Thanks to a generous grant totaling $35,000 from the Long Island Real Estate Group (LIREG), the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell has begun renovation of its clinical skills classrooms where students regularly participate in direct patient practice care sessions.
The renovations will allow faculty to observe the simulated patient encounters from outside the examination rooms which will better represent real-life clinical patient encounters while allowing for direct feedback. The simulated patient encounters, during which students take histories and perform physical examinations on standardized patients (trained actors), serve to create an immersive learning experience that fosters patient-centered, compassionate care that supports the Zucker School of Medicine’s goal of producing physicians who care deeply about the relationships they form with patients.
“Our students will now have the proper structural facility to support the development of high-quality clinical skills they will then bring to their physician-patient encounters,” said Dr. Samara Ginzburg, associate dean for case-based learning and assistant professor of medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine. “We are grateful for the LIREG gift that will allow us to enhance our ability to train future doctors in a truly patient-centered approach.”
The upgraded clinical skills rooms will feature the installation of two-way mirrors as well as audio and video tools for faculty and peer observation, assessment, and learning. New equipment and configuration will serve to replicate actual exam and hospital rooms. This remodel that will have an immediate impact on the education of our students, and a lasting benefit to the patients they serve well into the future, many of whom will be in our own community.
“LIREG is pleased to support the Zucker School of Medicine’s mission to provide the strongest educational experience for the doctors of tomorrow,” said Peter Schapero, chair of the LIREG Charity Committee. “Our donation toward the clinical skills classroom renovation project will enhance the school’s ability to turn out excellent doctors, which will ultimately benefit the patients they serve, here on Long Island and elsewhere.”
LIREG is a networking and philanthropic group composed of almost 400 professionals in the real estate industry and allied trades on Long Island. Since its founding in 2004, LIREG has contributed more than $1.4 million to numerous real estate-related projects undertaken by charities and various nonprofit institutions on Long Island.
For more information about the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, please visit medicine.hofstra.edu.
