Curriculum Overview
The goal of instruction at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine is to graduate osteopathic physicians and surgeons who offer a holistic approach to practicing family-oriented medicine, with the realization that even medical specialists require a firm understanding of primary care.
Year One
Pathways to Health and Wellness Curriculum
The Heritage College and the Pathways to Health and Wellness curriculum commit to the following goals:
• Provide a clinically integrated, learning-centered, osteopathic medical education continuum for students, interns, residents and primary care associates.
• Embrace diversity and public service.
• Improve the health and well-being of underserved populations.
All Heritage College medical students begin their medical education with Osteopathic Approach to Patient Care 1, which focuses on wellness. Each week, students are provided with learning objectives, outcomes and preparatory materials to direct study, activate prior experience and knowledge, and identify areas for growth.
Educational topics to be emphasized are identified and presented via a patient case and guide the integrated learning activities throughout the week. Activities include integrated learning labs, osteopathic patient care skills, simulated experiences and early clinical experiences. A reporting phase will allow for reflection and assimilation in a small-group format.
Heritage College Graduate Outcomes & Curriculum Outline
1. Foundation of personal well-being
a. Sets aside time for self-care and renewal, recognizing that physician burnout is an impediment to best patient care and outcomes
b. Strives toward a self-directed, evolving process to achieve one’s full potential
c. Nurtures emotional intelligence in self and others
d. Builds and maintains integrity in all relationships
2. Adaptable
a. Demonstrates improvisation and creativity
b. Intentionally learns by problem-solving in practice
c. Continually improves and adapts one’s practice in response to errors, to feedback from patients and colleagues, and to changes in the environment of care delivery
3. Team-based generalist
a. Actively participates as a member of interprofessional healthcare teams
b. Works well with other specialists in co-managing patients appropriately
c. Demonstrates competence in a broad array of clinical areas, yet acknowledges own limitations
d. Recognizes strengths in other members of team when choosing whether to lead or follow
4. Integrated osteopathic thinking and practice
a. Respects the uniqueness of each patient
b. Works towards optimal wellness by acknowledging the body’s structure-function interrelationship and intrinsic healing potential, and applies treatment appropriately
c. Integrates knowledge of the body’s form and function and the inter-connectedness of its systems to apply osteopathic principles throughout patient care
5. Evidence-based
a. Applies sound scientific evidence
b. Builds empirical evidence from one’s own experience
c. Uses best practices to continually advance one’s knowledge and decision making skills throughout one’s professional career
d. Critically evaluates and optimizes patient care and patient care practices
6. Compassionate
a. Demonstrates empathy for patients
b. Respects patient autonomy
c. Embraces diversity
7. Community
a. Engages in activities aimed at providing and maintaining healthier communities and lifestyles for one’s patients
b. Follows developments in local, state, and national health policy
c. Seeks opportunities to become a health policy leader to increase individual access to comprehensive, quality, cost-effective health care
Transformative Care Continuum - Elective Pathway
The Transformative Care Continuum is an accelerated, competency-based curriculum that prepares students for careers in family medicine through a continuous experience from medical school through residency and beyond. Eight students are selected each year to join this innovative demonstration project, which they will complete in addition to the Heritage College’s foundational Pathways to Health and Wellness Curriculum. These eight students will be matched to the family medicine residency program at Cleveland Clinic Lakewood Family Health Center or Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
During their first three years, TCC students will spend one half-day per week at residency sites, where they will serve in a variety of capacities including medical scribe, medical assistant, patient educator and junior intern. Students spend another half-day per week with a health care manager examining population health and quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving primary care delivery at Cleveland Clinic.
Upon graduation, physicians will seamlessly transition into their residency programs. Cleveland Clinic anticipates hiring successful graduates to serve as primary care leaders within their system.
Benefits for Students
- Active 1:1 engagement with a primary care physician mentor and experiences with medical teams
- Opportunities to gain familiarity with medical technology, patient evaluation procedures and the role of primary care physicians in team-based care
- Early experiences with patients to cultivate clinical reasoning, empathy and communication skills
- Strong understanding of how health care systems work
- Development of specialized leadership skills
- Opportunity to create and carry out community projects that will benefit each student’s panel of 500-650 patients
- One less year of medical education, resulting in tuition cost savings
Year 2
Clinical Presentation Continuum Curriculum
The clinical presentation continuum (CPC) curriculum is organized around clinical presentations that reflect common and/or important patient encounters in primary care medicine, with the clinical presentations grouped together around organ systems. Students are given an extensive list of specific faculty-identified learning topics that provide explicit direction to guide student study. The CPC emphasizes learning in a clinical context and strives to encourage active, engaged, and independent learning to prepare students for a career of lifelong learning. The CPC curriculum accommodates 100% of the Year 2 students in Athens, Dublin and Cleveland.
