Integrated Six-Year Curriculum |
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Cultivating Competent Physicians |
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| The goal of this medical school is gRaising Competent Medical
Practitionersh. Competent physicians are defined as those with
: (1) solid professional knowledge founded on (2) profound humanity
and social vision, and (3) unflinching spirit of exploration
and scientific way of thinking. |
| 2. Fundamental Philosophy |
| The principle of curricular integration is to teach all subjects
not item by item separately but rather as a part of closely
interrelated total and in contiguity through the six-year undergraduate
course. As its merit, the curricular integration enables students
to grasp all aspects of diseases---including pathophysiology,
symptoms, therapy, and the influence on society---in close
coordination centered on respective organs and functions. This
system aims also to cultivate ghabit of serious deliberationh
through problem-based learning (PBL) in small groups. |
| 3. Actual Practice of the Curriculum |
| This new curriculum was initiated in the year of 2000. Whereas
the medical education as a whole starts from the 1st year,
it allocates the initial 2 years for the preclinical course
and the 3rd and subsequent years for the clinical course. Major
subjects of this curriculum are listed below. |
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| Introduction to Clinical Medicine (4th Year) |
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| 4. Characteristic Education |
| In Road to a Good Physician, students undertake characteristic
programs for acquiring the self-leaning habit, enhancing
the problem-solving ability and developing into a well-communicating
physician as follows; |
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| 1) Problem Based Learning (PBL) |
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In PBL, students take up commonly encountered diseases
in order to learn various aspects of the diseases such as
the onset, diagnosis, response to therapy, the frame of mind
of patients and families, and attitudes of the attending
physicians. They go through the problems by way of researching
in the library and discussions among themselves. To reiterate,
problems of PBL are to be solved strictly by students themselves
through the research and discussion on their own.
By means of debates in small groups, PBL aims to cultivate
in students ability to skillfully present own opinions as
well as carefully listen to those of others for the goal
of acquiring skills in communication and leadership necessary
for effective physicians. |
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| Problem Based Learning (1st - 3rd Years) |
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| 2) Early Exposure Program |
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In order for students to witness clinical scenes from the
early stage of junior years for enhancement of their motivation
toward the study of medicine, several programs are conducted
as follows.
(1)Apprenticeship in the nursing care: This practical exercise
is conducted by students in the 2nd year. At wards of Saitama
Medical School Hospital or Saitama Medical Center, students
experience nursing stints under the guide of practicing nurses.
Such experiences help students to understand how the fully
cooperative team of doctors and nurses, the central figure
in the whole setup, takes care and guides patients in the ward
toward their recovery.
(2) Escort of outpatients on their initial visits: This practical
exercise is conducted by students in the 3rd year. With the
consent of patients, students go through every process in the
outpatient clinic by accompanying the patient from the reception
desk and examining room (if permitted) through the radiology
and pharmacy to the accounting office for paying the bill.
By escorting the patient, students experience medical services
on the scene and gain insight into what can be problematic
as well as what counts as most important. |
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| Apprenticeship in Nursing Care (2nd Year) |
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| Students from 2nd to 4th years learn Medical English with
emphasis on acquiring competence in reading medical subjects
in English as well as in pronunciation and fluency in speaking
English under tutelage by native speakers. By engaging in presentations
and discussions in small groups, students familiarize themselves
with technical terms in English and cultivate skills for English
presentations. |
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| Medical English (2nd - 4th Years) |
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| 5. Becoming a Physician with International Perspective |
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| The educational system of this medical school described above
has been established over the years by teaching staffs based
on their own observations during their stays abroad in leading
foreign medical schools. The goal is to develop in students
an internationally oriented vision on the whole. As part of
the program, students are provided with the opportunity of
participating in the Student Exchange Program with nine medical
schools in Canada, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Taiwan, UK, and
USA.1) |
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| Student Exchange Program (5th Year) |
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