Join the faculty from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas to discuss our experiences with the foundational sciences curriculum in light of changes to USMLE Step 1 scoring. The webinar will cover current curricular challenges, and how our faculty are addressing the vertical integration of the foundational sciences. 

Objectives:
1.    Discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating basic science education in the context of changes to USMLE Step 1 scoring.
2.    Define the roles of faculty in designing and implementing timely basic science education that underpins clinical reasoning skills (foundational thinking). 
3.    Demonstrate how basic and clinical sciences can be interwoven using spiral integration and focused exposures to basic science concepts

This session will explore the impact of medical student scholarly activities on skill development and career trajectory, using data from the medical education literature and the National Resident Matching Program. Questions about the use of student research in the residency application process will be addressed, including how program directors use research participation and productivity as proxy measures of desirable characteristics among program applicants.

Curricular reforms in medical education have promoted enhanced integration of basic and clinical science to promote transfer of knowledge into practice. While integration has been modestly successful in pre-clerkship curricula, incorporating basic science into the clerkships remains a perplexing challenge. This session will highlight innovative instructional and assessment strategies that are designed to encourage integration of the basic sciences during clerkships. The session will also discuss emerging data concerning learner perceptions of basic science integration, noting opportunities and barriers. 

We have all heard of identity crises as they relate to our personal lives, but professional identity “crises” exist as well.  As students transition into their health professions curriculum, they must develop their professional identities from that of  a student into that of a healthcare professional; a process which many find challenging.  If learners’ fail to develop their professional identity as they progress through medical school, crises can occur. Foundational science educators can help foster medical student professional identity development (PID) through their teaching practices. While there can be an embedded belief that science knowledge and medical professional identity are separate and distinct, there are effective ways to pedagogically integrate these in a way that does not sacrifice one (i.e. science knowledge) for the other (professional identity).  With this in mind, this webinar will provide: an overview of what professional identity is (and isn’t), mechanisms of PID development, ways foundational medical sciences can impact PID, and applied teaching practices science educators can implement to help support medical student PID.

Step 1 going to Pass/Fail will have impacts on basic science education but may provide opportunities to reimagine assessments. The goal of this session is to explore how the changes in Step 1 scoring may influence approaches to the assessment of basic sciences. New assessment strategies recently implemented at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine will be presented and discussed. Potential assessments of the future will be explored.