Manual for Undergraduate Curricular Affairs
Table of Contents
Introduction
Curriculum Committee
Medical Education Program
Other Educational Activities
Role of Students in Curriculum Oversight
Appendix 1 – Guidelines for Scheduling Pre-Clerkship Courses and Modules
Appendix 2 – Curriculum Review Process
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the Manual for Curricular Affairs is to provide guidelines and policies that outline faculty and student involvement in the educational activities of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth (MMS).1 These guidelines operate within the administrative structure of the State Coordinating Board, the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.
Mission of McGovern Medical School
To educate a diverse body of future physicians and biomedical scientists for a career dedicated to the highest ideals of their profession; to provide outstanding patient-centered care; and to conduct innovative research that benefits the health and well-being of the population of Texas and beyond.
Core Values
- Deliver compassionate patient care focusing on effectiveness, quality, safety, and service
- Provide a competency-based curriculum emphasizing integrity and professionalism
- Embrace a culture of lifelong learning, evidence based practice, open-inquiry, and scholarship
- Cultivate professional and respectful communication
- Support the health and well-being of students, faculty and staff
- Promote interprofessional collaboration
- Support leadership and innovation in teaching, research, and service
- Advocate for excellent care for the underserved and for the reduction of health care disparities
Competencies and Program Objectives
McGovern Medical School has adopted six (6) competencies and 39 program objectives. The Curriculum Committee reviews and approves the competencies and program objectives each year. The curriculum objectives of all courses, modules and clerkships should be consonant with the overall medical education program competencies and objectives. Students must achieve all competencies and objectives prior to graduation.
The competencies and program objectives can be accessed at: https://med.uth.edu/oep/medical-education/core-competencies/
1Note that the term course when used in this manual refers to courses and or modules.
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
Charge and Membership Responsibilities
According to the Faculty By-Laws, the Curriculum Committee is charged by the Dean to provide oversight of the medical education program, including the design, management, integration, evaluation, and enhancement of a coherent and coordinated medical curriculum. The Curriculum Committee is a standing committee of the Faculty Senate and shall inform the Faculty Senate of changes to the overall educational program and shall recommend curricular changes to the Dean. The Curriculum Committee Chair presents an annual report of committee activities to the Faculty Senate. The ranking Dean for Educational Programs shall be a member of the committee without voting privilege.
The Committee on Committees is responsible for generating a slate of standing committee members, drawn from the general faculty who have indicated interest in serving on the Curriculum Committee, for review and approval by the Dean. Following the guidelines of the Faculty Senate, the duration of service by members shall not exceed six (6) consecutive years except at the specific request of the Dean. Insofar as possible, one-third of the membership of the committee shall be new to the committee in any given year. The pattern of appointment shall preserve continuity of committee membership.
Unless otherwise noted, the committee operates under Robert’s Rules of Order.
The voting membership of the Curriculum Committee shall be composed of the Chair, Vice Chair, ex- officio members and active members (faculty and students) at the time of election or re-election to the Curriculum Committee. A quorum will be a majority plus one of the voting members.
Committee members should attend at least 50% of the meetings each fiscal year, not including excused absences made by the Chair for specific members upon request. A member who has not met the above defined attendance requirement shall be removed from committee membership at the discretion of the Chair and shall be replaced by an eligible faculty member in the regular appointment cycle. This faculty member shall complete the remaining term of office of the member he/she is replacing.
Student representatives from each year of the curriculum are standing members of the Curriculum Committee. Student representatives are selected by the respective student body.
In addition to the attendance requirement, members should review materials and participate fully in committee discussions. Committee members are required to serve on the various subcommittees to conduct the work of the Curriculum Committee.
Structure
The Curriculum Committee is responsible for establishing the curriculum guidelines, which include the organization and review of all courses, and approval of substantive changes in course, module and clerkship curricula. The Curriculum Committee develops and administers the policies contained in this manual.
The Curriculum Committee has four subcommittees:
- Pre-Clerkship Education Subcommittee
- Clinical Education Subcommittee
- Comprehensive Clinical Competency Examination Steering Committee
- Career Focus Tracks Steering Committee
- Curriculum Review Subcommittee
- Continuous Accreditation Review and Quality Improvement (CARQI) Subcommittee
These subcommittees function at the direction of the Curriculum Committee to review and oversee aspects of the medical education program. Each subcommittee reports directly to the Curriculum Committee on a regular basis.
The charge for each subcommittee is as follows:
The Pre-Clerkship Education Subcommittee previews all courses and modules, prior to the delivery of content, including adherence to the Pre-Clerkship contact hours policy, the academic workload policy, review of pedagogical methods used; and coordination of educational content with other modules, the problem-based learning curriculum, and the longitudinal themes.
