Curriculum Overview

• • The Current Curriculum Structure at the Regional Campus
  • The New Curriculum-starting in Academic Year 2007-2008
  • First Year
  • Second Year
  • Third Year
  • Fourth Year

The Current Curriculum Structure at the Regional Campus

Starting in the fall of 2004, the University of Miami School of Medicine began offering medical students two campus options at which to begin the medical curriculum.

The Regional Campus is called The University of Miami School of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University (UMMSM at FAU). It is supported by the State of Florida and is fully-accredited under the accreditation granted to the University of Miami School of Medicine by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the sole accrediting body for all allopathic medical schools in the United States and Canada. It is a unique collaborative effort between an established, nationally recognized private medical school and a large public university that is part of the State of Florida University System.

The program offers University of Miami medical students the opportunity to complete the first two years of the medical curriculum in Boca Raton before transferring to Miami to complete years three and four at the UM/Jackson Memorial Hospital Campus.

The Class of 2010 will be the last group of students to be enrolled in this curriculum.

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The New Curriculum-starting in Academic Year 2007-2008

The Class of 2011, students entering in August 2007, are enrolled in this curriculum. In all aspects, the Regional Campus emphasizes the centrality of collaborative relationships to successful learning and in the delivery of the highest quality health care. The curriculum places a priority on active, collaborative, learner-centered methodologies and uses a chronic illness model to prioritize the knowledge, skills and attitudes required of physicians to practice in today's health care system.

Clinical experiences emphasize interdisciplinary, team-based, complex disease management with a major focus on continuity care, health maintenance and disease prevention. Throughout the four years of study, this innovative curriculum will be anchored by two courses, the Integrated Patient Care course, an experience wherein students are assigned to a community primary care clinic, and the Physicianship Skills course that provides learning opportunities in the non-traditional competency areas that are fundamental to a modern physician's skill-set. Each student follows a patient panel, beginning in the first year, throughout all four years of the curriculum. Students form Learning Communities of approximately 8 students each who share and learn from each others patients and clinical experiences. The required coursework is arranged to allow students extended opportunities to pursue specialized areas of study including masters degrees in public health or business administration (Dual Degrees), or certificates of achievement in biomedical research. In addition to a community physician preceptor, each student is assigned to a clinician faculty mentor to work collaboratively with their student.

The educational track and environment on the Regional Campus aim to foster and promote collegial and collaborative behaviors among students, faculty, physicians and patients. Throughout the curriculum, students will assume increasing responsibility for their education. Students will be assessed throughout each year to determine the extent to which they have mastered the core program content and critical skills necessary to become an effective physician.

The Regional Campus is a patient-centered learning environment that emphasizes patient involvement and positive patient outcomes, especially patient safety and satisfaction, throughout the curriculum.

The educational track breaks down traditional barriers between disciplines. In addition to integrating the basic and clinical sciences, the curriculum includes and integrates the behavioral and social sciences in all four years. The curriculum recognizes that an effective, modern practitioner requires a skills set that transcends the biological sciences and the treatment of disease. In addition to providing a strong foundation in the biomedical sciences, the curriculum at the Regional Campus places emphasis on these areas:

• Humanistic medicine
• Professionalism
• Reflective Practice and Self-Improvement
• Quality Improvement and Outcomes Management
• Patient Safety
• Information Management and Evidence Driven Decision Making
• Comprehensive Chronic Disease Management
• Inter-professional Care and Teamwork
• Population Based Medicine

Similar to the curriculum in place at Miami, the Regional Campus employs a variety of modern educational methodologies that require students to be active and responsible learners. The curriculum focuses on faculty and student-led small group experiences wherein basic science concepts are introduced and assimilated in light of common disease states and clinical relevancy. These sessions are supported by lectures.

Also similar to the curriculum in place at Miami, an over-arching longitudinal theme throughout all four years of the curriculum at Boca Raton is the acquisition and refinement of clinical skills through expert teaching and frequent patient interactions. Full time UMMSM clinical faculty, working with community-based faculty physicians at multiple Palm Beach County hospitals and clinics provide the supervision and venues for clinical training. Among these sites are Boca Raton Community Hospital, Bethesda Memorial Hospital, and JFK Medical Center, and the Palm Beach County Department of Health.

Each of the students at the Regional Campus, like students at the Miami campus, is a member of an Academic Society. These societies play unique roles in the curriculum by emphasizing cooperation in the learning process, fostering leadership, and by providing a collegial environment in which faculty and upper classmen mentor newer students in the basic sciences, the clinical sciences, the art of medicine, medical decision-making, the acquisition of diagnostic skills through patient interactions. The mentoring process is four years long, extending from the first days of medical school right through the residency matching process in the fourth year.

