John Sealy SOM Educational AffairsInstruction Management Office

Course Information: Year 1 Courses

• DoCS: Doctoring and Clinical Skills

  The Doctoring and Clinical Skills (DoCS) course is a longitudinal experience designed to equip medical students with the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to effectively practice the art and science of medicine. The course primarily focuses on acquiring fundamental clinical skills and establishing a foundational understanding of clinical reasoning, fostering lifelong learning and personal well-being, and honing skills in respecting the patient perspective through cultural humility and attention to the social determinants of health.
  

  During this course, which spans the entire preclerkship curriculum, students will gain knowledge in clinical practice and skills in history taking, physical examination, clinical reasoning, medical ethics, professional identity formation, preventive health, behavioral medicine, and evidence-based medicine. Clinical correlation will be provided to the concurrent foundational and organ-systems science courses based on common clinical scenarios encountered in medical practice.

• Gross Anatomy & Radiology: Overview

  In the Gross Anatomy and Radiology course students acquire a foundational knowledge of the anatomy and radiology of the human body. Educational strategies adopted in the course promote the development of student-directed problem-solving skills, while encouraging team-work in both small and large groups. Dissection of the human body allows to introduce learners to their “first patient”, appreciate anatomical diversity, and practice basic clinical skills. Team Based Learning, Interactive Sessions and other exercises integrate anatomy and radiology in the clinical contest.

  This allows learners to understand and manage the patient as a whole, integrating scientific concepts and socio-economic issues/barriers. Overall, activities presented in the course aim to stimulate students critical thinking, medical intuition, professionalism and compassion. ​

  The knowledge gained during this course will serve as a foundation for the remainder of the students’ medical education and future profession.

• Molecules, Cells, and Tissues

  The objectives of the Molecules, Cells, and Tissues (MCT) course are to provide students with a strong foundational understanding of Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Pharmacology and Genetics, as well as their direct correlation to normal and abnormal tissue structure and function. By acquiring this knowledge, students will develop the ability to analyze clinical cases presented in the subsequent organ-based courses, effectively explaining how molecular, cellular and tissue changes in patients lead to clinical symptoms and serve as a scaffold for disease management. To achieve these goals, the course will employ various teaching methods including Problem Based Learning, Team Based Learning and Interactive Sessions. These approaches will enable students to develop and utilize their skills in clinical reasoning, problem-solving, teamwork, public speaking and doctor-patient communication.

• Pathobiology & Host Defense

  The Pathobiology and Host Defense Course provides MS1s the opportunity to acquire fundamental knowledge in 4 broad areas including Pathobiology, Immunology, Basic Pharmacology and Microbiology. PHD builds on the material covered in GAR and MCT with a focus on host defense as a theme for understanding pathogenic processes, consequences and treatment approaches. Completion of the course provides the necessary introductory background for each broad topic to prepare students for the subsequent organ system curriculum. In PHD, through PBL, lectures, on-line Bricks and active pathology sessions, the students sharpen observational skills, organize sets of data to support differential diagnoses and/or pathogenetic sequences, differentiate normal from abnormal organs, grossly and microscopically, develop a system for categorizing general pathologic processes that underlie diseases in all of the organ systems and outline and describe chains of causality for basic pathophysiologic mechanisms that comprise the pathogenesis of disease.​

• Neuroscience and Human Behavior

  NHB is an organ-based course integrating basic neuroscience ​with clinical neurology and psychiatry. Students will attain ​a fundamental knowledge of the structure, as well as both the normal & abnormal function of the brain. Student will understand the fundamentals of behavior and become familiar with treatment options for costly neural injuries and disease processes, as well as current limitations to our understanding of the body’s largest and most complex organ.​ Students will discover these remarkable aspects of the brain through Problem-Based Learning (PBL), interactive (Poll Everywhere)​ sessions, dissection laboratory sessions, Retrieval-Based Learning (RBL), Team Based Learning (TBL) and collaborative testing (PBL Quizzes) as well as biweekly formative quizzes (Qmax).

• Derm/Heme/Musculoskeletal

  In the Dermatology-Hematology-Musculoskeletal course, students are exposed to three discrete organ systems: 1) the skin and its associated adnexal structures, 2) the blood and lymphoreticular systems, 3) the musculoskeletal system, as well as related clinical skills. By applying concepts from previous courses, including microbiology and immunology (PHD), anatomy (GAR), histology, cell biology, biochemistry, and pharmacology (MCT), to these organ systems, students will gain an integrated understanding of their pathophysiology. They will then apply this understanding in clinical scenarios through problem- and team-based learning.