The first two years of the CPC curriculum are divided into blocks of curricular content, two or more of which are presented during each academic term of each year. These blocks are further segmented into weekly modules identified by a theme or clinical presentation (see Curriculum Topics section). Clinical, biomedical and psychosocial content is presented in an integrated manner.
Structured classroom experiences, typically restricted to half of each day, consist of lectures, labs, problem sets, physical exam sessions and simulated patient encounters. The classroom experiences facilitate student understanding of biomedical and psychosocial principles and provide training in patient interviewing, history taking, psychosocial interactions, physical examination and osteopathic manipulative medicine. These sessions are designed to provide opportunities for students to become actively engaged in the learning process as they address the faculty-constructed learning topics identified for the module.
In the second year, approximately once weekly, the entire class assembles to discuss the cases of the week with a faculty panel of experts that includes representatives of the basic sciences, clinical medicine and social medicine. CPC students also spend approximately 9 half days per each academic year accompanying a physician faculty member in a clinical practice setting (community health facility, hospital, clinic or emergency department).
Years Three and Four
Students are assigned to a clinical campus during the Heritage College Clinical Education Site Assignment Process early in the second year of the program. In summer term of the third year, students move to one of the clinical education sites located throughout the state of Ohio for clinical education.
Students spend the two years of clinical education at teaching hospitals affiliated with Heritage College, as well as at clinics and private practitioners’ offices located throughout the state, nation and world. Students meet curricular requirements in the combination of hospital-based and ambulatory rotations, which feature primary care medicine and ambulatory medical care, to provide a broad, well-rounded clinical experience. In addition to participation in required rotations, students have the opportunity to schedule elective rotations in medical disciplines to pursue their personal interests and/or meet unique clinical training needs. Rotations are designed to provide students with active, hands-on learning experiences in medical situations. Under the supervision of clinical faculty, students become involved in the case management of patients as they refine their problem-solving, diagnostic and therapeutic skills. Rotation schedules are constructed with assistance from academic administrative personnel to ensure that curricular requirements are met. Each rotation is a separate learning experience and a separate course in the university system and each student’s evaluation is based on an individual assessment by clinical faculty during that rotation. Concurrent with these experiences, various didactic activities are incorporated into the curriculum to augment student learning, utilizing such instructional modalities as modules, lectures, professional development seminars, clinical case conferences, tumor board meetings, case-based discussions, interactive computer assignments and the use of self-instructional audio-visual materials. Required training sessions in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) and clinical skills laboratories round out the clinical learning experience.
Academic Regulations
Academic essentials, professionalism, student government, educational costs and building usage information are published on the Heritage College Office of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs web pages, which explain the policies and procedures of the college. Please direct special attention to the Committee on Student Progress, Policies and Procedures. This online manual contains detailed information about what is expected of students and what resources the college and the university provide to help each student meet those expectations. The Ohio University Heritage College Student Survival Manual can be accessed at https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/admissions/accepted/survival-manual/index.cfm. A paper copy will be provided upon request.
Honor Code - Class of 2021
A primary goal of the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine is to promote the development and maintenance of high standards of academic behavior and professionalism. To facilitate this, an honor code has been established as an intrinsic part of the medical education of Heritage College students. The main purposes of the honor code are to:
- foster ethical and professional standards of conduct in all academic endeavors;
- instill the habit of honesty and professional accountability; and
- ensure due process for any suspected honor code violation.
To that end, students are required to make the following pledge:
As a member of the medical profession, I will maintain the highest standards of academic and personal behavior. As a medical student I will not cheat or plagiarize or tolerate that behavior in others.
Complete text and related policies can be found at https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/admissions/accepted/survival-manual/honor-code.cfm.
OU-HCOM Code of Professional Standards - Class of 2022
Preamble: Professionalism is the set of values that govern the members of a profession. It is the obligation of all members of the profession to uphold the stated values. In medicine, medical education, and the research, scholarly activity, and community engagement associated with medicine and medical education, the values governing professional conduct include:
Respect: Honoring the rights, values, perspectives, choices, privacy, and time of others.
Honesty: Telling the truth and not presenting the work, research, or ideas of others as your own.
Integrity: Admitting mistakes, exhibiting remorse after wrongdoing; fulfilling the obligations of one’s private and professional life.
Compassion: Treating each individual with empathy.
Inclusivity: Valuing all forms of diversity and listening to all voices.
Service: Contributing to the work of local, national, and international professional organizations; working to improve the health of individuals and communities on the local, national, and international levels
Excellence: Striving to exceed expectations; committing to life-long learning in order to provide the highest quality care and performance in educational, research, and clinical settings.
Duty/Dependability: Fulfilling professional obligations; demonstrating punctuality and thorough preparation; satisfying commitments in a timely fashion.
Accountability: Taking responsibility for one’s decisions and actions.
Altruism: Exhibiting an unselfish regard for, and devotion to, the welfare of others.
