.
A student logs in to a computer terminal outside of an exam room and reads a brief note on the “patient’s” history and current complaint. The student may be prompted to listen to a recording of a heart murmur or shown an X-ray of a cancerous lung – problems that can’t be imitated by an actor.
First-year students may be given up to 30 minutes to make a diagnosis and deliver a treatment plan. Third-year students are expected to complete such encounters in 10 to 15 minutes.
Medical-licensing exams require students to assess 12 patients in a day, and students trained in the simulation suites perform much better on the test, said Lucas Huang, president and chief executive of B-Line Medical of Columbia, Md., which set up the hardware and software for the exam simulation rooms.
Pressure valve
Medical school demands a mastery of science, but clinical practice requires an appreciation of humanity, too.
“Our students aren’t just about the science,” Meyer said. “They are creative and bright. The arts are very important to them.”
To feed that appetite and take the edge off the academic pressure, students are free to play a baby grand piano in a large lounge at Farrell. The space has inspired students to organize a series of coffee concerts. One group is planning a spring musical.
Paintings, black-and-white photographs of human forms and collages are on display throughout the building.
“We’re encouraging faculty members to loan us art,” said Meyer.
An anonymous donor gave $20,000 to endow a fund to buy art materials for medical students who are interested in creating art.
Jeremy Orr, a second-year medical student and a musician, served on the art committee.
“The arts and humanities are really important in medicine,” Orr said. “Having that gives us insight into the human condition. That is important, because doctors are out there dealing with human emotion.”
Farrell Learning and Teaching Center
What it is:
A $35 million building, opened in August, at Washington University School of Medicine
What it does:
Brings together graduate students in the biosciences and first- and second-year medical students. Encourages students and faculty to mingle.
What’s inside:
- Lecture halls
- Wet and dry labs
- Internet access at each classroom seat, lab table, study carrel
- Clinical skills suite, where students practice diagnosing
- Informal gathering places
- Small discussion and study rooms
- Lounge equipped with baby grand piano
- Art works on display
Copyright 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.