Curriculum Reform

Faculty Educator Roles

Longitudinal Educators (LE’s) are small group facilitators, either MD/DO’s or PhDs, who teach in all phases of Foundations, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday mornings from 8a-12p (30% FTE annualized). Each LE follows a cohort of 9-10 students longitudinally through Keystones and Organ Systems, signing up for a two-year cycle with an option to renew.  They teach foundational science content such as histology, immunology, and biochemistry; organ system integrated content like pulmonary, rheumatology, and endocrinology; and key threads/themes like social medicine, critical reasoning, and leadership. 

  • To hear a few LE’s describe their work and why it’s so important, please watch this short VIDEO

 

Clinical Skills Preceptors (CSP’s) Clinical Skills Preceptors (CSP’s) are clinical faculty (MDs/DO’s) focused on teaching clinical skills longitudinally to small groups of students (about 5-6 each) in the Patient-Centered Care block time.  Each CSP selects one half-day per week, either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday from 1p-5p, to teach—plus an extra hour of faculty development, for a total of 5 hours/per week/per person (12.5% FTE). CSPs teach interviewing, exam skills, procedures, and other PCC content, both at Scaife and at hospital/clinic sites.


The Three Rivers Curriculum officially launched in Fall of 2023!

In the fall of 2019, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine took the first steps towards curriculum reform by establishing an exploratory task force under the auspices of the Curriculum Committee.  This effort was triggered by ongoing self-examination, proximally driven by an LCME re-accreditation self-study.  We did extremely well during the review, with full re-accreditation.  But faculty, students, and staff continued to reflect on how we might improve our school even more to better train the next generation of physicians, and we decided to explore the possibility of a full reform. 

About 40 stakeholders conducted an extensive review of our curriculum, along with an exploration of curricula at other schools nationally.  We decided it was indeed time to proceed with reform, and we outlined several key principles for what we wanted to see going forward: 

  • More active learning using educational best practices more consistently, particularly more frequent learner assessment
  • Improved concision, relevance, and integration across the curriculum
  • Enhanced coverage of priority areas like social medicine and interprofessional education

VISION STATEMENT
We want to develop physician leaders and agents of change. Recognizing that our students are a diverse group with multiple talents and backgrounds, we commit to helping them flourish in varied careers in interprofessional teams. We foresee leaders in science, education, clinical care and administration. We expect to see our students improve patients’ health and quality of life and promote the health of communities. They will develop scientific breakthroughs, teach future physicians, make health care more equitable and accessible for patients, and eliminate health disparities. To that end, we will create active, self-directed and lifelong learners with excellent foundations in health sciences and clinical medicine. 

 


Phase 3:

  • Please click here to view the Curriculum Reform Phase 3 Final Report
  • Additionally, here is the PowerPoint that was presented at the Curriculum Committee meeting on Monday, April 3rd

Phase 2:

  • Please click here to view the Curriculum Reform Final report presented at the May 2nd Curriculum Committee meeting.
  • Additionally, here is the PowerPoint and recording from the CC meeting.