Integration of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences into Collaborative, Team‐taught Sessions

Abstract

In 2012, the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine shifted to a new curriculum, and the faculty was tasked with integrating course content. Initially, we re‐shuffled existing lectures; however, this was ineffective as the lectures had been designed to fit in a different context and sequence. The objective of the faulty in each department shifted to deep integration of their content to create and an effective and coordinated flow of information. We hypothesized that by creating new sessions we could minimize unplanned repetition of content. We generated two main integrated modalities: 1. integrating biomedical sciences (e.g., Physiology and Histology), 2. integrating biomedical and clinical sciences (e.g., Embryology and Pediatrics). The teaching faculty met and went through several rounds of reorganizing their content. In the case of integrated biomedical science sessions, we found it helpful to proceed in a macroscopic to microscopic manner. For example, we discussed the anatomy of the upper airway and how the muscles of respiration change the pleural pressure physiologically, then proceeding to the microscopic organization of the alveoli and how diffusion is accomplished according to Fick’s law before drawing students' attention to the histologic makeup of the parenchyma of the lungs and how spirometry findings can illustrate the effects of COPD or fibrosis. In the pediatric/embryology sessions, we found the most effective method was to examine embryology chronologically while interspersing the clinical presentation and management of problems associated with each developmental stage. For example, development of the gastrointestinal tract was presented chronologically but was deliberately interspersed with input from clinical faculty about how malformations arise and how they present clinically. In conclusion, by creating team‐taught, collaborative, integrative sessions, we were able to eliminate redundancy of content while presenting the biomedical sciences in a context that made their clinical importance obvious to the learners. Planning and rehearsal were key in making these sessions effective, and we found the transitions between speakers to be the most important aspect. An additional benefit was the student feedback regarding these sessions has been overwhelmingly positive, and they appreciate the relevancy of these sessions to their education. We have started looking at a “next step” in integration, writing integrated exam questions that blend the topic areas.