Year 1 & 2

PRINCIPLES OF MEDICINE I

Foundations Course
Foundations course taking place from September to the end of December will support and assess learner competence on key topics in the foundational and specific clinical sciences necessary for critical thinking, problem-solving, and clinical decision-making. A key goal is outlined in the first week – “How to think like a physician”. The curriculum will incorporate the social determinants of health, ethics, cultural competence, health promotion and prevention. Learning will use a variety of methods including case-based and small group/team based learning, interactive large group learning, labs and independent learning; formative assessment will be frequent and consist of completion of tasks with a final summative exam. Students will be introduced to the concept of EPAs and demonstrating achievement in the clinical tasks of a physician. This course will serve as the necessary foundation for learning in other courses. The curriculum will move to a model that is less lecture-focused to one that includes integrative large group learning, small-group, and team-based models to facilitate individual student accountability for achieving defined outcomes through time in each MD Program competency.

Psychiatry is a core element of the Foundations Course. This has led to the design, and execution of a sound, medically relevant, educational program for undergraduate students, which focuses broadly on behavioural medicine, and more specifically on psychiatry as a specialty within medicine. The courses are reviewed on an annual basis through the UME quality assurance process. Issues related to mental health and behavioural medicine overlap with all other areas of medicine. This fact speaks to the importance of all future physicians having some understanding of illnesses that affect human thought, emotion and behaviour. In the Foundation Course, psychiatry related topics will be introduced in the first 3 months in Year 1. From day one, our students will engage in learning and assessment that will allow them to develop the skills and abilities to be independent, active, and life-long learners with a solid grounding in psychiatry.

Psychiatry Block Lead: Dr. Lauren Mussen
Email: Lauren.Mussen@sjhc.london.on.ca

PRINCIPLES OF MEDICINE II

Principles of Medicine II is a course that takes place from September to January in their second year of medical school at Schulich. The goals of the course are to integrate foundational and clinical sciences learning with the determinants of health and social accountability, while demonstrating satisfactory achievement of competence in the medical expert role as preparation to enter clinical bedside learning in Clerkship. This is accomplished through supporting the students’ developmental trajectory towards competence in clinical decision making in the medical disciplines incorporated in the curriculum within Years 1 and 2. Case-based learning centered on the Medical Council of Canada objectives and clinical presentations serve as the weekly cornerstone for integration and competency assessment. Entrustable Professional Activities are assessed during learning experiences such as clinical experiences and Patient-Centred Clinical Methods. Technology is used to enable students to visualize their developmental trajectory, supported by an Academic Coach. Assessment is formative for learning, based on completion of tasks; as well there is a final summative assessment.

Principles of Medicine II contains teaching blocks related to Endocrinology, Reproductive Medicine, Musculoskeletal, Neurology and Psychiatry, to introduce the undifferentiated learner to important basic concepts in these fields related to Medical Council of Canada objectives for training. As much as possible, learning experiences will integrate the various specialty areas, to reflect the realities in the practice of medicine, where patient presentations are often not clear-cut. The Psychiatry teaching block spans a period of 4 weeks, scheduled to take place in January annually. The content is organized into sections based on major diagnostic categories or life stages: Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Psychotic Disorders, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, and Substance Abuse and Pharmacology. This allows for cohesiveness in the delivery of the content related to these fields, as well as sharing of the responsibilities in organizing the various teaching activities.

Psychiatry Block Lead: Dr. Vasavi Poolacherla
Email: Vasavi.Poolacherla@lhsc.on.ca

Clinical Skills Course

Clinical Skills course offers strong foundations for approaching clinical care. This course integrates learning in Principles of Medicine I and II with clinical skill development. This course runs weekly throughout Years 1 and 2 providing the essential instruction on History Taking, Physical Examination Skills and Communication Skills – key competencies for all health care professionals. Students will be assessed on their progression with the AFMC EPAs (#1-6) in point-of-care assessments. Clinical Skills Course will continue to use the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), the formative TOSCE (teaching OSCE) and facilitator feedback to enable students to master basic clinical and communication skills.

In Psychiatry block, the Clinical Skills Course spans over 3 weeks in Year 2 using small group standardized patient simulation. The content is organized into cases including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders and cognitive disorders. Students are provided an outline and framework of the different components of a psychiatric interview. Students get exposure to interviewing the major psychiatric disorders acted by simulated patients. The experience includes tasks of conducting a focused, structured psychiatric interview to elicit pertinent information; demonstrating awareness of the meaning of therapeutic alliance, transference, and counter-transference; conducting a risk assessment when appropriate and summarizing the clinical findings.

Psychiatry Block Lead: Dr. Iouri Rybak
Email: Iour.Rybak@sjhc.london.on.ca

TRANSITION TO CLERKSHIP

Course start date: February to June (16 weeks )
The course aims to help students consolidate the knowledge they have learnt from classroom to clinical environment (system-based learning to symptom-based learning).
Course Framework includes preparation to participate in authentic tasks and activities (oral presentations, taking notes, basic procedures), introduction to work practices (routines, culture, and rules) and familiarization with relationships in clinical environment (role of attending, other health professionals in the team)
Psychiatry has one dedicated week in the course. 4 Clinical cases including 2 acute and 2 chronic presentations will be used for teaching. Case discussions will involve review of differential diagnoses, investigations, initial management, problem solving, health promotion and illness prevention, safety screening, role of other health professionals and critical thinking skills.

Psychiatry Block Lead: Dr. Vasavi Poolacherla
Email: Vasavi.Poolacherla@lhsc.on.ca