4th year medical student Cody Reynolds (standing) practices an examination of the lymphatic drainage of the head and chest of Associate Dean for Clinical Sciences and Health Policy Fellow Dr. Randy Litman, DO, at University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (UP-KYCOM), Pikeville, KY on Tuesday, July 12, 2011. The small size of this lab forces classes to be split, extending the school day and making the instructional content inconsistent.
Dr. Reynolds will be in the first class to graduate from (but not study in) the new Coal Building, to be finished in 2012. The building is part of the $25 million expansion project at UP-KYCOM. The project will provide the undergraduate college with a new educational facility and an expanded clinical skills center. The nine-story structure is part of the new facility that will include two lecture halls, a gross anatomy lab, two research labs, offices, small group classrooms and student study space. A clinical skills training and evaluation center that will house 12 specially equipped examination rooms will be within the building and serve as training and testing centers for students in programs using standardized patients and high-fidelity robotic patient simulators. An expanded osteopathic manipulative medicine lab and clinic will provide learning opportunities, as well as housing UP-KYCOM’s free community clinic, which will be easy to reach from the sidewalk. Plans for the building also include a new cafeteria for the campus community. “We are embarking on a vital project that will greatly enhance the excellent medical education our student doctors receive,” said Pikeville College President Paul E. Patton. “At the same time, it will allow us to expand the current class size from 75 to 125 students, increasing the total enrollment from 300 to 500 students. The college initiated a capital construction campaign. In order to secure adequate funding, the board of trustees authorized borrowing up to $25 million