In Fall 2006, the School of Medicine implemented a new curriculum for Year 1 medical students, part of a phased process to transform the four year curriculum by better integrating clinical, scientific, and social components of medicine. Drs. Won Choi and Janet Thomas represented the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health in planning this curricular reform. Dr. Choi also serves on the Education Council, the faculty body that oversees the entire 4-year medical school curriculum.
The most notable change to the Year 1-2 curriculum was the development of systems-based blocks. Course topics in Clinical Epidemiology and Prevention and Health Promotion and Disease Prevention were integrated into these blocks with the bulk of the information presented in the Foundations Block. In addition, Preventive Medicine faculty directed several small group sessions. Details of faculty contributions in the medical school curriculum are described below:
Overview
This course is designed to cover a range of topics typically included in instruction about responsible conduct of research. Although it is intended to be appropriate to meet NIH training grant requirements for such instruction, it is up to the individual Program Director and his/her funding institute to determine whether this form of instruction will meet those requirements.
The format of this course has been designed to take advantage of the strengths of the Internet while de-emphasizing methods better adapted for a classroom setting. In practice, this means that participants in the course must spend more time reading than would otherwise be the case for a lecture course.
The remaining primary difference characterizing this course is that it takes advantage of the Internet as a communication tool. Although the course is designed to be used with different assignment formats, Email discussion groups are a significant component of this course. While maintaining the advantage of 24 hour access, Internet-based communication can meet the following goals: (1) direct and ongoing interaction with the course director; (2) opportunity to develop and "verbalize" personal stands with respect to a variety of ethical dilemmas; and (3) means to hear views of other course participants from different backgrounds, disciplines, and possibly institutions.
Course Objectives
The purpose of this course is to engage research trainees in reading about, considering, and discussing the responsible conduct of science. The course is designed as an option for meeting current federal regulations, which require that all NIH training grants provide training in the responsible conduct of research.
Website link to this course:
http://ph.kumc.edu/Resp_Code_Conduct/index.html
Course Director:
Dr. Choi directed eight hours of lecture in the Foundations Block devoted to Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Topics covered included those addressed in the former course, Clinical Epidemiology and Prevention, including study design, risk and treatment assessment, screening tests, and critical assessment of data.
Course Director:
Twelve hours of the Foundations block of the Year 1 Curriculum were devoted to addressing determinants of health. Preventive Medicine faculty members directed the sessions on Socioeconomic Environment and Health Disparities, Behavioral and Psychological Influences on Health and Disease, and Access to Quality Health Care. This integration of topics into the foundations curriculum replaced the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention course previously directed by Kimberly Engelman, PhD, Janet Thomas, PhD, and Andrea Charbonneau Ely, MD.
Preventive Medicine and Public Health Faculty hosted two small group learning sessions in the Year 1 curriculum. In the Foundations block small groups, consisting of 10 medical students each, faculty and students discussed Critical Evaluation of Clinical Trials. In the Genetics and Neoplasia block, groups worked on Cancer Screening and Prevention.
Course Directors:
Health of the Public (HOP) is a required fourth-year medical school clerkship offered three times in the academic year: October, February and April. The course is offered on both the Kansas City campus and on the Wichita campus. During the month-long clerkship students participate in interactive team-based learning sessions, attend seminars, and work in teams on a population-based health care project called their “capstone project.” The framework for the HOP capstone project student experience is based in practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) in the clinical setting. Students define a population, discuss the needs of that population, describe an intervention to address one or more of the population's needs, evaluate the appropriateness of that intervention, and address alternative methods of addressing those needs. Within the past decade student teams have engaged in over 500 projects. Preventive Medicine faculty mentored student capstone projects related to colon cancer screening, diabetes management, childhood obesity, smoking cessation, mammography, and Medicare.
Course Directors:
Course Coordinator:
Project Mentors:
Statistician
International Health Experience is an elective course that presents opportunities for the student to gain clinical and community health experiences in an international setting. The country selected is to be prearranged by the student with the assistance of faculty. Two modules are recommended for this elective. The course is offered every February on the Kansas City campus. In April the students prepare presentations and posters describing their experience.
Course Directors:
Course Coordinator:
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