The Clinical Education Subcommittee provides oversight of the medical student required clinical experiences, including adherence to the duty hours policy, review and approval of required clinical and procedural/skills experiences, completion by students of required clinical and procedural experiences, and appropriate supervision by full-time faculty.
The Curriculum Review Subcommittee conducts a systematic evaluation of all required courses, modules, clerkships, selectives, phases of the curriculum, and the curriculum as a whole on a regularly scheduled basis over a three year-cycle. Subcommittee reports are presented to the Curriculum Committee for discussion and final approval of action items.
The Continuous Accreditation Review and Quality Improvement (CARQI) Subcommittee provides ongoing monitoring to assure medical school compliance with LCME Accreditation Elements and engages in continuous quality improvement activities to enhance medical education programmatic quality .
Subcommittee Composition
The Curriculum Committee Chair will appoint members to the various subcommittees. Each Subcommittee will consist of a Chair, a minimum of two Faculty; a Ph.D. educator; a Curriculum Coordinator; and student representatives.
MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM
The MD program consists of three major phases: Integrated Medical Science, Required Clerkships, and Career Focus Tracks. A map of the curriculum can be accessed at: https://med.uth.edu/oep/medical-education/curriculum/.
Integrated Medical Science
The Integrated Medical Science (Pre-Clerkship) phase consists of the Foundations of Medical Science, the organ-system modules, and the Doctoring courses.
The Foundations of Medicine course occurs during the first semester. This course has two themes. The first is the review of cellular mechanisms that are necessary for understanding disease processes. The second is the review of structure and function necessary to perform and interpret the physical exam. The principles learned during the Foundations of Medicine are applied to diseases of specific organ systems within the organ-system modules.
The organ-system modules are as follows: Hematology and Introduction to Pathology, Cardiovascular System, Renal System, Pulmonary System, Gastrointestinal System, Nervous System and Behavior, Endocrine System, Reproductive System, and the Musculoskeletal System and Dermatology.
The Doctoring Courses focus on History and Physical Examination Skills during the first semester and introduce a longitudinal preceptor experience during the second and third semesters. Thus, students acquire substantial clinical experience before their required clerkship rotations.
Longitudinal Themes
There are seven longitudinal themes within the Integrated Medical Science period. These themes are as follows: clinical skills, population health, ethics and professionalism, evidence-based medicine, nutrition, social justice and advocacy, and systems of care/health systems science.
Scheduling
The Integrated Medical Science courses will follow the official UTHealth Science Center at Houston calendar: https://www.uth.edu/calendar
The Office of Educational Programs (OEP) is responsible for creating, maintaining and updating the official course schedule for the Integrated Medical Science courses: https://one45.uth.tmc.edu/app/cal/
The Curriculum Committee reviews and approves the final course schedule for each semester and will monitor compliance with the guidelines in Appendix 1.
Transition to Clerkships
This course prepares students for the clerkships and advanced clinical education experiences of the medical education program. This course is composed of required sessions including large group and skills sessions.
Required Clerkships
The required clerkships include family medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. The goal of the clerkships is to provide broad exposure to the major disciplines of medicine. The Curriculum Committee may review and modify timing of individual clerkships to provide this.
After the clerkships, the students take the Comprehensive Clinical Competency Examination.
Career Focus Tracks
The final phase of the medical education program consists of the Career Focus tracks. The goal of the Career Focus tracks is to provide career mentoring and guidance. There are four tracks: primary care, acute care, academic career, and applied anatomy. During the tracks, the students complete three required advanced clinical selectives: ambulatory care, advanced patient care, and critical care. Additionally, the career focus tracks incorporate 6 four-week electives tailored to the students’ intended career path.
Transition to Residency
The course occurs in the spring of the fourth year and prepares students for residency. This course is composed of required sessions and workshops and skill sessions that are self-selected by the students.
OTHER EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Scholarly Concentrations
The Scholarly Concentrations Program enriches the student experience through learning and participating in scholarly activities specific to an interdisciplinary health-related topic. All concentrations are thematic, interdisciplinary, longitudinal, and experiential, with guided faculty mentoring and structured group seminars/courses/journal clubs, etc. Additionally, all students in concentrations conduct an independent scholarly project. Students who successfully complete the concentration requirements receive a certificate of completion and recognition at graduation.
