Student Interviews:
Profile:
Creighton University School of Medicine is located in Omaha, Nebraska. The school consists of two campuses: one in Omaha and one in Phoenix, Arizona. The Jesuit, Catholic mission is to improve the human condition by providing excellence in medical education to healthcare professionals and members of the community and advancing medical knowledge. The School of Medicine’s most recent class consisted of 155 matriculants from 30 states and 80 undergraduate institutions. Affiliated hospitals include University Campus of CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan Mercy, Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, and CHI Health Immanuel Hospital. Creighton University SOM offers MD/PhD, MD/MBA, MD/MS in Clinical and Translational Sciences, as well as a MD/Certificate in Medical Ethics programs.
Curriculum:
The first year curriculum at Creighton is intended to provide students with a foundational understanding of the biological sciences within a clinically oriented system of courses that facilitates integration of classroom learning and clinical application. Students are also introduced to principles of medical ethics and behavioral science. In the second year students continue to learn the basic sciences with increasingly integrated clinical medicine skills that include patient interviews. team-based scenarios, and laboratory sessions. The third and fourth year clerkships give students exposure to the various specialities along side longitudinal clinical skills courses.
Curriculum Highlights:
—Vital Signs Mentoring: Students in each year are provided with mentoring opportunities that help them learn coping skills, develop interprofessional and interpersonal communication skills, gain access to healthcare professionals within various specialties, and work on living balanced lifestyles. MS1’s are placed with MS2 the transition to medical school. These pairs or ‘buddies’ are also paired with MS3 and MS4 peer mentors under the supervision of faculty mentors. There are also over 100 faculty members who have volunteered as Career Mentors to guide older medical students through the process of choosing a career path.
—The Magis Clinic is a partnership between the School of Medicine and various organizations in the community that provide free healthcare to homeless or medically uninsured men, women, and children. The student-run organization provides primary care consultation and follow-up, physical exams, laboratory testing, mental health services, STD testing, and many other basic services. The Clinic also allows students to collaborate with students from the Creighton School of Pharmacy.
—Project Crura: Project Crura is a global health opportunity aimed at fostering in Creighton Students an understanding of of international health disparities. Students can spend month long periods in various host communities. The most recent group of students traveled to Guatemala, India, Uganda, and Indonesia (amongst other countries) to provide health education and primary prevention to underserved communities with poor access to healthcare.
Location: Omaha is the largest city in Nebraska. The city is also home to many venues for the arts with a wide variety of theaters and museums including the Omaha Community Playhouse and Bemis Center for for Contemporary Arts. Additionally, the annual College World Series for NCAA basketball attracts college basketball fans from all over the country for one of the years most exciting tournaments. Notably, the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo was named ‘best zoo in the world’ and Omaha is the 5th coldest major city in the country!
Grading Scheme: Honors/Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory