Introduction
What freshly-minted doctors need to know on graduation evolves every few years. For this reason, we have to consider and adapt the School of Medicine’s curriculum from time to time. We are in the middle of this process and I’m delighted to tell you that the students who start in September will be studying a new curriculum that takes account of the many changes in medical discoveries, technological changes and new ethical considerations.
Alongside this new curriculum, we are also refreshing our mission which now reads as follows: "To transform healthcare by bringing together innovative education, discovery, and clinical excellence to serve societal needs today and in the future." This mission is the touchstone of the new curriculum as we head into the second quarter of the 21st century.
Some of the highlights of our new curriculum include:
- An integrated biomedical systems approach which ensures a solid scientific foundation for our students.
- A new module on scientific methods and data analysis to underpin new research.
- Insights into healthcare policies to help our students influence future healthcare.
- New student-selected options on topics such as planetary health, digital health, disability and whole-person care.
Our curriculum has been developed through extensive collaboration with faculty staff, current students, clinical partners, patients, regulatory bodies and alumni. We are proud of this approach which reflects our School's strengths and meets the highest standards of medical education. Approval and commendation from Trinity’s own University Council and the Irish Medical Council have independently validated our efforts.
More work now needs to be done on the curriculum for the other four years of our degree. The next phase of work will involve a thorough evaluation of the clinical placement experiences of both students and faculty to ensure the best outcomes. We will hold feedback sessions to design and refine our strategic approach and then hold events to sense-check proposed the next phase of curricular changes.
While we celebrate our progress, we remain mindful of potential challenges, such as aligning innovative pedagogical techniques with clinical practice constraints. Engaging with diverse perspectives will be essential to navigating these complexities successfully.
To transform healthcare by bringing together innovative education, discovery, and clinical excellence to serve societal needs today and in the future." This mission is the touchstone of the new curriculum as we head into the second quarter of the 21st century
Relationships with medicine are founded on the principles of “caring for” and “caring about” people.
It is important that doctors remain in touch with their essential humanness, and the qualities and work required to develop and maintain relationships of respect, integrity and compassion with self, patients, students, colleagues, communities and planet.
Knowledge
The medical graduate will to be able to:
1. Integrate and apply clinical, biomedical, behavioural sciences to patient care
2. Incorporate legal, regulatory and ethical frameworks into their practice
3. Demonstrate literacy in data analytics, bias, economics and sociology (including systemic racism and discrimination), clinical evidence and climate science
4. Integrate and apply concepts of population health, health systems, social determinants of health and the phenomenology of illness across the life course
5. Use medical humanities as a means of exploring human experience of health, illness and loss
Skills
The medical graduate will be able to:
6. Conduct a patient consultation, including taking and interpreting a history, doing a clinical examination and interpreting examination findings
7. Develop a differential diagnosis, order and interpret the results of investigations
8. Integrate findings and develop and refine a diagnosis and treatment plan
9. Adapt care to the patient, using principles of person-centred care, patient choice, shared decision-making, and harm reduction
10. Identify and manage challenging situations, including the recognition of the critically unwell patient
11. Identify and mitigate potential risks and promote a positive culture of patient safety
12. Perform a core set of practical skills and procedures safely and effectively
13. Prescribe medications safely, appropriately and effectively
14. Utilise the digital health ecosystem effectively
15. Manage workload- organise, prioritise and balance competing priorities
16. Communicate effectively, adaptably, with cultural competence and civility with patients and colleagues
17. Use cognitive and affective empathy constructively in patient consultations
Relationship With Self, Patients, Colleagues, Communities and Planet
The medical graduate will be able to:
18. Develop and reflect on their relationship to themselves, including their emotions, strengths, limitations and boundaries
19. Manage uncertainty and ask for help when needed
20. Acknowledge, accept, and learn from failures and mistakes with courage and self-compassion
21. Promote their own health and a health and sustainable local and global environment
22. Develop and reflect on relationships with their colleagues:
- Working as part of an interprofessional team
- Supporting colleagues
- Managing disagreement
- Advocating or raising safety concerns when needed
23. Be a teacher, mentor, role model and be a learner, mentee
24. Develop and reflect on relationships with patients, including respecting confidentiality and practicing non-judgementally
25. Contribute positively to the health of their community and planet
Curiosity and Creativity
The medical graduate will be able to:
26. Demonstrate curiosity by questioning, interpreting and incorporating problem solving and research evidence into their practice
27. Demonstrate curiosity about the lived experience of their patients , colleagues and their community
28. Demonstrate creativity by generating and disseminating new evidence and knowledge (including clinical audit, service evaluation, QI, systems research) and developing and improving new approaches to patient care
At the end of the medical degree programme TCD medical graduates will be on a path to heal with knowledge, skill, wisdom, and love.
As we continue to develop the curriculum if you would like to get in contact XXXX