Clinical Application Course

Description

The clinical application course provides students with the opportunity to apply basic science knowledge to real-world medical problems and, importantly, begin to reframe their thinking about medical science into the context of the doctor-patient relationship.

In this course, students will be presented with patients rather than facts or concepts. Students will explore the patients’ medical issues as they relate to the person as a whole and will gain an appreciation for the idea that medicine is not practiced in a vacuum but rather in a context of emotion, society and culture which defines a “whole” patient.

The patients encountered in this course will form a basis for active learning to teach not only the integration and application of scientific topics as they relate to clinical medicine, but also introduce the thought process which a physician uses to interact with and ultimately help the patient.

Objectives

1. The overall goal of this course is to use the study of cases to illustrate
   1. how the basic sciences (biological, behavioral and social sciences, epidemiology, and humanities) contribute to our understanding of the human condition and thus our care of patients; and
   2. the dynamic interaction between basic science and clinical care of patients, recognizing the inherent uncertainties in such care.
2. General Learning Objectives: the clinical cases covered in this course will provide students the opportunity to move towards an understanding and appreciation of:
   1. the underlying importance of all the basic sciences to evidence-based clinical care and prevention, including how some advances in basic science develop into clinical advances, while others do not;
   2. how the basic sciences inform the clinical sciences and how the clinical sciences inform the basic sciences;
   3. the use of basic sciences to develop information about health risks and conditions, including their definition, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention;
   4. the dynamic nature of our knowledge of health problems, including an appreciation of the historical perspective in the development of our view
      of various health conditions;
   5. the longitudinal nature of disease, medical conditions, and their impact on people and families;
   6. the constantly evolving relationship between the patient and clinician;
   7. the process of optimal decision-making about health problems, including the reciprocal education of clinicians and their patients and negotiation towards a prevention or treatment plan.