Herndon and Colleagues to Present on Innovative Medical Curriculum at AAMC Meeting

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) accepted a poster abstract from Jill Boylston Herndon, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Policy; Carolyn Carter, M.D.; and Maureen Novak, M.D., on innovative short courses developed as part of the College of Medicine’s recently revised medical curriculum. Novak will present the poster at the upcoming AAMC Annual Meeting Nov. 7-11.  The presentation will describe the development and implementation of one-week intensive courses in Health Outcomes and Policy, Nutrition and Health, and Pain and Addiction Medicine.  Herndon developed and leads the course in Health Outcomes and Policy, which is taken by all of UF’s medical students.

“These one-week intensive short courses have made it possible to incorporate new, essential content into the medical education curriculum in a way that complements, rather than competes, with more traditional material,” explained Herndon. “Students have dedicated time to focus on these content areas early in the curriculum, which allows them to use and apply this material during their subsequent clinical experiences with patients.”

Each of these intensive courses provides students with clinically relevant, applied, active learning opportunities. Students also have opportunities to explore self-identified learning objectives and engage in peer learning experiences.

“The course Health Outcomes and Policy provides students with broad exposure to the U.S. health care delivery system with an emphasis on the implications for the delivery of evidence-based care, patient access to care, and the cost, quality and outcomes of care,” Herndon described. “Patient-based scenarios are used to enable the students to evaluate health systems and policy in the context of their roles as future physicians.”

The new courses address curricular gaps identified through a comprehensive evaluation of the College of Medicine’s curriculum in 2010-2011. The new curriculum was implemented in 2012.