Medical Education Core Competencies and Program Objectives

The School of Medicine’s Medical Education Program Objectives (MEPOs) are organized within eight institutional competencies; each rooted in our core values and integrated across all four years of the curriculum. The MEPOs were developed collaboratively by faculty, students, and staff, and were formally approved by the Committee on Educational Policy.

Each competency encompasses four to five MEPOs, which serve as the foundation for the learning objectives in every course and clerkship. This structure ensures that all instructional activities and assessments are intentionally aligned with the overarching goal of developing student competence in each domain. Courses and clerkships clearly articulate the specific knowledge, and skills students are expected to acquire, providing transparent benchmarks for progress and achievement throughout the program.

Medical Knowledge and Scholarship

Our graduates apply knowledge of biomedical, clinical, social, behavioral and population sciences, and employ evidence-based strategies to acquire new information and inform their clinical decisions.

Learn

Identify and acquire needed informationin scientific and patient care settings through an investigatory and analytic approach

Apply

Apply established and emerging principles of clinical sciences to diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making

Contextualize

Integrate epidemiological and social-behavioral sciences to the identification and prevention of health problems as well as provision of patient care

Incorporate

Recognize cultural and personal practices that interact with provision of health care, including care-seeking, care-adherence, barriers to care, and expectations of health care systems, and apply this knowledge in finding solutions to clinically relevant problems

Compassionate Patient Care

Our graduates gather histories, perform examinations, and engage in clinical reasoning, providing compassionate and holistic care informed by each patient's values, needs and goals.

Gather Health Stories

Engage compassionately with patients and family members to elicit comprehensive histories sensitive to patient identity, stage of life, and psychosocial background

Examine

Perform both complete and focused examinations which respect patient comfort and are informed by clinical presentation and acuity

Clinically Reason

Interpret clinical, laboratory, and imaging information in the context of the patient’s lived experience to formulate an accurate differential diagnosis

Plan Treatment
Formulate a comprehensive treatment plan, addressing acute and chronic illness management, preventative health and wellness, while applying evidence-based, safe, and compassionate care in a timely, efficient, equitable, cost-conscious manner, in a collaborative, patient-centered fashion

Document

Author patient-centered medical notes which accurately convey patient narratives, exam findings, and clinical reasoning

Communication and Interpersonal Skills

Our graduates communicate respectfully, effectively, and compassionately to meet the medical, educational, and social needs of their patients, colleagues, and communities.

Be Sensitive

Communicate with patients and families compassionately and professionally when discussing complex and personal topics (e.g., identity, sexuality, violence, oppression, and end-of-life care)

Be Accessible

Use appropriate language and translation when communicating with patients, families, and communities

Be Intentional

Practice active and empathetic listening to promote patient-centered communication and shared decision-making

Be Clear
Respectfully and efficiently exchange information with all members of the healthcare team

Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

Our graduates demonstrate life-long learning skills via self-assessment and feedback, identifying, appraising, and incorporating new evidence, to manage uncertainty in healthcare.

Self-Assess and Embrace Feedback

Employ productive strategies while seeking, receiving, acting upon, and delivering feedback in professional settings

Utilize Evidence-Based Medicine

Identify, appraise, and incorporate evidence from scientific studiesto inform and improve patient care

Engage in Self-Directed and Lifelong Learning

Continuously assess strengths and weaknesses in knowledge and skills, through interactions with patients and colleagues, and define individualized learning goals and improvement plans

Reflect with Humility

Evaluate one’s own performance to identify strengths and areas for growth and address the impact that personal biases, identity, and privilege have on interactions in professional settings

Health Equity

Our graduates appraise health disparities through community engagement and clinical experience and promote health equity by breaking down biases and structural racism.

Engage in Learning

Demonstrate knowledge of the history and present state of systems, policies, practices and socioeconomic factors that lead to disparities for patients, providers, and communities

Recognize and Apply

Explain how social determinants of health, social constructs of identity such as race and gender, and intersectionality impact patients’ lives, healthcare teams’ dynamics, and the care they provide

Be Self-Aware

Assess conscious and unconscious biases and potential contributions to inequity in the workplace while critically appraising research and clinical practices with the goal of breaking down biases in clinical practice and community settings

Practice and Promote

Engage in just, compassionate, and equitable care, acting as allies, building trustworthy physician-patient relationships and equitable healthcare teams, protecting the best interests of the whole community

Health System Science Informed Practice

Our graduates work within multidisciplinary healthcare delivery systems, focusing on safety and efficacy, to optimize individual and population-based experiences and outcomes.

Understand Contemporary Health Care Systems

Define the structure and funding of healthcare systems, recognizing the interaction between industry, public health, informatics, research and healthcare advancement and delivery

Embrace Teams

Analyze the roles of interprofessional healthcare teams, work collaboratively within them, and partner with patients and families using shared decision making

Optimize Systems of Care

Describe strategies to improve patient safety and systems of care delivery, such as root cause analysis and quality improvement and assess structures and processes of care that influence individual and population-based outcomes

Create Efficiency

Prioritize resource stewardship throughout the healthcare system, identify ways to recognize and respond to care delivery failures and successes, with the goal of producing high value care, and safe transitions of care

Professionalism

Our graduates fulfill the ethical obligations required of compassionate, respectful, and patient-centered physicians.

Engage Colleagues

Demonstrate trustworthiness, accountability, and a strong ethical framework through actions in clinical and research settings, while treating all members of the health care team with dignity and respect

Care for Patients

Identify and justify appropriate ethical choices in the care of individual patients their families, and broader communities

Act with Integrity

Demonstrate respect for privacy and confidentiality of patient and family data and engage in best practices to ensure its security

Strengthen Society

Display compassion, and respect towards people regardless of their unique identifiers (e.g., gender, race, religion, ideology, socioeconomic status, disability, age, national origin, or sexual orientation) and advocate for justice and equity on behalf of all

Wellness

Our graduates thrive as people and physicians, develop resilience in the face of adversity, seek help when needed, and promote a culture of fulfilled lives.

Cultivate Introspection

Develop sensitivity to one’s own unique personal mental and physical health needs and access services available for assistance when needed

Mitigate Burnout

Show an awareness that symptoms of burnout vary by individuals, develop recognition of these symptoms in self, and engage in self-compassion and best practices to build resilience

Foster Well-Being for All

Promote well-being at the individual, group, and community level through support of a culture of wellness within healthcare systems

Bring Meaning

Identify personal guiding principles, express a professional vision, and prioritize agency in career development