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Academic deceleration in a gross anatomy centered first‐year integrated medical curriculum (532.2)
Author(s) -
Lovejoy Mork Amy,
Klement Brenda,
Paulsen Douglas,
Wineski Lawrence
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.532.2
Subject(s) - curriculum , gross anatomy , integrated curriculum , medical education , mathematics education , medical school , anatomy , psychology , medicine , pedagogy
The current trend in United States medical education is movement toward complete integration of courses throughout the first two years of basic science centered curricula. This has introduced an emerging challenge of how to aid students who struggle academically within programs that provide an intensely interwoven structure of topics. At Morehouse School of Medicine, the first‐year integrated curriculum is built around a gross anatomy template, and is composed of gross anatomy, embryology, cell biology, histology, neurobiology, biochemistry, and physiology. Students who underperform (cumulative average <72%) may voluntarily elect to “decelerate “or may be required to do so by an institutional academic committee. Decelerated students then continue in only the anatomy centric components of gross anatomy, embryology, histology, and cell biology. Following successful completion of this reduced load curriculum, students return to the fully integrated first‐year curriculum the following year. This approach to assisting underperforming students has been an institutional practice for five years. Outcomes have been generally positive in that decelerated students have successfully passed the reduced curriculum and then also the full load integrated curriculum. Thus, we regard deceleration as a successful means of aiding struggling students in the first year of medical school. Grant Funding Source : Supported in part by NIH PO31B04017 and G12RR003034