A general description of the curriculum at the regional medical campus in Boca Raton is given below.

First Year

The first year of the curriculum is the beginning of a four-year continuum where students begin the clinical experience through assignment to a community preceptor and a panel of patients to begin assimilating the concepts of continuity of care, and the skills and behaviors of physicians. In parallel, students are introduced to the fundamental concepts and vocabulary of the basic sciences and human organ systems using a combination of small group case-based learning exercises, supported by didactic lectures. Throughout the first two years, clinical cases will be utilized to emphasize the relevance of biomedical science to the practice of clinical medicine. Independent study is included to develop the life-long learning skills needed by every physician.

Core Modules

The CMC Fundamentals of Biomedical Science is a 3-course sequence that covers the basic concepts and vocabulary in the disciplines of cell biology and physiology, genetics and biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, anatomy, histology and pathology. This course will meet for about 20 hours per week with no more than 10 hours of lecture per week and at least 10 hours per week of small group or other non-lecture sessions. Week-long clinical cases will cover specific learning objectives for the various basic science disciplines, are facilitated by a faculty tutor and have lectures designed to complement the clinical cases.

The CMC Neuroscience and Behavioral Science course is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the nervous system. In the context on the principles of continuity medicine and chronic illness, the module includes neurophysiology, neurochemistry, pharmacology, neuropathology, microbiology, immunology, and behavioral psychology. Progressing from neuroanatomy to gross anatomy, students learn the structure and function of the nervous system from the head/brain, and neck, to the muscle and motor units. Students are introduced to the basic science of behavioral medicine and the common diseases that are encountered. Finally, the basic sciences are integrated to the clinical sciences of neurology, neurosurgery, otolaryngology and psychiatry. A combination of didactic, small-group and laboratory methods are used. Similarly, the CMC Cardiovascular System course is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the cardiovascular system including the heart and blood vasculature. The basic sciences are integrated with the clinical sciences of cardiology in the study of cardiac function and its response to changes in the body with aging from birth to the elderly. The module seeks to place cardiovascular disease and management into the context of continuity medicine and chronic illness using a combination of didactic, small-group and simulation teaching methods.

The clinical training portion is launched by the CMC Introduction to the Medical Profession, which provides the foundation of the regional campus’ areas of emphasis. The 3-week course covers the role and responsibilities of physicians, concepts of population medicine and professionalism. Introductory lectures on the art of history taking will be held. Along with didactic sessions, the course utilizes communication skills laboratories designed to equip students for the community physician practice and Palm Beach County Department of Health clinic settings. Panel discussions revolving around professionalism and the doctor-patient relationship will also occur. Upon completion, CMC Integrated Patient Care 1 and 2 courses begin and are designed to allow students to develop their fundamental clinical skills (communication, history taking and physical exam skills) in continuity of care environments (community practice setting and Department of Health clinics). The IPC course will meet for 4-5 hours per week and is closely coordinated and integrated with the Physicianship Skills course. Community and faculty preceptors will supervise and evaluate students longitudinally.

The CMC Physicianship Skills 1 and 2 courses will expose students to competencies that physicians must master to provide high quality and effective care in today's health care system. The course covers the fundamentals of process evaluation, quality management, outcomes assessment, patient satisfaction, patient safety, systems-based care, interprofessional team care, and complex chronic disease management. The PS course will meet for 4-5 hours per week. The Learning Community, where students and their assigned faculty preceptor meet, will provide a weekly opportunity to review patients and relate patient issues to the course themes.

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Second Year

Students continue the clinical experience begun in year 1 with their preceptor and patient panel. Clinical disorders and the associated relevant basic sciences are presented in an integrated disease management framework which is in alignment with the clinical rotations of the third year. The first five modules comprise 40% of the second year curriculum.

Integrated Organ System Modules and Clinical Care

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Third Year

The integrated clinical rotations will allow students to follow their patients through their care and treatment and participate in the medical, surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of the care required for management of acute and chronic illnesses. Students continue to spend time with their Integrated Patient Care community preceptor following their patient panel and other patients presenting with acute and chronic illnesses. The first six clinical experiences account for about 70% of the students academic time during the third year.

Clinical Experiences

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Fourth Year

Students will complete advanced coursework appropriate for their selected area of study (population health, health care delivery systems, research). Students continue to spend time in their primary care practice settings following their patient panel and other patients who present to their mentors with acute and chronic illnesses.

Clinical Experiences

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