Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive paper is to examine the development of West Virginia University School of Medicine's integrated medical school curriculum on a regional campus.
Background: In 2003, the West Virginia University School of Medicine created a regional campus, the WVU Eastern Division, for third- and fourth-year medical students. The campus is located in a semi-rural area served by 3 small hospitals with lower numbers of physicians than average for West Virginia. Our campus was one of the first models in the United States using an integrated curricular design.
Conclusions: Assessment data suggest that students do as well on high-stakes examinations and have acquired preferred residency placements as well as students who learn in more traditional curricular models. Graduates have also remained to practice in West Virginia's Eastern panhandle, helping to meet the patient care demands of an expanding population. Our experience may help inform future efforts to develop new curricular models for student education.