Course Information Year 1 Courses: META: Mindfully Evolving, Thriving & Advocating
⚠ This page was originally intended to be a copy of a university syllabus that was available for public download from the links listed at the bottom of this page. Although I had to make slight modifications for style while transferring the content to this website, I made every effort to not touch the content itself. The syllabic content is copyrighted by its authors.
My notes are formatted as blockquotes, like this one, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, and © 2021 by Pavel Zhelnov, MD.
Goals: Meta is a six-week long course that prepares students for the more rigorous academic responsibilities of a medical school curriculum. The overall goal of this course is to equip students to thrive in medical school. During the course, students will gain exposure to basic clinical skills (examination and interview skills, written communication) and social determinants of health. They will learn skills to help them learn in medical school, including how to make use of feedback, the central tenants of clinical reasoning and illness scripts that they will use during classes and into the wards, and what resources work best for them to learn. We will review career-advising resources to ensure that all students are aware of opportunities to help them decide on their ultimate career choice of specialty, learn about different tracks that are available at UTMB, and know the competencies expected of them as they move through the different milestones of the curriculum. META will introduce students to concepts and tools students need for the journey through medical school and beyond, especially with regard to wellness, identity formation as a healer, learning in medical school, preparing to be a physician, and being one’s best self.
Although in Greek Meta- means “after” or “beyond,” the first and beginning course of medical school is called META to invoke the abstraction of the concept of the physician and the metatheory foundations and methods of learning how to be a physician. We intend to give students a birds-eye view of what is to come in their metamorphosis to becoming a compassionate and exceptional physician.
Pedagogy: META will introduce the students to each type of instruction they will experience during medical school. Content is delivered in large group lectures (utilizing active discussion as possible), Team-Based Learning, Problem-Based Learning, hands on active practice (role-play interviews, physical exam skills), experiential learning (such as the poverty simulator), small group discussion, self-reflection, peer and near-peer teaching, peer and self-assessment, assigned readings, and simulation. Students will be oriented to these different teaching modalities.
Self-Study: Significant blocks of time are unscheduled each day for independent use of educational materials such as video and other online content, recommended readings, and prompted self-reflections. The required textbook is Peter Wei & Alex Chamessian’s book Learning in Medicine: An Evidence-Based Guide (ISBN-13:9780996153300).
No access to Learning in Medicine: An Evidence-Based Guide (ISBN-13:9780996153300) [glternative request]. However, I’ve read Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown (Harvard University Press, 2014) ISBN 0674419383, 9780674419384; probably it’s a good alternative.
Assessment: Student performance on all activities will result in an accumulation of points. Depending on the activity, the points awarded are based on student participation/preparedness or quiz scores (for example, with Team-Based Learning). There are no mid-term or final exams for this course. Class rankings are NOT reported at the end of the course, only the grade category for each student (Pass, Fail, etc.).
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Source:
https://www.utmb.edu/som/som-educational-affairs/instruction-management-office/year-1-2-course-information
Captured on May the Fourth, 2021