The Humerus Daily

PHILADELPHIA, PA – “MPH? What does that stand for?” said one 4th year medical student, shortly after learning that Thomas Jefferson University is home to more than just Sidney Kimmel Medical College. “I thought the other health mentor program students were standardized patients.” This student’s shock came after a GroupMe post in an SKMC class group chat advertising a joint event between student organizations in the nursing and medical schools, which triggered a series of revelations that, in addition to those programs, Jefferson also houses physical therapy and pharmacy schools, as well as at least two other programs.  

Perhaps more interesting is the story of why this knowledge came as an epiphany to the university’s medical students. In an interview with THD, newly appointed Student Affairs Dean and staff pulmonologist Dr. Anita Kauff explained that medical students do not find this information “high yield.” She further explained that some students understand that other healthcare professionals may exist at Jefferson, but don’t expect to encounter them outside of HSS lectures. The lack of attendance of these lectures, however, begs the question: how can we incentivize medical students to understand that the people they will work with beyond school are from other professions? After a long pause, Dr. Kauff explained, “we have begun putting materials explaining the situation in First-Aid format on the back of every door on campus. This will hopefully enter their consciousness, and they will realize this campus is used by other students.”  

While these efforts have yielded minimal results so far, Dr. Kauff remains cautiously optimistic that medical students may someday be able to process the existence of other programs at Jefferson. Meanwhile, efforts to introduce medical students to social lives outside of school, a much more ambitious goal, are planned to commence starting next fall.