University of Missouri-Kansas City (School of Medicine)

YEARS 1-2 This is when you lay the groundwork for your entire medical school career. First- and second-year students primarily take required courses in the College of Arts and Sciences on the Volker Campus to fulfill the baccalaureate degree requirements. First-year students take classes such as medical terminology, chemistry, microbiology, sociology and psychology. Throughout the first two years, students are part of a docent team and participate in docent-directed, patient-based activities. These onsite docent activities are supplemented by a curriculum that introduces the fundamentals of medical practice. Unifying themes of professionalism, diversity, and history taking are woven throughout the series, which is organized around the lifecycle. Second-year students take courses such as cell biology, genetics, biochemistry and the integrated human structure function series. Your docent team will meet with the docent two to three hours per week at an assigned hospital where you will interact with patients and learn the basics of clinical medicine, such as how to take a history and communicate with patients. Twice each month you will also meet with your class and discuss fundamentals of medical practice focusing special emphasis on topics relevant to pediatrics, adolescence, aging, diversity and professionalism. A two-week hospital team experience following the winter semester finals familiarizes you with a variety of roles at the hospital and provides an understanding of both patient care professionals and the community hospital in providing quality health care. YEAR 1 REQUIRED COURSES * Fundamentals of Medical Practice I & II : Introduces students to professional values, attitudes and skills required to practice medicine competently. Explores non-biological factors influencing health and the appreciation of different value systems and life styles. Emphasizes the team approach in solving medical problems through direct small group activities as part of weekly onsite docent experiences. * Human Biology I (Anatomy) : Introduction to functional anatomy of the human body. Emphasis on gross, microscopic and developmental aspects * Learning Basic Medical Sciences : Provides students with an understanding of their own learning processes and those study strategies that promote maximum learning efficiency. Active participation in course increases achievement in both science and nonscience courses, smoothes transition to college-level work, and further develops reasoning and thinking skills that apply to medical school. * Human Biology III (Microbiology) : Introduces basic concepts of microbiology. Emphasizes infectious diseases and host diseases * Medical Terminology : Methodical introduction to the language of medicine and its usage in modern clinical documentation. Introduces word elements in a logical, graduated sequence correlated with laboratory practice. Encourages skills in etymological analysis based on the word elements presented to facilitate interpretation of composite medical terms. * Sociology : Introduces the study of society and basic concepts of sociology. * General Psychology : Involves study of psychological principles and methods. * General Chemistry I : Includes study of stoichiometry, atomic structure, states of matter, thermodynamics, equilibrium, and kinetics YEAR 2 REQUIRED COURSES : * Hospital Team Experience : Teaches students to make good observations, interact appropriately with patients, family, and hospital staff, assist with non-physician duties, and perform technical skills appropriate to assigned departments. Facilitates understanding of allied health care personnel roles in patient care, communication among health care professionals and its influence on the delivery of health care and patient outcomes, and the hospital process and structure of authority within the hospital. * Fundamentals of Medical Practice III & IV : Integrates patient interviews and examinations with sciences fundamental to clinical medicine, including biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and social sciences. * Cell Biology : Focuses on basic concepts of cellular and subcellular structure and function. Includes supramolecular and organelle structure and organization, bioenergetics, cell growth and cellular communication. * Elementary Organic Chemistry : Covers both aliphatic and aromatic fields of organic chemistry. * Genetics : Takes a modern approach to integrating molecular and organismal studies of the genetics of lower and higher organisms. Discusses chromosomal structure and function, gene transmission, heredity, plasticity and population genetics. * Human Biochemistry I Medical : Employs an integrative approach to the basic science and clinical medicine aspects of normal and defective metabolism. * Human Structure Function I : Integrated course in anatomy, histology, embryology, physiology and biochemistry. All basic science lectures have clinical faculty to emphasize basic science concepts relevant to the practice of medicine. * Human Structure Function II : This unit covers cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal systems. * Human Structure Function III :This unit covers urinary and reproductive systems. YEARS 3-6 The emphasis on basic medical science classes intensifies as students prepare for increasing clinical responsibilities during their final three years. Docent units include up to 12 Years 3-6 