Block II Student Handbook
August 2007
Dear Block II Student,
Welcome back to CHM! We hope your break provided an opportunity for relaxation and fun away from the rigors of medical school.
The Block II year will be a busy one. In addition to the challenging Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum there will be additional classes in Clinical Skills and a course sequence termed Social Context of Clinical Decision (SCCD). Additional Block II courses also include Mentor, Epidemiology and Medical Humanities. We think you will be pleased by the substantial coordination between Clinical Skills and the PBL domains. Students have regularly told us that this has been helpful in mastering both sets of courses.
The PBL curriculum under Dr. Christopher Reznich’s supervision is, of course, the 'main event' for the year. CHM has employed a PBL curriculum in Block II since the fall of 1991. We have continued to use a PBL curriculum both because students tell us and because data support the conviction that it prepares students well for both the Boards and the clinical thinking and problem solving involved in a medical career. However, the format alone cannot provide success. It is our experience and that of former students that Block II requires more study hours and more focused study than does Block I. Most successful students spend between 60 and 80 hours a week in study time (including class time) during Block II. We want you to know that and begin to plan for it now.
While there is still more teaching and learning in embryology, psychosocial, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and microbiology content, you have already had nearly 100% of the anatomy and biochemistry taught in our curriculum. One challenge is to stay sharp in those areas while moving on to others. Successful students have suggested that you begin each domain by reviewing the anatomy and biochemistry concepts, which will not be reinforced formally, with your other course materials from Block I pertinent to that domain. We suggest that you start now to reorganize your Block I lecture notes to facilitate that. You will need to review those notes as you prepare for taking the Board examinations.
You will take Step I of the USMLE after successfully completing all Block II courses, typically in the early summer of 2008. We will do all that we can to help prepare you for that exam. Some of the class meetings will be devoted to discussing details of the examination and current Block III students will share their experiences and suggestions. The paramount message is that students who do well in the PBL domains do well on the Boards. Studying for the PBL domains IS studying for the Boards. If you organize your studying and invest sufficient time in studying, this curriculum will work for you as it has for so many CHM students. Do not succumb to the temptation to short-cut the PBL process.
While the PBL sequence will compete for most of your time, we want to encourage you to seriously engage the other course objectives as well. The SCCD course components of ethics and biostatistics are very much in evidence on Boards, and will serve you well in the practice of evidence-based medicine. The Health Policy materials involve cutting edge information and issues, and the Integrative Module has attracted much national attention for the innovative way in which it brings together the three course components that address critical physician competencies. The Block II Clinical Skills course will emphasize system-specific skills and will be coordinated with the PBL domains.
Promotion to Block III, the clinical curriculum, is dependent upon a student's passing all Block II coursework and Step I of the NBME examination. This represents a change because previously students who had failed a single PBL course could proceed to Block II and return to Lansing to repeat the single PBL course in lieu of a clerkship. The new process for remediation for an N grade in a PBL domain is explained in the 'Grading Section' of this manual. Promotion is dependent, also, upon satisfactory performance in the area of professionalism as outlined in the Block II handbook and Student Performance handbook.
Comments about professionalism (positive and negative) will appear in your Dean’s letter.
We hope that this year can be an exciting and challenging year for you as you pursue your goal of becoming a physician. We in Academic Programs and Student Affairs and Services look forward to helping you succeed.
Sincerely,
Andrew Saxe, M.D.
Block II Director
Janet Osuch, M.D.
Assistant Dean for Preclinical Curriculum
Aron Sousa, M.D.
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Wanda D. Lipscomb, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Services