DPM Program Curriculum

UTRGV’s SOPM curriculum is a patient-focused, student learning supportive, and blended curriculum consisting of courses, systems, and clinical rotation experiences that present opportunities for learning using multiple modalities including lectures, flipped classroom, case-based learning, clinical skills training, small group discussions, community service, and directed independent study.

Years 1 and 2 of the curricula will include didactic lectures, biomedical laboratories, pre-clinical laboratories, small group learning, clinical education, and service learning. The service-learning curriculum will include community-based projects and public health-related activities.

The 3rd and 4th years of the curriculum will consist of some didactic experiences (lectures, classes) but primarily of an advanced series of conferences and case-based presentations augmented by full- time patient care experiences through the UT Health RGV and adjunctive clinical experiences through affiliated local academic health care centers and teaching hospitals.

Clinical Clerkships will provide the podiatric medical student with hands-on experience to augment the skills obtained from PMSB 8301, 8303, 8501, and 8503. Students will utilize skills in both written and oral presentations and apply them in the clinical setting. Complex critical thinking and higher cognitive level reasoning skills will be nurtured and applied to practical and clinical issues during the monthly rotations. Moreover, rotations will be supplemented by classroom lectures, conferences, skills labs, and grand rounds. The clerkship experience is intended to give students practical experience and help achieve the following goals.

Goals

• To socialize students into medicine so they become familiar with what a medical/clinical setting is like.

• To help students determine a subspecialty of podiatric medicine they would like to pursue.

• To Improve students' clinical reasoning, a process by which clinicians take information about a patient and their medical situation and diagnose the problem.

• To introduce students with an established background in the basic sciences to podiatric and non-podiatric clinical/surgical medicine in the four-year continuum.

• To introduce and develop clinical skills and procedures utilized in General Medicine, Surgery, and Podiatric Medicine

• To allow the student to utilize complex critical thinking and higher cognitive level reasoning skills to apply to practical and clinical issues.

• To develop and enhance communication skills - both written and oral presentation and apply them in the clinical setting.

• To develop and enhance a level of professionalism expected from a podiatric physician.

The SOPMs curriculum consists of learning activities that are competency-based inter-professional educational experiences, fully preparing students for post-graduate residency training and the practice of evidenced base podiatric medicine in any setting.

The goals and objectives of the curriculum are founded on the competency domains set forth by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education (CPME) which include 1) medical knowledge, 2) patient care 3) research and scholarship 4) interpersonal and interprofessional communication 5) professionalism 6) interprofessional collaborative practice and 7) social determinants of health and addiction.

will:student medical podiatric the competence professional of level high this accomplish To

1. Assimilate many basic and clinical sciences to be used in the diagnosis, assessment, management, and treatment of conditions and diseases affecting the foot ankle, and lower extremity by a) employing critical thinking and problem-solving, b) correctly interpreting appropriate medical literature pertinent to problems at hand, c) communicate with other members of the health care team.
2. Develop knowledge and proficiencies in the diagnosis and evaluation of the overall health status of pediatric, adult, and geriatric patients as related to pathology in the lower extremity by interpreting diagnostic tests and medical images.
3. Engage in effective communication with patients through the art of speaking, listening, observing, and interpreting body language.
4. Manage patient care conditions via palliative means, surgical means, biomechanical means, use the pharmacy, observe, and utilized principles of universal precautions, understanding utilized a team approach to care.

Four Year Curriculum

The School of Podiatric Medicine will offer an accredited, four-year professional degree program leading to the Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM). Courses for the DPM degree will align with those of other medical degrees. Courses will include problem-based learning, evidence-based medicine, anatomy, neuroanatomy, physiology, pharmacology, physiology, and pathology, among other subjects. During the last two years of the program, podiatric medical students will gain supervised experience by completing clinical/clerkship rotations. The UTRGV DPM program is committed to providing a forward-thinking podiatric medical education experience that graduates podiatric physicians dedicated to practicing evidence-based, patient-centered podiatric medicine in any setting, but particularly in under-served communities.

The SOPM curriculum provides a unique educational experience that integrates the foundational sciences, clinical medicine, and professional identity formation throughout the four-year program by incorporating and promoting:

• Principles of patient-centered care through evidence-based practice
• Research to promote health outcomes
• Community and population-based health care
• Patient advocacy and cultural sensitivity
• Inter-professional collaboration and communication
• Ethical and professional behavior
• Life-long learning

The DPM four-year curriculum is divided into two pre-clerkship years comprised of sequential and longitudinal learning modules, and two clerkship years comprised of clerkships, selective clerkships, and sub-internships. The foundational 21-month first-and second-year pre-clerkship curriculum allows students to spend most of their time developing critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills. DPM students will also complete podiatric medicine surgery and biomechanics (PMSB) coursework in the first and second years of the program. In the clinical curriculum during the third and fourth years, supervised, clinical training affords progressive experiences in the development of technical and procedural skills through the completion of the PMSB curriculum requirements.