Dual Degree Programs
There are six dual degree opportunities for students. The dual degrees are as follows:
MD/PhD
MD/MPH (4 or 5-yr program)
MD/MBA
MD/OMFS (Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery)
MD/Masters in Biomedical Informatics
MD/MBE
Peer Tutoring Program
A Peer Tutoring Program is offered for students involved in the Pre-Clerkship phase of the curriculum. Second and fourth year medical students provide tutoring in all the courses taken in the first two years. This service is available at no cost and a student may request a tutor for any reason. Student tutors are paid at an hourly rate.
Summer Programs
1. Pre-Entry Program
The Pre-Entry Program is an intensive four-week program taught by full-time faculty and offered to a subset of students prior to their matriculation to the first year of medical school. The program includes course content in anatomy, biochemistry, histology, immunology, microbiology, and physiology/neuroscience. Students are also introduced to study skills. The noncredit program is designed to assist students prepare for the academic rigors of the medical school curriculum. Invitations are sent to students who might benefit from the program. Students may also request consideration for participation in this program. Rising MS2 students assist faculty and serve as tutors for students participating in the program.
2. Summer Research Program
Basic science and clinical research are essential components of the overall mission of McGovern Medical School. The Medical School offers a Summer Research Program, which provides an intensive, hands-on, 10-week, 40 hrs/week research experience for medical students during the summer after their first year. The program fosters development of scientific reasoning and other research skills.
Students work closely with faculty mentors of their choice on research projects developed and organized individually for each student. At the end of the research project, students write an abstract on which they are first author. These abstracts are published and posted on the program’s website. In addition, the students develop a research poster which is presented at the annual Medical School Research Forum and Webber Prize Competition held in the fall.
Extracurricular Electives
Extracurricular Electives are opportunities for students to enhance their education. These are non- credit courses where students can explore topics that may be of interest. Extra-Curricular Electives are approved by the Curriculum Committee every year.
Review of Other Educational Activities
The Curriculum Committee reviews the above educational activities at regular intervals. Where appropriate for the program, evaluation reports will include a description of the curriculum, information about the number of students enrolled in the program; the number completing the degree(s)/elective(s); student evaluations of the program; and a description of the overall curriculum.
ROLE OF STUDENTS IN CURRICULUM OVERSIGHT
The Office of Educational Programs provides mechanisms for student input regarding their educational experiences at MMS. These include student surveys, focus groups, evaluations of the teaching faculty, and end of course evaluations. Such feedback is used by the Curriculum Committee to improve the structure and content of the educational program.
Additionally, there are student representatives who communicate directly with the module/course/clerkship directors while the module/course/clerkship is occurring for immediate feedback and improvement of the educational program.
There are student representatives for each year of the curriculum that are standing (voting) members of the Curriculum Committee. Students are key members of the various subcommittees of the Curriculum Committee and provide input about the student experience.
APPENDIX 1
GUIDELINES FOR SCHEDULING PRE-CLERKSHIP COURSES AND MODULES
- Each week will adhere to the Pre-Clerkship Contact Hours and Academic Workload
- Each week will appropriately integrate the Longitudinal
- Each clinical skills/simulation exercise may require 1 hour of related introductory Each skills/simulation session requires at least 4 afternoon sessions.
- Formative Assessments
- Weekly are released on Friday at Other learning activities can be scheduled during this time as long as guidelines for contact hours are followed.
- Midpoint Assessments
- Course/module directors should adhere to the following educational principles:
- Active learning methods
- 25 total contact hours per week
- No more than 5 hours per week for students to complete required reading and other preparation for in-class activities.
- These guidelines do not apply to activities listed on the schedule such as OASA sessions or McGovern Society meetings that are not part of the curriculum.
Approval, Changes or Revisions of the Final Schedule
The Curriculum Committee reviews and approves the official semester schedule according to the following timeline:
|
Semester / Month |
Start Schedule |
Preliminary Schedule Due |
Curriculum Committee Review |
Semester Starts |
|
Fall Semester |
February |
April |
June |
August |
| Spring Semester |
July |
September |
October |
January |
The official semester schedule is available here: https://med.uth.edu/oep/medical-education/student- schedules/
- Any changes will be posted on the official One45 course calendar as soon as
- OEP will notify Students, Directors, Coordinators, and Administration of changes to the official schedule through the institution’s email system and/or course management system (LMS).
All room scheduling at MMS is coordinated through MS Conference Operations.
