OPTIMIZED
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
PREPARING TO LAUNCH OUR
NEW CURRICULUM
Our faculty knew that our medical education programs had to evolve
in response to dramatic changes in health care delivery and community
health. When our faculty began the curriculum transformation process,
they found that adjustments to our existing curriculum would not
be enough to optimize our students’ experience. We would need to
completely change the way our medical students are taught to best
prepare them for practice in rapidly changing health care environments.
Their concept: the Pathways to Health and Wellness Curriculum. Flip
the classroom; provide students with learning objectives, outcomes and
materials to direct self-study; activate prior experience and knowledge;
and identify areas for growth. Do away with lecture halls and the
“sage on the stage” and replace with faculty “guides by the side.” Give
students experiences that emphasize team-based, interdisciplinary care.
05
And importantly, emphasize medical student and physician well-being
alongside patient health and wellness.
Last year, teams of faculty and staff were hard at work preparing for
the August 2018 launch of this new curriculum, beginning with the
“Wellness” course, where the foundations of personal well-being will be
taught alongside the integrated learning labs, osteopathic patient care
skills, simulated experiences and early clinical experiences. Paige Gutheil
Henderson, D.O. (‘02), assistant clinical professor of family medicine
(right), and Leah Sheridan, Ph.D., associate lecturer of physiology (far
right), are the instructors of record for the “Wellness” course promoting
self-care and renewal, recognizing that physician burnout is an
impediment to the best patient care and outcomes.