Curriculum

This element of the curriculum focuses on the human dimensions of care by merging concepts from the humanities and arts with medicine. Students will explore the importance of effective advanced communication, observational and listening skills, ethics, professionalism, professional identity, and cultural aspects of healing. Students will learn about creative arts therapies and connect with the community through opportunities created by the School’s shared campus with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Students will learn the basic principles of research and evidence-based medical practice, including how to effectively locate, analyze, synthesize, and apply medical literature. In the process, they will be supported in developing the skills and practices needed to become life-long learners by fostering curiosity and inquiry. Students will design, implement, evaluate, and present a unique scholarly project. Scholarly endeavors will require them to define an area of need, reflect on how to meet that need, research the literature and existing resources, implement a potential solution, evaluate their project, and disseminate their findings. To support them in this activity, students will have access to mentors from a variety of research and clinical venues.

Early introduction to direct patient care starts in the first year with the Early Clinical Experience (ECE) course, emphasizing whole health principles and comprehensive clinical skills. Within the clinical skills courses, students will learn effective communication, history-taking, physical exams, clinical reasoning, and patient centered planning, and then apply those skills in the ECE course. Students will gain proficiency in preventive care, diagnostics, and therapeutics, and be introduced to procedural skills through simulation before third-year clerkships. In subsequent years, students will build on this foundation through diverse clinical experiences, emphasizing teamwork and exposure to diverse care settings. Focused discipline specific patient care opportunities will be explored during fourth-year electives.

Students will be introduced to current health system structures, processes, and their impact, with a focus on developing skills to address them. This includes understanding social determinants of health, healthcare financing, policy, and errors, alongside systems-thinking and human-centered design competencies. Skills like motivational interviewing will be applied, and leadership will be practiced in interprofessional collaboration. Principles of public, community, and population health will also be integrated.

Whole health principles and practices will be incorporated throughout the curriculum. Students will learn the fundamentals of whole-person care, taking the physical, behavioral, spiritual, and socioeconomic aspects of a person’s life experience into account. With the support of wellness coaches throughout their four-year experience, students will explore how self-care applies to their own lives and practice, and the importance of incorporating shared-care planning into clinical encounters. Self-care, effective teamwork, interprofessional collaboration, and patient empowerment will be key aspects of the whole health component of the curriculum. This element is intended to prepare students to become whole health advocates and leaders who can advance the principles of whole health throughout their future careers.