Mar 28, 2024  
Graduate Record 2005-2006 
    
Graduate Record 2005-2006 [ARCHIVED RECORD]

Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)


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The Curriculum


Throughout the four years, the curriculum combines the practice and science of medicine. Patient contact begins early in the first year and increases throughout the four years. The curriculum is a thoughtful balance of lecture courses, problem-based small-group courses, hands-on laboratories, and hospital and community-based clinical experiences. At the center of the curriculum is the patient, the science of medicine, and the physician’s role in improving the health of individuals and communities. Students adapt the curriculum to their own learning styles. Some students prefer to learn from lectures; others from self-study of notes provided by faculty or from texts and computer materials.

First Year


In the first year, students develop an understanding of normal human biology and its relationship to the practice of medicine. Instruction in physiology, genetics, biochemistry, anatomy, histology and neuroscience present the scientific core of the physician’s knowledge base. At the same time, the students’ advancing scientific knowledge is integrated with clinical applications in the Practice of Medicine course. In small-group, problem-based experiences, students interview patients in hospitals and in other health care settings and learn to take patients’ histories and conduct physical examinations. During the first year, students meet with physicians on a one-to-one basis in the mentoring program.

Second Year


The coordinating theme of the second year is provided by the problem-based course, Introduction to Clinical medicine. This course consists of clinical case studies which students solve in small group tutorials led by physicians. During the year, students also work on a one-to-one basis with physicians to develop their skills in taking medical histories and conducting physical exams. Other courses such as pathology and pharmacology are coordinated with Introduction of Clinical Medicine to emphasize the clinical correlations between medical science and medical practice. In the spring of the second year, each student participates in a preceptorship to work with a doctor in a community practice. Students go to many areas of Virginia for their preceptorship and live in those communities for the week.

Third Year


The third year is devoted to clinical training. Students take clerkships in medicine, surgery, pediatrics, primary care, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynecology. There is extensive direct contact with patients, and students work with a well-balanced patient population, which includes primary, secondary, and tertiary care. Teaching is related to the patient on rounds and in small tutorial seminars, lectures and group discussions. Emphasis is given to the principles of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and the continuing integration of clinical medicine with medical sciences and the psychological factors that influence health. Students work in small groups and rotate among many clinical services, gaining practical experience under supervision in the wards and outpatient clinics of the University of Virginia hospitals, the Roanoke Community Hospitals, the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salem, the Western State Hospital, and INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Northern Virginia. The teaching programs at the affiliated hospitals allow students to observe the practice of medicine in multiple settings and gain exposure to a somewhat different spectrum of illnesses than that seen at the University of Virginia. During their third year, all students spend an average of 28 weeks away from Charlottesville in affiliated clerkship locations.

Fourth Year


The electives program in the fourth year allows students to pursue their own interests. Under the guidance of a faculty advisor, students choose clinical rotations, basic science and humanities courses, or research activities. Programs are tailored to meet individual interests and needs, including a selection of programs in other domestic and foreign settings, in appropriate community medicine programs, or in other activities of suitable educational merit. Students also complete their four-week neurology clerkship in the fourth year.

Philosophy of Medical Education


At the University of Virginia, we believe that art and science should be blended in medical education. Our mission is to confer scientific knowledge and skill and to convey an appreciation of the interpersonal qualities of comfort, care and understanding essential for a complete physician-patient relationship.

Two fundamental components of our educational philosophy are, first, that principles of problem understanding and management are more important than retention of isolated facts, and second, that learning is facilitated by the presence of the patient. Thus, we correlate principles of basic science with presentation of the patient in the first two years, teach clinical medicine by utilizing real patient problems, and emphasize teaching at the bedside and in the clinic whenever possible. These methods enhance the base of meaningful knowledge that can be readily recalled and applied. The School is also committed to small group and individual teaching in which interaction between student and faculty can be maximized.

Degree Requirements


The degree of Doctor of Medicine is conferred by the University of Virginia upon candidates who have complied with the entrance requirements of this School and satisfactorily completed the subjects included in the medical curriculum.

Candidates for the degree of Doctor of Medicine must have completed the full course of study for this degree and must be certified by the faculty as having successfully met all of the criteria. These include satisfactory completion of the preclinical courses of the first two years, 52 weeks of required clinical clerkships, and 28 weeks of electives. In addition, the student must take and pass Step 1 and Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). Furthermore, students must demonstrate those professional attitudes and behaviors that form the foundation upon which the practice of medicine rests. The elements of these attitudes and behaviors include altruism, accountability, honor, integrity, humanism, commitment to service, and striving for excellence.

Fundamental Objectives for Undergraduate Medical Education


The Curriculum Committee has adapted a set of fundamental objectives for the undergraduate medical education based on findings of the 1998 University of Virginia School of Medicine Task Force on Medical School Objectives. These are presented in outline form.

The competencies required of the contemporary physician include:

  1. The development and practice of a set of personal and professional attributes that enable the independent performance of the responsibilities of a physician and the ability to adapt to the evolving practice of medicine. These include an attitude of:
    1. humanism, compassion, and empathy,
    2. collegiality and interdisciplinary collaboration,
    3. continuing and lifelong self education,
    4. awareness of a personal response to one’s personal and profession limits,
    5. community and social service,
    6. ethical personal and professional conduct,
    7. legal standards and conduct,
    8. economic awareness in clinical practice;
  2. Competence in the human sciences:
    1. in the understanding of current clinically relevant medical science,
    2. in scientific principles as they apply to the analysis and further expansion of medical knowledge;
  3. The ability to engage and involve any patient in a relationship for the purpose of clinical problem solving and care throughout the duration of the relationship;
  4. Eliciting a clinical history;
  5. Performing a physical examination;
  6. Generating and refining a prioritized differential diagnosis for a clinical finding or set of findings;
  7. Developing and refining a plan of care for both the prevention and treatment of illness and the relief of symptoms and suffering;
  8. Developing a prognosis for an individual, family or population based upon health risk or diagnosis, with and without intervention, and planning appropriate follow-up;
  9. Selecting and interpreting clinical tests for the purpose of health screening and prevention, diagnosis, prognosis or intervention;
  10. Organizing, recording, presenting, researching, critiquing and managing clinical information;
  11. Selecting and performing procedural skills related to physical examination, clinical testing and therapeutic intervention; and
  12. Knowledge of the social, economic, ethical, legal and historical context within which medicine is practiced.

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