• Renal/Fluid/Electrolytes

  The Renal, Fluids and Electrolytes (RFE) course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the normal function, physiology, anatomy/ histology of the kidneys, and common pathologies associated with the renal-urinary system. RFE delves into renal function, acid-base regulation and hypertension, and their underlying anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology. Additionally, the course explores the elaborate connections between glomerular and interstitial diseases, renal oncogenesis, microbiological, immunological, and pharmacological treatments. A strong emphasis is placed on self-directed learning through problem-based cases that emphasize the relevant basic science aspects of renal function as well as fluids and electrolyte homeostasis with a clinical perspective. Key concepts will be built upon in the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary course to complement and enhance student self-directed learning. RFE also offers large group interactive sessions to provide a broader context for student learning and clarifying difficult-to-understand concepts.

Course Information: Year 2 Courses

• DoCS: Doctoring and Clinical Skills

  The Doctoring and Clinical Skills (DoCS) course is a longitudinal experience designed to equip medical students with the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to effectively practice the art and science of medicine. The course primarily focuses on acquiring fundamental clinical skills and establishing a foundational understanding of clinical reasoning, fostering lifelong learning and personal well-being, and honing skills in respecting the patient perspective through cultural humility and attention to the social determinants of health.

  During this course, which spans the entire pre-clerkship curriculum, students will gain knowledge in clinical practice and skills in history taking, physical examination, clinical reasoning, medical ethics, professional identity formation, preventive health, behavioral medicine, and evidence-based medicine. Clinical correlation will be provided to the concurrent foundational and organ-systems science courses based on common clinical scenarios encountered in medical practice.

• Renal/Fluid/Electrolytes

  The Renal, Fluids and Electrolytes (RFE) course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the normal function, physiology, anatomy/ histology of the kidneys, and common pathologies associated with the renal-urinary system. RFE delves into renal function, acid-base regulation and hypertension, and their underlying anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology. Additionally, the course explores the elaborate connections between glomerular and interstitial diseases, renal oncogenesis, microbiological, immunological, and pharmacological treatments. A strong emphasis is placed on self-directed learning through problem-based cases that emphasize the relevant basic science aspects of renal function as well as fluids and electrolyte homeostasis with a clinical perspective. Key concepts will be built upon in the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary course to complement and enhance student self-directed learning. RFE also offers large group interactive sessions to provide a broader context for student learning and clarifying difficult-to-understand concepts.

• Cardiovascular & Pulmonary

  In the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary (CVP) course, students gain a thorough understanding of the anatomy and physiology of In Cardiovascular and Pulmonary (CVP), students acquire knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems in health and disease. Through Case-Based Learning (CBL) Problem-Based Learning (PBL), workshops and simulations, students discover how basic science and clinical medicine explain the signs and symptoms of cardiopulmonary problems and the physiology of their mitigation. CVP builds on knowledge acquired in the Molecules, Cells, and Tissues (MCT) and Pathobiology & Host Defense (PHD) courses, facilitating vertical integration across the curriculum. Students will apply biochemical, cellular, and genetic principles learned in MCT to understand the molecular basis of cardiopulmonary diseases. CVP aligns with concepts from PHD, where students examine the host defense mechanisms and pathophysiological processes relevant to cardiovascular and pulmonary health. Horizontal Integration with Respiratory, Fluid and Electrolytes (RFE) and Practice of Medicine 2 (POM2), further enhances the students' comprehensive understanding of clinical medicine.

• Gastro-Intestinal/Nutrition

  The Gastrointestinal/Nutrition (GIN) course provides an integrated approach to understanding the pathophysiologic basis of gastrointestinal, hepatic and nutritional disorders as well as the pharmacological rationale for their therapy. The structure and function of the gastrointestinal tract and associated organs are explored at the physiological, cellular, molecular and biochemical levels in both health and disease. A variety of traditional, interactive and online tools are used throughout the course, with special emphasis paid to laboratory sessions in pathology and related disciplines. At the same time, students are introduced to the clinical approach to these disorders, including clinical, laboratory, and radiographic findings.

• Endocrine/Reproduction

  The Essentials in Endocrinology and Reproduction Course (EER) is designed to ensure that medical students build up a critical mass of knowledge in the way that hormonal systems: 1) regulate many of the body’s metabolic processes in health; 2) help the body respond to various maladies by adjusting appropriate metabolic parameters; and 3) promote the genesis of reproductive cells, the fertilization of an ovum, the development of a fetus, and parturition. Medical students also will build knowledge in how derangements in organs that make or respond to hormones can lead to pathologic conditions, infertility, and the inability to complete a pregnancy. EER builds upon the Molecules, cells and tissues (MCT) course in integrating cell-biology and molecular-pathway principles into clinical presentations. Since hormones affect most cells in the body, there is some overlap with all other organ-based courses. There are scientific advancements in therapies (pharmacologic, nonpharmacologic and procedural), so in our course students learn the process of undertaking and interpreting clinical trials and learn about the regulatory process in the development of such therapies.