Patient Narrative Unit
This unit is offered in the first semester as part of the Physician, Patient, and Society module. Its goals are:
- to explore patients' responses to illness and functional loss and to examine the effect of their life experiences, support systems, cultural heritage, and beliefs on these responses
- to examine issues related to chronic illness and the importance of the physician-patient relationship in long-term care.
As a final exercise, students are required to submit an essay on a topic arising from a group discussion or patient interview during one of the course's nine sessions.
The Skills and Science of Doctoring
This module combines a systematic introduction to basic clinical processes with a preceptorship in the office of a practicing physician. The course combines acquisition of knowledge about these processes-the medical encounter, prevention, physical diagnosis, and ethics-with practice of the skills that underlie successful doctoring.
The preceptorship is a "laboratory" to observe and experiment with the new knowledge and growing skills of the student.
