Educational Program Objectives

Undergraduate and medical students in our accelerated, 7-year BS/MD program are evaluated to a high standard of professional competencies consistent with our mission and educational program objectives. Our curriculum addresses competencies across the following seven domains.

Patient Care

• Obtain an accurate and thorough patient-centered medical history from patients, families, other health care providers, and electronic health records, including through a medical translator.
• Perform an accurate and thorough physical examination of a patient as part of both a complete and/or a focused examination while maintaining the patient’s emotional and physical comfort.
• Identify appropriate diagnostic tests and procedures, and correctly interpret their results for a range of acute and chronic medical problems.
• Demonstrate the use of sound clinical reasoning and current scientific evidence to formulate a differential diagnosis and treatment plan.
• Construct appropriate preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, and palliative management strategies for patients incorporating their cultural needs other relevant individual characteristics such as genetics, age, and social determinants of health.
• Recognize patients with critical or life-threatening conditions and initiate appropriate therapy.
• Collaborate with patients, families and healthcare professionals in a multidisciplinary approach to implement optimal and comprehensive patient care strategies.
• Perform common procedures safely and correctly while attending to patient comfort, including participating in obtaining informed consent.

Medical Knowledge

• Describe the molecular, biochemical, and cellular mechanisms that underlie normal tissue function.
• Describe the normal structure and function of the body as a whole and of each of its major organ systems.
• Delineate how normal organ function changes during early development, adolescence, and aging.
• Identify the causes and mechanisms of major categories of disease and injury, and the ways in which they present in clinical practice.
• Incorporate the principles of pharmacology and therapeutics into clinical decision making.
• Explain the scientific basis, interpretation, reliability, and validity of common screening, diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.

Life-Long Learning

• Identify strengths, deficiencies, and limits in one’s knowledge and expertise.
• Incorporate learning and improvement goals into one’s educational practice.
• Locate, critically appraise, and assimilate evidence from scientific studies and other resources related to patient and population health problems to guide thinking and practice, both in the classroom and clinical settings.
• Use information technology to optimize learning and patient care.

Interpersonal Skills and Communication

• Effectively communicate with empathy and respect with all individuals regardless of their backgrounds.
• Educate patients and their families about the nature of their illness, prognosis, and treatment options.
• Converse with patients regarding wellness, prevention, and behavior modification in order to maintain good health.
• Present information in both written and verbal forms in a clear, concise, effective, and timely manner.
• Communicate with honesty, sensitivity, and compassion in difficult conversations, including end of life issues, delivering bad news, and workplace conflicts.

Professionalism

• Demonstrate honesty, integrity, and discretion in all personal and professional activities.
• Demonstrate compassion and empathy for all individuals, including peers, patients, faculty, and staff in all interactions.
• Commit to the principles of social justice, advocating for equity and access to care.
• Collaborate effectively, acknowledging the contributions of others.
• Act in accordance with ethical principles; resolve ethical dilemmas; and prioritizing the best interest of the patient.
• Strive for excellence and continuous self-improvement through professional and personal development.
• Recognize the need to balance self-care and wellness with professional responsibilities.
• Demonstrate accountability, reliability, conscientiousness, and responsibility in all professional activities.
• Uphold professional conduct by demonstrating respect and sensitivity toward all individuals regardless of viewpoints, experiences, and beliefs.
• Represent one’s institution(s) and the medical profession in an exemplary fashion; contribute positively to all communities of which one is a member; and hold colleagues accountable for the same.

Systems-Based Practice

• Identify strategies that contribute to care coordination and transitions of care.
• Demonstrate an understanding of patient safety and its relationship to quality of patient care.
• Demonstrate an understanding of quality improvement processes.
• Describe how diversity of the health care system workforce can positively impact the health of communities.

Population Health and Community-Oriented Primary Care

• Apply the principles of epidemiology and the appropriate biostatistical tests to compare health outcomes and risk factors across groups of people.
• Examine how a range of risk factors contribute to disease and how targeted interventions can improve health outcomes across populations.
• Analyze and interpret population health and surveillance data to assess and improve the health status of populations.
• Describe how community engagement and advocacy help improve health outcomes for populations facing longstanding challenges in accessing care.
• Recognize how social hierarchies and systems of power differentially impact health care access and delivery, definitions of health and disease, and disease status of individuals and populations.
• Design and conduct research and present findings demonstrating knowledge of scientific methods and following ethical principles.
• Describe how the major components of the U.S. healthcare system and health care policies affect access, quality, and cost of health care for different populations.
• Recognize that combining clinical care with population-level approaches is essential to preventing disease, managing illness, and improving consistency in health outcomes across populations.