Curriculum Renewal CLOSE-UP: January 2023

Curriculum Renewal CLOSE-UP

January 2023

Curriculum Renewal: CQ Team Updates

In December, each of the three Curious Questioning (CQ) Teams; Outputs, Constructs, and Technology, began meeting monthly to discuss and explore innovative aspects of structuring curricula from other schools, fields, and entities. This in-depth research will help us identify how best to frame our curriculum to prepare the ZSOM graduates for practice in 2035 and beyond. The teams will meet regularly through May, after which their recommendations will be reviewed by all CQ team members and other stakeholders at a retreat held in June.

During their first meetings, the teams laid out a framework for addressing broad questions that will help inform the next phase of the curriculum renewal process. Here's a quick update on the discussions during the first CQ Team meetings:

Constructs Team

The Constructs Team, led by Drs. Gino Farina, Julia Caton, and Annette Lee, has 43 members, including a diverse group of faculty, students, and staff. The team's first meetings were held via Zoom on December 13 and January 10.

At the December meeting, four to six team members volunteered to research each of the below themes, which will be discussed in detail during recurring monthly meetings with recommendations for the next phase.

Time-variable Training
Clerkship Models
Length of Curricular Phases
USMLE Step 1
Curricular Superstructures/Program Design

During the January meeting, team members discussed their findings around the first question, "For schools that have adopted time-variable training, how is it operationalized?" Time variable training is a curriculum that advances students as they accomplish certain competencies or EPAs. The team had an enlightening discussion of the pros and cons of time variable training curriculum.

Six team members researched several medical schools that published or are known to have initiated time variable training. While the team discovered that some schools discontinued a time variable clinical curriculum, they identified a few schools that still use time variable training. Further research will be conducted on these schools in the next phase of the curriculum renewal process. The team also plans to contact some of the schools that discontinued time variable training to see what the challenges were.

The Constructs Team also posed the second of five questions to be discussed at the next meeting on February 14: What are some innovative clerkship models to consider, including Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (LICs)?

Technology Team

The Technology Team is comprised of 41 members, including a diverse group of faculty, students, and staff.

During the first meeting, held via Zoom on December 8, team leaders Drs. Marie Petrizzo, Robert Hill, and Eric Gantwerker encouraged their team members to think creatively and 'out of the box' as they answered the following five broad questions over the next five months.

What technology is/can be used to engage individuals and/or groups of people in learning and/or in assessing the skills learned in the curriculum (within and beyond medical education)?
What new technologies, available now and on the horizon, are/will be important for patient care in 2035+?
Describe any curricula (not limited to medical schools) that utilize a component of online learning that would support the vision of physicians of 2035+.
What new products/learning management systems/etc. should we consider to optimize user (student, faculty, staff, leadership) experience?
In a landscape filled with technology, what are models/best practices to maintain a personal experience when interacting with an individual/patient?

In their recent meeting on January 12, the team discussed the myriad of technologies that may be a part of a future hybrid learning concept supporting the idea of "medical school as a platform." There was great excitement and good evidence around the use of microlearnings using multimedia that can be both faculty and student created as well as existing commercially available videos, interactive learning modules, and virtual learning platforms.

Additionally, the team had resounding support for the use of game-based learning integrated throughout to support active learning, engagement, knowledge consolidation, and problem-solving. These technologies can be deliberately matched to meet the learning needs of the next generation of physicians. The next meeting of the Technology Team is February 9.

Outputs Team

The Outputs Team, led by Drs. Melissa Pawelczak, Karen Friedman, and Doreen Olvet, is comprised of 43 members, including a diverse group of faculty, students, and staff. The first introductory meeting took place via Zoom on December 14, 2022.

Output can be defined as "the act of producing something, or the amount of something that is produced or the process in which something is delivered." This CQ team will therefore be considering the following questions:

What established frameworks are most applicable to demonstrating outcomes of the physician of 2035+?
What methods are used/available in industries other than Medicine to showcase evidence of skills and demonstration of character?
For UME programs that have Pass/Fail clerkships, what information is provided on students to GME programs to demonstrate competence?
What are the pros and cons of Pass/Fail clerkships?

A subset of the larger group will research these questions, the results of which will be discussed at upcoming meetings. The team's next meeting is on January 26.

Please refer to the below schedule for all CQ team meetings.

Curriculum Renewal: CQ Team Schedule