Philosophy or Structure of Curriculum

As the nation’s pioneer community-based medical school, the College of Human Medicine faculty embraced the challenge of pioneering a curriculum that responded to what is known about adult learners. Becoming a doctor is not a linear path. It is a complex process of developing and integrating skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors while building toward independent practice. The Shared Discovery Curriculum (SDC) was built with that in mind. It draws on core principles of adult and medical education including self-direction, interaction (social learning), integration, experimentation, practice, and mentorship. The curriculum is grounded in the work of adult learning theorists such as Schon, Vygotsky, Dewey and others who hold that learning is social, contextual and experiential.

Serving patients is a core value of the college, and that value permeates all aspects of the SDC. We start students in clinical experiences early in their first year, and work to ensure that students are exposed to multiple settings, systems and medical professionals from a variety of subspecialties. Even our classroom-based time is organized around patients. The SCRIPT competencies (Service, Care of Patients, Rationality, Integration, Professionalism, Transformation) sit at the heart of the curriculum. These competencies, consistent with the ACGME competencies, serve as the benchmarks students must reach in order to be able to be effective day one residents. The chief complaints and concerns further expand on the SCRIPT competencies by describing 96 key patient complaints and concerns and the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to care for patients.

Throughout a given week, in addition to one or more clinical experiences, students attend large groups, small groups, labs and simulation. While the C3 documents ground the curriculum, our communities (The Academy in ECE and MCE and Community Campuses in LCE) ground our students. In these community spaces, students learn with peers under the guidance of highly qualified faculty and staff. These communities serve as both social and academic spaces.

Since our curriculum is competency-based, students are assessed on progressing toward meeting end competencies. All of the assessments feed into a specific aspect of SCRIPT in a student’s portfolio. Twice a semester students engage in progress testing. Progress testing includes testing that encompasses skills and knowledge in both simulated clinical and multiple-choice structures. Students can use their progress testing to monitor their progress through the curriculum on their way to becoming skilled residents.