Implementing core concept teaching in an integrated, clinical presentation model medical school curriculum.

Abstract

The evolving designs of medical school curricula, coupled with the inherently difficult nature of physiology, can create unique challenges and opportunities for physiology educators as they strive to help students acquire the knowledge and understanding needed to become excellent physicians. Core concept teaching and its potential benefits have been well described. The use of core concepts can help to right size content for students, allowing them to build a framework of knowledge and then transfer their understanding to new contexts as they are encountered. However, the implementation of core concept teaching within undergraduate medical education is less thoroughly described. Some unique aspects of teaching basic sciences in medical education may include integrated curricula where many disciplines are presented simultaneously, models that depart from the sequence of topics as they would traditionally be presented in a physiology course, and team teaching. We chose to implement core concept teaching in the preclerkship physiology curriculum at our institution to better facilitate students' conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and ability to transfer their knowledge. In doing so, we have highlighted our approaches to navigating some of the aforementioned challenges that physiology educators may face as they adapt core concept teaching to medical school curricula.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We present a process for implementing physiology core concept teaching in an integrated, team-taught medical school curriculum, which combines a clinical presentation model with flipped classroom pedagogy.