The Practice of Medicine Course

GW takes an innovative approach to medical education, requiring all students to participate in the Practice of Medicine (POM) course. This course spans all four years and provides students with both early exposure to patients and the means to develop outstanding clinical thinking, interpersonal and technical skills, and professionalism.

POM is the largest component of the curriculum for students’ first two years. They begin clinical training during the first two years while studying the basic sciences. In the final two years, they frequently “revisit” the basic sciences as they progress through their clinical experiences.

Recognizing that medical students are adult learners, the POM curriculum emphasizes team experiences and selfdirected learning. The program focuses on building a strong foundation in basic and clinical sciences and preparing students for their future roles as members of diverse teams of health care providers.

Years 1 and 2:
Doctor, Patient, and Society (DPS)

• Students are assigned to eightmember “mentor groups” led by two faculty mentors, (medical faculty and behavioral sciences faculty) and a fourth-year student.
• The Clinical Learning and Simulation Skills (CLASS) Center in the Hospital is the setting for much of this experience, where students learn about:
  • The doctor-patient relationship
  • Essential communication skills
  • The basic clinical assessment skills of interviewing and physical examination
  • Professionalism
  • Ethics
  • Issues related to the medicinesociety interface

• Participating in clinical medicine from the first month of their studies, students are paired in one-on-one relationships with Medical Center or community-based physicians for a longitudinal (two-year) experience where they practice their newly learned skills.

• This section of POM challenges students with weekly clinical cases that integrate biomedicine, psychosocial issues, the art and science of clinical problem solving, medical informatics, and critical appraisal of the medical literature.

Years 3:
Didactic Instruction and Technical Skill Instruction

• Instruction in the third year reinforces psychosocial, behavioral, and ethical objectives within the context of clinical experiences.
• Basic science concepts relevant to the clinical setting are also reintroduced.
• One full day during each rotation is devoted to multiple topics around themes of medical professionalism, including issues such as personal and professional balance and conflicts of interest.
• The DPS mentor groups continue once every eight weeks. This offers students continuity with their “home group” of familiar students and faculty to help process the many new experiences of life and learning that occur during the third-year clinical clerkships.

Years 4:
POM IV- Capstone

• The final year of study includes an intensive, one month capstone experience involving the refinement of many ward and ambulatory technical skills and didactic lectures to reinforce the clinical competencies in the areas necessary to prepare students for life as a physician in residency training. Students are grouped by future specialty for much of this course, receiving direct mentorship from faculty physicians in their specialty. The primary objective of the course is to prepare students to perform at a high level as they transition to their residency training.
• Senior students may choose to participate in a unique medical education course known as the TALKS Elective, “Teaching Senior Students to be Educators.” This four-week experience comprises six teaching skills workshops and an instructional practicum that occurs throughout the senior year. Students receive instruction in general adult learning theory, teaching skills, and giving feedback. They serve as standardized patients (SP) during some teaching experiences for first- and second-year students. They have the opportunity to coteach physical examinations skills with a medical faculty member.