Curriculum. Our curriculum integrates small group, experiential, and case and lecture-based learning methods. Moreover, the primary focus of everything we learn is about the patient - from our patient-student interactions in Patient-Centered Clinical Methods (PCCM) and small group discussions in Patient-Centered Context: Integration & Application (PCCIA) components of each course. Both of which, begin in first year.
The bulk of our curriculum learning takes place in “blocks,” which means that we are only in one course at a time. So first year begins with the course, Introduction to Medicine (ITM), which is six weeks long. This year, Blood was after ITM followed by Infection and Immunity (I & I). Generally, block assessments consist of our PCCIA grade, an assignment mark, final at the end of the block, and final at the end of the semester. Each block has a second exam at the end of the semester. So this year we ended with Infection and Immunity with four finals: ITM, Blood, I & I, and Community Health. As with medicine there are always exceptions (and acronyms) - Community Health is the one course that lasts for the duration of the academic year and consists one lecture per week, and an assignment and exam each semester. In summary, our curriculum is divided into blocks with intermittent Community Health lectures throughout the academic year.
Most students really appreciate the block approach to learning because this design really focuses our lectures and studies on one subject. In addition, the block style learning naturally promotes some redundancy in all lectures within the block which not only reinforces, but also reviews important concepts.
