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Designing Enrichment Projects to Complement Traditional Medical 
Education 
Michael Robinson, PhD; Tyler G. Hughes, MD

z.umn.edu/JRMC
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Michael Robinson, PhD; Associate Dean for Foundational Sciences, KU-SOM Salina, mrobinson2@kumc.edu 
Tyler G. Hughes, MD; Director of Medical Education, KU-SOM Salina, thughes55@kumc.edu  
 
All work in JRMC is licensed under CC BY-NC  

Volume 2, Issue 3 (2019)             Journal of Regional Medical Campuses         Abstract 

Designing Enrichment Projects to Complement 
Traditional Medical Education 
Michael Robinson, PhD; Tyler G. Hughes, MD 
 
Topic 
 
Two years ago the University of Kansas School of Medicine undertook a redesign of its curriculum. The current emphasis is on small 
group and active learning with the intent of bringing clinical experience and correlation to the earlier years of medical school. During 
the first 2 years of medical school there are nine teaching blocks, eight of which are of nine weeks duration, namely eight weeks of 
tuition followed by one week labelled SER (Scholarship, Enrichment and Remediation). The majority of students who successfully 
complete the eight week block carry out an enrichment project from a selection approved by KU-SOM. At our regional medical 
school in Salina, Kansas, we have used these weeks to engage both students and non-traditional faculty in clinical and professional 
endeavors not typically stressed in the main curriculum. Examples include experiences in pathology, ophthalmology, pre-hospital 
care, aviation safety applied to medical situations, and basic surgical skills, among others. 
 
Short Description 
 
This was a presentation at the GRMC meeting in Spokane, WA in 2019 on the use of short Enrichment experiences in the M1, M2 
years between teaching blocks to introduce students to areas of medicine not typically included in medical school curriculum at the 
University of Kansas School of Medicine, Salina. This has been very popular with students and faculty alike. The session will include a 
discussion of the process, small group discussions on how to implement such programs as well as their research potential and a 
wrap of results of the session. 
 
Four questions that were posed to/considered by session participants 
 

1) How can a regional campus best maximize the Enrichment opportunity? 
2) What topics/activities would be beneficial to students? 
3) How do we maximize research opportunities? 
4) Will all students benefit equally? 

 
Three take home points from our session 
 

1) Enrichment weeks are well accepted by medical students 
2) Enrichment allows development of knowledge in areas not stressed by the main curriculum 
3) Enrichment courses can serve as pilot projects for eventual inclusion into the main curriculum