2nd Year Course Overview

Fundamentals of Patient Care

The second-year curriculum in the College of Medicine follows the integrated format introduced to students in their first year. Six blocks of integrated material are taught in the context of four year-long themes that include Abnormal Structure & Function, Pathogens and Host Defense, Pharmacotherapeutics & Nutrition, and Fundamentals of Patient Care. The Fundamentals of Patient Care (FPC) theme in the second year is directed by a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and builds on the goals and objectives of the first year FPC course, with a continued focus on several areas of professional training and physician development, through didactic and small group instruction.

Content covered within FPC in the second year is organized around instruction in the following areas:

  • Introduction to Clinical Reasoning
  • Ethics
  • Evidence Based Medicine
  • Physical Diagnosis
  • Senior Mentor Program
  • Professionalism and Career Planning
  • Careers in Medicine

 The material covered in each block being studied drives the curriculum for the FPC small groups and physical diagnosis sessions. For example, during the Neurology & Psychiatry block, FPC small groups discuss a case involving a patient with schizophrenia. In sequential weeks this case is evaluated from the standpoint of clinical reasoning, ethics and then evidence-based medicine.

The FPC theme uses a combination of lectures, small groups, Simulation Center activities, mentoring by community physicians, interaction with standardized patients, and clinical demonstrations to facilitate student learning. In addition, students continue their participation in Careers in Medicine and the Senior Mentor Program during the second year of FPC.