Discover how Randolph-Macon College utilizes the Elsevier health education suite of products to support their spiral curriculum and provide students with reliable study resources.
The Program
The Randolph-Macon College launched its Physician Assistant (PA) program in January 2023, marking a new chapter in healthcare education for the institution. With a fresh curriculum built from the ground up, Randolph-Macon embraced a problem-based learning (PBL) model designed to rapidly prepare students for clinical decision-making.
Their spiral curriculum, organized by organ systems, revisits topics with increasing complexity, breadth, and depth. “We add multiple lenses on the same topic to give learners different ways to put memory hooks in and remember what they’ve come across,” shares Erich Grant, MMS, PA-C, Chair and Physician Assistant Program Director at Randolph-Macon. This approach demands robust, flexible learning materials to support students’ evolving needs. Grant emphasizes, “Our belief is that if you understand the normal, you can figure out most abnormal. If students don’t understand the normal, they are going to be hunting in the dark for things that they remember from a three by five card, which is not the same as thinking like a clinician.”
The Challenge
Faculty required high-quality digital resources aligned with a fast-paced, PBL curriculum, along with effective solutions to support anatomy education in the absence of a cadaver lab.
With a fast-paced, PBL-centered curriculum, faculty needed dynamic resources aligned with their teaching objectives to efficiently deliver foundational and clinical content. Selecting pre-work, remediation, leveling, and exam prep materials was critical to providing engaging digital multimedia that helped learners grasp complex concepts and prepare for clinical decision-making.
Additionally, the program opted against building a cadaver lab, seeking a digital alternative that integrated smoothly with lectures and accommodated diverse anatomy backgrounds. “We were building this program at a small liberal arts college and we’re seeing more and more schools choose not to build cadaver labs,” shares Grant. “In addition, emerging studies support the efficacy of anatomical teaching models that use digital resources vs. cadaveric experiences. With this in mind, we opted to push the envelope and immerse the students in a modern anatomical teaching suite that can be used longitudinally.”
The Solution
Osmosis, Complete Anatomy, and ClinicalKey Student PA were introduced early in the development of Randolph-Macon’s PA program, championed by team members like Grant who had prior experience with the platforms.
Osmosis quickly became a core tool to accelerate learning.
“The best way to get students up to speed really quickly is to tie Osmosis modules from basic science, pathophysiology, etc. into pre-readings for the week and the lectures that support the problem-based learning activities.”
Erich Grant, MMS, PA-C, Chair and Physician Assistant Program Director
“The best way to get students up to speed really quickly is to tie Osmosis modules from basic science, pathophysiology, etc. into pre-readings for the week and the lectures that support the problem-based learning activities,” explains Grant.
Given Randolph-Macon’s spiral curriculum “asks a lot of supporting materials. Most textbooks are not built that way, and even electronic textbooks tend to be too specialized or rapidly out of date,” making Osmosis an ideal fit.
Forgoing a cadaver lab, the program adopted Complete Anatomy as an interactive, detailed anatomy visualization tool offering 3D models, pre-recorded videos, and interactive features.
“Complete Anatomy was the best. It was the cleanest, it was the most versatile, portable, and frankly, the most affordable for when you look at all the things together.”
“Complete Anatomy was the best. It was the cleanest, it was the most versatile, portable, and frankly, the most affordable for when you look at all the things together,” shares Grant.
For advanced clinical content and exam prep, ClinicalKey Student PA was selected to provide reliable support as students prepared for exams like the PANCE®. Faculty could assign targeted content while encouraging students to explore additional materials independently, balancing guided and self-directed learning.
The Result
Elsevier’s health education suite of products equips Randolph-Macon faculty and learners with the resources necessary to efficiently teach and learn essential concepts in their fast-paced program.
With the support of a progressive leadership team dedicated to lifelong learning and integrating smart technology, Osmosis, Complete Anatomy, and ClinicalKey Student PA became key resources with high adoption rates.
New faculty were encouraged to rethink traditional teaching methods. “We don’t have to default to a traditional lecture,” shares Grant. Traditional PowerPoints are not always the best solution. “It’s often a brain dump and not based on educational theory. It’s not using dual coding. It’s not doing things that are known to be helpful for retention.” With a blank slate, the program leaned into digital solutions and urged faculty to innovate their teaching.
Osmosis serves as a central learning tool, saving faculty time on content creation and enabling easy assignment of pre-work. This improves student readiness for clinical practice and exams like the PANCE ®. Faculty also found Osmosis videos to be excellent tools to help the level of student learning.
“Students come in with variable amounts of expertise, and Osmosis videos really help level the cohort. That allows us to then layer on top the nuance of clinical medicine and patient-centered factors.”
“Students come in with variable amounts of expertise, and Osmosis videos really help level the cohort. That allows us to then layer on top the nuance of clinical medicine and patient-centered factors,” notes Grant.
Complete Anatomy enhances faculty instruction with clear visuals and interactivity, which especially benefits students with weaker anatomy backgrounds. Faculty have found the “Students who may have a weaker anatomy background will need more time in the videos and the platform,” explains Grant. As a result, Complete Anatomy has become an essential tool for leveling anatomical understanding across varied student backgrounds throughout the curriculum.
As the curriculum progresses into treatment phases, ClinicalKey Student PA content became an invaluable tool that helps students organize their study materials and deepens their clinical understanding. Later, as students’ progress and begin exam preparation, ClinicalKey Student PA is often used as a reliable study resource to recommend to students.
When it comes to teaching core concepts, the combination of these resources is the key to success. Together, these resources create a cohesive and dynamic learning environment that prepares students thoroughly for clinical practice and board examinations.
“Faculty frequently include Osmosis videos as the pre-reading. As we get into the treatment phases, ClinicalKey Overviews for illness, scripts, etc. are really helpful as the students try to catalogue their study materials and go back and challenge each other.”
“Faculty frequently include Osmosis videos as the pre-reading. As we get into the treatment phases, ClinicalKey Overviews for illness, scripts, etc. are really helpful as the students try to catalogue their study materials and go back and challenge each other.”