students, a clinical pharmacologist, an education team coordinator, as well as a docent and other health care professionals. Up to four units comprise a docent team that is designated by the colors blue, gold, green, red and purple. Year 3 includes courses such as introduction to pharmacology and pathology. Years 4-6 are the clinical years. Students spend more time with patients and are exposed to a wide array of elective opportunities to satisfy their interests and curriculum needs. Coursework during these years emphasizes advanced medicine courses such as a rural preceptorship, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry and emergency medicine, with one month in either year 5 or 6 assigned to humanities/social science. Students put their clinical skills to practical use for half a day each week beginning in Year 3, helping diagnose and treat outpatients at either Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill or Saint Luke�s Hospital. These clinical assignments continue through Year 6, giving our students a wealth of clinical experience by the time they receive their medical degree. Half of Year 4 is spent in clinical assignments, including electives. The experience grows in Year 4 when students and their docent units spend two months on docent rotation, or Do-Ro, during which they take part in daily rounds at the hospital while working with full-time hospital-based staff including physicians, nurses and residents, as well as professional members of the docent team, including the docent, Pharm.D., and clinical medical librarian. Clinical rotations ranging from emergency medicine and surgery to obstetrics/gynecology and pediatrics, as well as electives, make up most of Years 5 and 6. During Years 4 through 6, students must take at least three clinical electives, at least one of which must involve direct patient care. These month-long rotations in subspecialty electives allow students to pursue special interests and build on skills and information they�ve acquired in required courses. Electives may be taken at health care facilities in Kansas City or other locations throughout the country and overseas. Our students have traveled as far as Africa, Australia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Europe, Haiti, the Middle East, South America and Taiwan for elective studies and rotations. The E. Grey Dimond, M.D., Program of International Medicine was established to help coordinate international exchanges for students as part of the curriculum. One month in Year 5 is spent practicing medicine in a rural Missouri setting in order to experience the array of societal and health care concerns unique to non-urban primary care settings and the business operations integral to a physician in a smalltown clinic. One month in Year 4 is also spent in a family medicine rotation. YEARS 3-6 REQUIRED COURSES : * Human Structure Function IV : This unit covers the head and neck system � Includes a comprehensive examination for the Human Structure Function. * History of Medicine: Diseases and Man : Gives overview of how disease has altered history. Covers diseases and their relationship to other medical sciences * Neurosciences : Lecture-based course covering major neurological disorders and disease states. Specific neurologic diseases will be correlated to the didactic sessions by clinicians. Laboratory component is oriented around brain dissection sessions. Laboratory experience will demonstrate gross lesions and integrate the lesions with the clinical symptoms. * Introduction to Pharmacology : Introductory principles of pharmacology are covered that provide students with basic knowledge and skills necessary for upcoming didactic and clinical curriculum. Students become familiar with drug information resources, pharmaceutical calculations, and prescription writing skills, and learn basic mechanisms of drug action, preventive therapeutics and pharmacokinetic principles. * Family Medicine : Students experience the act of medicine as well as science, working with patients in the context of their family and community. Includes care of the child, the adolescent, pregnant women, young and middle aged adults, and the elderly. Addresses ambulatory medicine, prevention and health maintenance * Clinical Skills : Challenges students to achieve competencies in patient history taking, physical examination, selected diagnostic studies and procedures, and other abilities. Statements of competencies in above areas specify the attitudes, knowledge and skills students will be expected to demonstrate. * Medical Microbiology : Covers basic scientific principles of virology, bacterial physiology and genetics. Presents information relevant to the pathogenesis of human infections caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and helminthes. Provides a concise presentation of basic immunological principles and their clinical relevance. Provides a concise review of antimicrobial therapeutic regimens including mechanism of action and clinical settings in which specific agents might be used. * General/Clinical Pathology : Course consists of lectures, laboratories with case studies, special projects including integrated questions, clinical patient presentations, and examinations. Content areas emphasized include cytogenetics, infectious diseases and neoplasia. * Anatomic/Systemic Pathology : Course consists of lectures, laboratories with case studies, special projects including integrated