Medical Students, Accused of Cheating, Face Possible Expulsion

March 28, 2011, 3:23 pm

The State University of New York Upstate Medical University is investigating allegations that some fourth-year students cheated in a medical-literature course, reports The Post-Standard, in Syracuse. The students, who are scheduled to graduate in May, could be expelled, or face lesser punishment, if the charges are true, said the dean, Steven Scheinman. One student told school officials that some students in the course had collaborated in taking online tests, which is not permitted.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

E-mail

akprof

What is a medical literature course? Just curious.
nnnwww

The linked article – http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/upstate_medical_students_may_b.html – says: “The course is designed to train students to analyze medical literature.”

I can’t find a description for a fourth-year course on the web site, but the second-year description is:
“Medical Literature Curriculum (MLC-II)

This required course runs throughout the second year (along with basic science courses concerned primarily with mechanisms of disease and therapeutics). The Medical Literature Curriculum course consists of a mixture of readings including case reports, supplemental commentaries (editorials and topic reviews) and some primary research reports. The case readings represent a continuation of the modeling of clinical problem solving done in the first year course but are selected to represent increasingly complex derangements of organ system function and a major focus is on the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms. The supplemental readings are intermixed to promote the idea that students look to the current literature for new insights into difficult areas in medicine. The articles selected represent current hypotheses and recent findings related to important and unresolved areas of disease mechanisms and management.” http://www.upstate.edu/com/curriculum/courses/ms2.php

http://www.upstate.edu/courseware/casestudy/overview/ seems to be an overview. It appears that fourth-year students take MLC III.
tptrekker

Whew. It is some relief that it was not in a course on Medical Ethics.
wbgleason

I wonder if they discharge medical school faculty for ghostwriting at that institution?
akprof

Thanx for the explanation – I’d hope that by the senior year (if not earlier) the students were focusing on Evidence Based Medicine – and not just a variety of articles on disparate topics. There is a specific process for identifying best practices in medicine, based on evidence – if nurses learn this – and they do – then surely physicians should also know and apply the process.
jffoster

I too thank you for the explanation. I thought maybe Medical Literature analysis was a course in which they learned to examine a book’s appendix.
AbdulKareemaWheat

“Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”

“Well, sorry, I cheated in that class, so you’ll have to figure it out on your own. But hey, fortunately, I wasn’t expelled.”