Table 1.
Scaffolding of Doctoring Undercover and Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) courses.
| Doctoring Undercover | Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) | |
|---|---|---|
| Course Organization | ||
| Student Population | Pre-medical students (sophomores, juniors, and seniors) | First-year undergraduate medical students |
| Class Size and Format | ~ 20 students; seminar style | ~ 135 students, divided into small seminar sections of ~ 9 students each |
| Instructor | Single instructor | Two preceptors for each seminar group (one behavioral science faculty member and one clinical faculty member) |
| Meeting Times | Two meetings per week; 90 minutes each | 1–2 meetings per week; 60–120 minutes each |
| Duration | One semester | 1 year |
| Clinical Experience Requirement | 3–4 shadowing visits to a Selective Clinical Experience site (different sites for students); two introductory observational/interview activities at adjacent health sites (same sites for entire class) | Three visits to a Selective Clinical Experience site; four Longitudinal Clinical Experience visits with a single physician in practice; one visit to the Salvation Army Student Clinic; one patient narrative interview |
|
Behavioral Science Topics Biopsychosocial factors that influence the patient/physician relationship related to: |
||
| Stress and Wellness | Covered | Covered |
| Patient Education | Covered | Covered |
| Pain and Placebos | Not covered | Covered |
| Grief and Loss | Covered | Covered |
| Nutrition and Obesity | Not Covered | Covered |
| Addiction | Covered | Covered |
| Health Disparities | Covered | Covered |
| Clinical Ethics | Covered | Covered |
| Communication Objectives | ||
| Role modeling | Observe physician/healthcare role models, with a focus on analyzing communication skills in a healthcare environment with real patients. | Observe and interact with physician/healthcare role models, with a focus on practicing and observing communication skills in a healthcare environment with real patients. |
| Collaboration | Collaborate with students, faculty, and practitioners from other disciplines to identify and analyze the components of safe and effective patient care. | Collaborate with students, faculty, and practitioners from other disciplines to deliver safe and effective patient care. |
| Interviewing Skills | Analyze interviewing skills in relation to one or more of the following: taking a sexual history, delivering bad news to a patient, assessing for depression/suicidality, and utilizing behavior change/motivational interviewing strategies. | Demonstrate advanced interviewing skills by taking a sexual history, delivering bad news to a patient, assessing for depression/suicidality, and utilizing behavior change/motivational interviewing strategies. |
| Reflective Writing Exercises | ||
| Format | Blog posts (~750 words each); course begins with instructor-provided prompts and transitions to student generated prompts as students progress | Portfolio assignments; format varies depending on assignment |
| Frequency | Weekly (mandatory) | Approximately weekly (students can elect to complete additional portfolio assignments to earn a higher grade) |
| Assessment | Graded with a rubric; 1–2 paragraphs of individualized analytical and editorial feedback from instructor on each post | Graded for completion; Amount of narrative feedback at preceptor discretion |
| Dissemination and Recognition | All students select two posts for revision and open access publication on course website | Outstanding reflective writing by one or two students is recognized with the ICM Portfolio Award presented annually at convocation |