APPENDIX 2
CURRICULUM REVIEW PROCESS
The Curriculum Review Subcommittee (CRS) conducts a systematic evaluation of all required courses, modules, clerkships, selectives, phases of the curriculum, and the curriculum as a whole on a regularly scheduled basis over a three year-cycle. The CRS reports to the Curriculum Committee, which is responsible for the overall design, management, and evaluation of the McGovern Medical School (MMS) curriculum. The CRS facilitates compliance with LCME Element 8.3 (Curricular Design, Review, Revision/Content Monitoring), which requires that the “medical education program objectives, learning objectives, content, and instructional and assessment methods are subject to ongoing monitoring, review, and revision”, and LCME Element 8.4 (Evaluation of Educational Program Objectives), which requires that “a medical school collects and uses a variety of outcome data, including national norms of accomplishment, to demonstrate the extent to which medical students are achieving medical education program objectives and to enhance the quality of the medical education program as a whole.” The curriculum review process is a component of the continuous quality improvement process for the educational program at MMS.
Short Reports:
The Office of Educational Programs creates short reports of each course, module, clerkship, and selective on an annual basis. The short reports are presented in a dashboard format based on data from the preceding academic year as appropriate for the phase of the curriculum, including student end-of-course evaluations (numerical), distribution of instructional methods, student performance on assessments, final grade distribution, compliance with duty hour policies, observation of history and physical examinations, provision of formative feedback, student completion of required experiences, compliance with the policy for timely submission of grades, and compliance with the academic workload policy (pre-clerkship). The short reports are reviewed by the CRS and presented to the Curriculum Committee for approval. They are utilized by course directors in conjunction with student feedback to create and present course previews during meetings of the Pre-Clerkship Education Subcommittee and Clinical Education Subcommittees, and to make modifications to improve courses for the subsequent year. Medical students have the opportunity to provide additional course feedback during both course previews and presentations of the short reports.
Comprehensive Reviews:
The CRS performs comprehensive reviews of each course, module, clerkship, and selective on a triannual basis. All courses in one of the three phases of the curriculum are reviewed during the fall semester of each year, with the phase under review rotating annually in repeating sequence. The comprehensive reviews are presented in a rubric-based written format, based on a review of trends in the components included in the short reports for the preceding three academic years, with review of additional components as appropriate for the phase of the curriculum, including course learning objectives, mapping of learning objectives and assessments to the educational programs objectives, narrative student end-of- course evaluations, faculty teaching quality, availability/sufficiency of resources, comparability data, inpatient/outpatient balance, and interviews with course directors. The comprehensive reviews include recommendations from the CRS to improve the course in subsequent years. The comprehensive reviews are presented by members of the CRS and approved by the Curriculum Committee. Medical students have the opportunity to provide additional course feedback during presentations of the comprehensive reviews. If necessary, the Curriculum Committee may require course directors to submit an action plan to address course areas for improvement as identified in the comprehensive review. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for approving action plans and monitoring for timely completion.
Phase Reviews:
The CRS performs a review of one phase of the curriculum annually during the spring semester, corresponding to the comprehensive reviews performed during the preceding fall semester. The phase reviews are presented in a template-based format with both graphic and narrative descriptions, based on a review of data from throughout the phase during the preceding three academic years. The comprehensive reviews performed in the preceding semester are collated to facilitate comparison of courses and identify themes extending across courses in the phase. The phase reviews include a review of curriculum content placement, curriculum integration, and outcomes as appropriate for the phase including final course grades, performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Customized Assessment Services examinations, NBME Step 1 and Step 2 examinations, NBME clerkship subject examinations, Comprehensive Basic Science Examinations, and objective structured clinical examinations. The phase reviews are presented to the Curriculum Committee, where medical students have the opportunity to provide additional feedback on the phase. Based on the identified strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in the phase reviews, the CRS and phase educational leaders propose action plans which are approved by the Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for monitoring for timely completion of the action plans.
Curriculum as a Whole Reviews:
The CRS performs a review of the curriculum as whole on a triannual basis during the spring semester corresponding to the final phase review in the three-year sequence. The curriculum as a whole review is based on the findings of a curriculum retreat which includes participation by educational faculty, staff, and medical students. The curriculum retreat reviews data and outcomes from throughout the curriculum to evaluate the completeness of curriculum content, curriculum horizontal and vertical integration, appropriateness of instructional methods, linkage of assessment methods to the educational program objectives, and the extent to which MMS is achieving its educational program objectives and institutional mission. The retreat participants evaluate strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in the curriculum, and the findings are summarized in a written report. Based on the curriculum as a whole review, the CRS and educational leaders propose action plans which are approved by the Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for monitoring for timely completion of the action plans. The findings of the curriculum as a whole review are utilized in conjunction with the preceding comprehensive reviews and phase reviews to evaluate and make modifications to the educational program objectives for use in the subsequent three-year cycle.