June 2, 2025
May 19, 2025
May 5, 2025
April 7, 2025
February 17, 2025
June 2, 2025
- Workload Policy: The Curriculum Committee voted to approve a workload policy which combined two older policies (calendar/scheduling and student duty hours) into one without any significant changes. The new policy enhances LCME language, highlights our Foundations workload limits (24hrs/wk of required synchronous coursework with at least two half-days per week of independent learning), and adds a Clerkships/Bridges phase coursework limit of 32hrs/wk for classroom-based courses. Only Curriculum Committee can approve any exceptions. Duty hours guidelines parallel ACGME expectations (e.g., 80hpw maximum on average). PittMed students almost never come close to the caps outlined above.
- Subcommittee/Taskforce Membership Procedures: With the new Curriculum Committee charter, revisions were needed to the membership assignment procedure for standing subcommittees and ad hoc task forces. Working group charters and leadership require Curriculum Committee votes; anyone (faculty/student) can serve as a member but must be vetted by the committee chair. Faculty on working groups have term limits that correspond to full committee limits (a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms prior to at least one year rotating off). Students can serve for two-year terms, consecutively.
- Program Updates: PCAT/MSTP: Dr. Amanda Casagrande presented an update on the Primary Care Accelerated Track (PCAT), our three-year MD degree for students interested in internal medicine, family medicine, or pediatrics. We have just recruited the class of 2029, with four slots filled (out of seven available). Marketing/promotion efforts are planned to encourage other students to apply. Dr. Richard Steinman shared news of the MD/PhD program (MSTP), with student Curriculum Committee representatives commenting. Students are curious about re-entry into the new curriculum; advisors will be providing more information about scheduling and requirements to better meet this need.
May 19, 2025
- Required Clinical Experiences: Dr. Raquel Buranosky shared work done by the Clerkships Phase Subcommittee to revise our list of required clinical experiences. Students are expected to either perform or observe certain conditions/procedures on specific clerkships (which they log), and by graduation must attain 45 specific conditions and 10 procedures. The RCE list was unanimously approved by the committee.
- Whole Curriculum Review and Work Plan: Michelle Sergent presented the final mapping of the Bridges phase. All six competencies are represented. A look at overall mapping shows that all of our 34 educational program objectives are appropriately taught and assessed, except for three: clinical procedures, quality improvement, and leadership. Those three were either taught or assessed inadequately, or did not have appropriate course learning objectives built. Because Curriculum Committee members continue to feel that those EPO's are important, UPSOM's mapping core will work with phase subcommittees to improve the teaching/assessment in those areas. The Committee approved four work plan items for regular follow-up: Step 1 delay root cause analysis (by 7/1), site comparability update (by 8/1), mapping update (by 9/1), and RCE update (by 12/1). The WCR and work plan were both approved.
May 5, 2025
- Curriculum Committee Charter Revision: Dr. Abbas Hyderi, Vice Dean for Education, presented a revision to the Curriculum Committee charter, to clarify roles and responsibilities, and to help us better meet regulatory adherence. Membership will reduce to 16 faculty (4 elected, 12 appointed), 18 students (4 elected from each class to two-year terms, plus 2 MD/PhD students in their graduate phase), and non-voting ex officio members. Faculty members will serve three-year terms, up to two consecutive, with one year hiatus required afterwards. Subcommittees will be streamlined to four: one for each curricular phase (Foundations, Clerkships, Bridges) and Assessment. After much discussion, the charter was approved unanimously . Members on subcommittees that were disbanded (Mapping/Integration, Executive, Nominations) will be offered other service opportunities.
April 7, 2025
- New Electives Approved: Bridges Subcommittee vetted and approved four new electives, which the full Curriculum Committee voted to approve today: Childhood Grief (2wks), Integrative Medicine (2wks), Lifestyle Medicine (2wks), and Medical Russian (4wks). After review and discussion, the Curriculum Committee approved the new approach.
- Surgery Clerkship Expansion: Dr. Rani Schuchert presented plans to expand the Surgery Clerkship from 6 weeks to 8 weeks as recommended by the Curriculum Reform Task Force. Surgery will continue to have two three-week clinical rotations, adding a launch week and a wrap-up week, consolidating didactic learning during those times, and resuming Saturday clinical duties. New skills workshops and a social determinants of health assessment will be innovations; there are slight changes to grade components and the assessment process overall to accommodate. The Committee voted to approve expansion plans, which will take effect for the 3RC Class of 2027 students beginning in Period 3 (4/21/25).
- Whole Curriculum Review: The Committee continued its Whole Curriculum Review, following three full sessions exploring our different phases, the curriculum map, and key outcomes. A revised map has yet to be completed, so we are delaying final resolution of the Review, but the Office of Accreditation and CQI presented a tentative work plan to identify the key areas already identified as requiring improvement: an updated map of all phases, a Step 1 root cause analysis, a new approach to clinical site comparability, and an improved responsibility for clinical experiences outline.
February 17, 2025
- Clerkship Assessment (of Student): New Form/Process: Dr. Raquel Buranosky presented the work of the Clerkship Directors Subcommittee, which created and approved a revision to the form used by clerkship faculty to assess students in the workplace. The new version alters the item categories, tying them to the six competencies more explicitly, with more detailed and actionable behavioral anchors. Preceptors will be pushed up front to provide summative comments with specific items of feedback, and no longer asked to give a "grade" based on an observation of a learner. These assessments will go through Elentra instead of MedHub, immediately available for students to review; they will be used by clerkship grading committees to help general final clinical and overall grading. There is no change in the proportion of the grade in each clerkship that derives from the clinical assessments. After review and discussion, the Curriculum Committee approved the new approach.
- Artificial Intelligence and Learning at UPSOM: We had an open discussion to follow up on our recent Curriculum Colloquium, which focused on AI in Medical Education. Students shared some of the common uses of AI for learning, and faculty described some of the risks and challenges.
