Summarizing what community faculty members do for the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) can be hard because their contributions are as wide and far-reaching as their own medical disciplines. The primary focus of the Office for Community Faculty is to establish and maintain relationships with medical professionals who are willing to donate their time to mentor and educate medical, physician assistant, and speech pathology and audiology students.
“The OCF supports those committed to educating tomorrow's health care professionals,” Amy McFarland, MPH, director of the Office for Community Faculty, said. “Currently the OCF team supports over 1,100 community and joint faculty statewide.” McFarland has been with the school for 18 years.
Those community faculty members come from a wide range of practices, disciplines and locations ranging from the dense urban centers of Reno and Las Vegas all the way out to smaller rural communities and beyond. They volunteer to share their knowledge and expertise with UNR Med students in a wide variety of practice environments.
“From their own patient exam rooms to the lecture halls of the medical school, community and joint faculty provide unique learning opportunities for our learners,” according to UNR Med. “And in turn, our learners — as future health care professionals — value community and joint faculty for the real-world perspective and mentorship.”
McFarland believes that maintaining as diverse a faculty as possible is extremely important to giving students a well-rounded education. Getting real-world experience can help students to truly understand where their passion for medicine will take them.
“As a medical student, I had many ‘Ah-ha!’ moments where the didactic instruction of the first two years was solidified,” said Jonathan Slothower, D.O., a pediatrician based in Elko, Nevada. “This is where I decided to become a pediatrician rather than go into anesthesia. This is the influence that a community faculty member can have.”
Full circle
The OCF has been doing its job for a long time. The office has been doing it for so long, in fact, that many graduates or residency and fellowship alums come back to teach as a community or joint faculty member.
“It's very rewarding when alumni return to Nevada and they want to give back by teaching,” McFarland said. “That's something that's quite remarkable and I think speaks to the generosity and commitment of our alumni and community providers.”
Keeping that cycle of learning going is important to the community faculty members, too.
“It's an important part of our evolution from student to practitioner,” Joseph Olivarez, PA-C, physician assistant supervisor, said. “Consider this, when you were a student, someone, in fact, multiple people, gave their time to train you. Now, you have a chance to pay that forward. By training future practitioners, it's a great opportunity to leave your legacy in medicine.”
“We have a lot of practical experience to share with the students to round out their education. Book learning and academics are an essential foundation and we add the real life practical experiences that are necessary for success,” Elisabeth Mates, M.D., Ph.D., internal medicine physician at the VA Sierra Nevada, said.
Student perspective
While the OCF deals primarily with physicians and other medical professionals, its goals all point in one direction: supporting health care professionals who educate medical students, physician assistant studies, and speech pathology and audiology students as well as residents and fellows. Everything they do is ultimately to enrich and increase the education of the students.
McFarland makes sure to highlight this link by including community faculty spotlights written by students in her newsletters. McFarland said that recognition is important to help faculty understand the impact their work has on students and the appreciation that UNR Med has for their contributions and support.
Based on the gratitude and praise in the newsletters, the students at UNR Med clearly understand and value the education they receive. In one recent newsletter, Maliha Masud, MS3, nominated Paul M. Stumpf, M.D., for recognition.
“Whether teaching important anatomical landmarks during surgery, sharing compelling stories of his time in residency, or providing breakfast for students before weekend rounds, Dr. Stumpf consistently demonstrates his devotion and genuine happiness in preparing this generation of physicians for a lifetime of service,” Masud wrote. “Thank you so much, Dr. Stumpf, for significantly impacting the lives and medical education of many students like myself.”
Students value the experience and perspective provided directly from health care providers.
“I believe all incoming students should have an understanding of the role that community faculty members play in their education,” Tim Ogburn, MS3, said. “They are not just physicians that determine what grade you receive after rotating with them, they are mentors who are excited to share their knowledge. They are participants in the goal to overcome the health care disparities and inaccessibility that our community faces.”
Looking for more
The OCF is always looking for new community faculty. McFarland is quick to give her pitch to prospective volunteers.
“We are always looking for clinicians who would be interested in precepting a student in their practice or their facility. Anything from primary care to subspecialties, medical centers to private practice, are vital in establishing diverse learning environments,” she said. “Students get to see the impact physicians have on their patients’ lives, they get to experience that in practice, and that's something that can't be learned strictly in the classroom.”
In addition to being able to contribute to the education of the next generation of health care providers, there are other benefits as well:
A few of the benefits include:
- Access to the Savitt Medical Library
- Free and discounted continuing medical education credits
- Professional development events and resources
- Wolf Pack athletic discounts
- Grants-in-aid
- Faculty rates for the fitness center
- Discounts on computers, software and other company discounts
To anyone thinking about joining, community faculty members themselves offer up their recommendations as well.
“Education has always been an important part of my personal and professional life,” Slothower said. “I have received some excellent instruction from preceptors that have mentored me, and I feel it is important for me to provide a good learning experience for the next generation of providers. If you have any desire to be involved in hands-on learning, just do it.”
“Working with students is a joyful and challenging experience. It pushes you to dig into the fundamentals of practicing medicine and reminds you of the enthusiasm that drew you into the field initially,” Mates said.
Olivarez said he decided to become part of the community faculty thanks to the addition of the PA Studies program. “I knew that they would really need preceptors and I know this is an important part of medical training,” he said. “It can often be difficult to find preceptors. If someone is considering becoming a community faculty member, I cannot recommend it enough.”
McFarland is always interested in fostering new relationships with health care providers. Anyone who is committed to educating future health care professionals is encouraged to reach out.
“The great thing about our community and joint faculty is that they really do support the educational and research missions,” she said. “Those that are interested can reach out to our office and we can talk with them about their experiences and interests, and how they might want to be involved.”
