Medical Education
Medical Education
For over sixty years, faculty members from the department of behavioral science have been central to the College of Medicine’s educational mission. Cross-disciplinary behavioral science faculty co-precept 25 small groups in the first-year medical student course, Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM). Across three medical campuses, ICM focuses on active learning approaches including training in communication and clinical interview skills, small group discussion on social medicine topics, experiential learning in clinical settings, and reflective practice. Faculty are also available to mentor medical students on research projects ranging from laboratory experiments to epidemiological studies to qualitative investigations.
Often in medical education, we emphasize dissecting the human body into systems. However, people are not systems. As clinicians we are tasked with caring for a whole person. ICM creates space for future physicians to practice and harness empathy, cultural humility, and communication. These essential skills help to build a foundation for a generation of humanist care takers.