questions, clinical patient presentations, autopsy review with paper, and examinations. Content areas emphasized include cardiovascular, lymphatic, hematologic, gastrointestinal, renal, hepatic, and genitourinary systems. * Behavioral Science in Medicine : Utilizes case studies and a problem centered approach in addition to clinical experience including home health care visits, supervised interviewing, and time on an inpatient chemical dependency unit. * Pharmacology : Provides the medical student with relevant basic pharmacology of the model drugs under clinical investigation and in use today. * Patient, Physician, Society : Introduces students to a 7-week unit emphasizing medical decision making. Introduces students to a 6-week unit which focuses on public health. Activities include lecture, problem sets, small group projects. * Ambulatory Care Pharmacology : Consists of a self-paced, independent learning, computer-based instruction. Focuses on integration of patient-related data with basic science data. Students obtain skills in assessing patient risk or disease staging and selecting appropriate pharmacotherapy based on such information. The selected topics focus on outpatient pharmacotherapy of common disease states for which there are established treatment guidelines, such as hypertension, heart failure, diabetes mellitus, asthma, pain, and hyperlipidemia * Prescribing for Special Populations : Consists of a self-paced, independent learning, computer-based instruction. Teaches principles of prescribing for special populations. Students learn to recognize special patients and to assess risks and benefits and individualize drug therapy in special patient situations. The course addresses concepts of pharmacology in five commonly encountered special populations: pediatrics, elderly, patients with liver or kidney disease, and pregnant or breastfeeding patients. * Psychiatry Rotation : Gives each medical student a clinical assignment that involves responsibility for patient care under supervision on the adult inpatient service and experience in the clinic. Includes seminars in psychopathology, psychiatric syndromes, mechanisms of defense, psychopharmacology, drug and alcohol abuse and specific psychosocial assessment. * Obstetrics/Gynecology : Provides the student with an opportunity to gain basic competence in obstetrics and gynecology, including proficiency in the history and physical examination related to the obstetric and gynecologic patient. Emphasizes outpatient gynecology, family planning and techniques for early detection of gynecologic cancer. Provides basic information in reproductive physiology and endocrinology, infertility, gynecologic oncology, and the psychologic aspect of diseases of women. Covers concepts of prenatal care and fundamentals of normal labor and delivery, and pregnancy complications. * Pediatrics : Relates to the mastering of facts, concepts and skills, and the assessment of normal, abnormal, and behavioral variations relating to newborn infants, and infants and children entering the outpatient clinical setting. Helps students develop competency in history taking and the skill of physical examination as applied to infants, children and adolescents. * Surgery : Emphasizes the indications, contraindications, types of operative management, and the mortality and morbidity of various operations. Involves the student in several different kinds of learning experiences, such as preoperative and postoperative care, work in the operating room, outpatient clinic visits, night call, student conferences and resident conferences. Covers skills in surgical scrub, putting on gown and gloves, knot tying, vena puncture, proctoscopy, and suturing of the skin. * Emergency Medicine : Based at the busy, urban facility of Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill. Emphasizes principles, concepts and skills necessary for the initial evaluation and care of medical and surgical emergencies. Teaches management of simple lacerations, burns, contusions, sprains, and infections, and recognition of life threatening emergencies and initiation of emergency care in response. * Continuing Care Clinic : Provides ambulatory and continuous care experience in general medicine clinics. The docent teams are assigned to a clinic in which students see and follow a panel of patients on a continuous basis for up to four years, where necessary, under the supervision of docents. Provides continuity of care from inpatient hospitalization to outpatient care, thus allowing longitudinal experience for the student and personalized care for the patients. Allows students to observe the natural progression of disease and experience the rewards and challenges of an ongoing doctor-patient relationship. * Rational and Safe Drug Prescribing : Teaches principles of clinical pharmacology that will assist the student in responsibly prescribing medications. Students develop skills in making informed clinical decisions through studying topics such as literature evaluation, medication errors, adverse drug reactions, drug allergies, drug interactions, overdose management, alternative therapies, and therapeutic drug monitoring.

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School name: University of Missouri-Kansas City (School of Medicine)
Address: 2411 Holmes Street
Zip & city: MO 64108-2792 Kansas City
Phone: 816-235-1111
Web: http://research.med.umkc.edu

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