THE MEDICAL LITERATURE CURRICULUM

Karen C. Kelly and Paul F. Shanley*, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse NY, 13210 U.S.A.

PURPOSE: Our goal was to help students integrate the basic and clinical sciences throughout medical school through formal study of the medical literature.

METHODS: The Medical Literature Curriculum (MLC) consists of three required yearlong courses running in parallel with the standard curriculum. In the two pre-clinical years, the courses feature independent study of case reports and perspective pieces followed by class discussion with faculty experts. After clerkships, study of clinical and translational research reports returns students’ focus to the scientific basis of medicine. Participation in the process is assured by quizzes prior to class discussion and by written assignments, such as “pathophysiologic case analyses” and “lay summaries” of research suitable for counseling patients.

RESULTS: Due largely to student advocacy, the MLC has progressively expanded into a multidisciplinary enterprise over the past 6 years. Surveys show that published cases provide an accessible entry into the literature for beginning students and that reading them achieves the same motivational benefits as other case methods. Reading papers reporting medical research during the fourth year represents a substantive response to the challenges issued by the AAMC to return to basic science and the new LCME standard necessitating student exposure to the basic principles of research.

CONCLUSION: The MLC applies basic science knowledge concretely and demonstrates its relevance first in case analysis and later in assessing scientific progress toward solutions of problems in medicine. Formal reading of the medical literature under the guidance of faculty can be a foundational educational experience, initiating students into the authentic conversation of medicine.