Academic Calendar
Ohio University and the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine operate on the semester system. The Ohio University Heritage College year one and two academic calendars and documentation of important dates for Ohio University Heritage College students can be found at: https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/education/osteopathic-medicine/pre-clinical-years/academic-schedule/.
Graduation Requirements
Heritage College faculty will recommend the degree of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine be granted to students who:
- are in good standing as determined by the Committee on Student Progress,
- have successfully completed all required coursework in either the clinical presentation continuum or the patient-centered continuum curriculum for years one and two,
- have successfully completed all the assigned and elective clinical rotations listed in the Year 3 and 4 Student Manual,
- have successfully completed the Year 3 Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE),
- have passed the COMLEX Level 1 CE, 2 CE, and 2 PE of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners,
- have been enrolled for at least 10 semesters,
- have satisfied all financial and legal obligations to their assigned clinical campuses, the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and Ohio University.
Curriculum Topics/Themes
Year One: Pathways to Health and Wellness Curriculum
- Osteopathic Principles and Practices applied to the healthy patient, acutely ill patient
- Medical Knowledge as applied to the healthy patient, acutely ill patient
- Patient Care as applied to the healthy patient, acutely ill patient
- Professionalism - Introduction
- Counseling for Health Promotion/Disease Prevention - Introduction
- Cultural Competency - Introduction
- Interprofessional Collaboration - Introduction
- Other topics will be addressed but not emphasized
- Evaluation of Health Sciences Literature - Introduction
Year One: Transformative Care Continuum - Elective Pathway
- Personal Clinician
- Patient Centeredness
- Team-Based Approach to Healthcare
- Leadership Skills
- Patient-Centered Medical Home Concepts
- Patient/Community Navigation
- Patient Centered Communication
- Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
- Culture and Patient centeredness in planning therapy and outcome goals
- TEAMSTEPPS (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety), SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendations and Request), CUS (Concern, Uncertainty and Safety Issues)
- Serious Risk Event Reporting
- Feedback Skills
Year Two: Clinical Presentation Continuum Curriculum
Clinical Presentation Blocks:
Neurology
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat
Psychiatry
Endocrinology and Metabolism
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Pediatric Medicine
Addiction, Pain and Palliative Care
Geriatric Medicine
Year Two: Clinical Studies
Patient Interviewing
Physical Diagnosis
Medical Informatics
Medical Decision-Making
Problem-Solving
Differential Diagnosis
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine
Community and Clinical Education
Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
Application of Pharmacologic Therapy
Clinical Case Presentation
Interpretation of Diagnostic Testing
Years Three and Four
Introduction to Clinical Education
Family Medicine
Primary Care
Internal Medicine
Internal Medicine Specialties
General Surgery
Surgical Specialties
Psychiatric Medicine
Women’s Health
Emergency Medicine
Pediatric Medicine
Palliative Care
Health Care Management
History & Physical Exam
Clinical Electives
Medical Ethics
Medicine and Law
Evidence-Based Medicine
Intravenous Cannulation
Medical Records Documentation
Nasogastric Tube Placement
OMM Diagnosis and Techniques
Surgical Preparation (scrubbing, gowning, gloving) and Suturing
Radiographic Interpretation
Skin Biopsy
Orthopedic Skills: Splinting and Casting
Foley Catheter Placement
Endotracheal Intubation
Application of Pharmacologic Therapy
Clinical Case Presentation
Interpretation of Diagnostic Testing
Dual Degree Programs
Students may apply for dual degrees by combining studies for the osteopathic medical degree with graduate programs offered by Ohio University. For further details, visit the website at https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/education/dual-degree/index.cfm.
Rural and Urban Scholars Pathways Program
Designed to be a complement to the curriculum, and available to Athens, Dublin and Cleveland students, the Rural and Urban Scholars Pathways program, administered through the Office of Rural and Underserved Programs, offers an integrated curriculum and plan for professional development in preparation for practice in an underserved setting. Key aspects of the program are:
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Participate in Clinical Jazz, a longitudinal small group experience in leadership development and peer coaching with a focus on competencies for practice in an underserved setting, experiential place-based learning, and mentorship
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Professional development workshops or seminars, scheduled 6-8 times per year and focused on (1) skill-building for a broad scope of practice, (2) problem solving with invited guests, and (3) other active exploration of issues relevant to rural and urban underserved practice
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Individualized education planning with a faculty coach, and compilation of a portfolio
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Enrichment opportunities that build upon classroom and clinical experiences
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An immersion experience between first and second years in a setting of relative austerity, possibly a global health experience
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At least six months (or the equivalent) of curricular time in a rural or urban underserved setting
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A scholarly project relevant to the health of rural and urban underserved communities
An application is required for participation. Contact the Administrative Director, Rural and Underserved Programs, mollicd1@ohio.edu for more information.
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