Med School debuts new curriculum

Curriculum 2000 is an integrated program to prepare student for the changing health care environment. Students entering the University's School of Medicine this month will experience a revamped curriculum designed to help them meet the challenges facing doctors in the 21st century. Known as Curriculum 2000, the program was developed by Medical School administrators, faculty members and students in response to the dramatic changes which have taken place in the health care field over the past few years, according to Medical School Vice Dean for Education Gail Morrison -- the chief architect of the new curriculum. "The health care environment has changed, but we haven't really changed the way we train medical students in over 80 years," she said. Like most medical schools, the University has traditionally educated medical students based on the tenets of the Flexner report of 1910, which emphasized a basic science foundation and clinical training in a university hospital. While the new curriculum is still based on the tenets of Flexner report, Morrision said it includes changes in what is taught, where it is taught, and how it is taught. She explained that Curriculum 2000 represents an integrated approach to medical education which emphasizes a strong foundation in basic science principles and incorporates bioethics, nutrition, and prevention. "The disciplines are no longer the boundaries and that changes how you have to think about teaching basic science," Morrison said. "The new curriculum is integrated and brings the different disciplines together." While students will still do some of their clinical work in a hospital setting, Morrison said that Curriculum 200 is designed to teach ambulatory care through allowing students to gain experience at the vast network of community-based health care sites affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "Most of health care used to occur in a hospital setting, but now only the very sick seek hospitalization," she explained, "but now 95 percent of health care takes place in physicians offices, clinics, hospices, nursing homes, and other ambulatory care sites." The new curriculum also emphasizes preventive care over treating isolated illness. "The focus has shifted away from treating and curing acute illness as an isolated event and toward preventive medicine, health maintenance and long-term care," Morrison said. And Morrison said that the new medical students will be required to memorize less material and spend fewer hours in lecture, noting that they will have more free time to participate in extracurricular activities, conduct research, or pursue other interests. "The new program breaks down the typical classroom barriers to promote increased flexibility and interaction between faculty members, doctors and students," Medical School Student Government President Frank Wren said. "Students will be exposed to all aspects of what they are learning." And Medical School Dean William Kelley explained that the program continues the University's tradition of providing quality medical education. "As medical educators, our mission is to provide an effective learning environment for the development of first-class physicians and scientists," he said. "Curriculum 2000 provides such an environment as it has been carefully designed to prepare students to handle the challenges they will face as practicing physicians."