The 2024-25 school year is about to look different for some medical students.
At least two medical schools have recently overhauled their curriculum. In Aurora, Colo., students at the University of Colorado School of Medicine will concurrently train in multiple specialties instead of exclusive stints in each specialty. And at the New York City-based Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, students will participate in a foundational module before taking classes about each organ system.
Both colleges said the new curricula are geared toward helping students connect dots in a patient's health journey.
The University of Colorado's medical school is the first in the nation to fully transition to the education model that has medical students learn multiple specialties at once. It has been rolling out the model, called longitudinal integrated clerkship, since 2014.
Under the model, a student might learn from pediatrics on Mondays, internal medicine on Tuesdays, and so on. The simultaneous teachings can expose students to a patient's full care continuum rather than one episode of care.
At the Icahn School of Medicine, students are paired with a faculty member who serves as a committed mentor throughout their education. The school is also introducing new concentrations, including scientific and scholarly discovery; advocacy and social justice work; healthcare delivery science; and leadership and professional identity development.
In another vein of creative curriculums, more than three dozen medical schools in the U.S. and Puerto Rico offer combined BA-MD programs, which range from six to nine years.