Medical Education Program Objectives
About Medical Education Program Objectives
Medical education programs leading to the MD degree in the United States and Canada are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). Programs are required to demonstrate that their graduates exhibit general professional competencies that are appropriate for entry to the next stage of their training and that serve as the foundation for lifelong learning and proficient medical care.
How are objectives created for a medical education program?
The faculty of a medical school define the competencies to be achieved by its medical students through medical education program objectives (MEPOs). The faculty is also responsible for the detailed design and implementation of the components of a medical curriculum that enable its medical students to achieve those competencies and objectives.
MEPOs are statements of the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that medical students are expected to exhibit as evidence of their achievement by completion of the program.
MEPOs at Texas A&M
Graduates from the Texas A&M School of Medicine Medical Degree (MD) program are expected to enter the next phase of their careers as physicians who are well prepared and who demonstrate the Aggie core values:
- Respect
- Excellence
- Loyalty
- Leadership
- Integrity
- Selfless service
The MEPOs represent what our faculty expect our medical students to have achieved upon the successful completion of our curriculum. The program objectives were derived from the core competencies of the six domains described by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) along with the Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) detailed by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Note: MEPO revisions were approved by the Curriculum Committee October 2020 and website updated June 2021
Knowledge
Students will successfully:
- K1.Demonstrate knowledge around the prevention, diagnosis, treatment,management, (cure or palliation) of medical conditions (MK, PC);
- K2. Describe the anatomy, histology, pathology, and pathophysiology of the humanbody as it pertains to the organ systems (MK, PC);
- K3. Identify the processes of patient history taking, physical examination, assessment,and plan development (MK, PC);
- K4. Demonstrate the foundational science background necessary to promote qualitypatient care (MK, PC).
- K5. Recognize the interplay of individual and health system science factors that impact the quality, safety, and value of patient-centered care (MK, PC, ICS, P, SBP, EPA 3, 13).
Skills
Students will demonstrate that they can:
- S1. Adapt to diverse patient attributes to obtain an accurate, complete, and patient-centered medical history (MK, PC, ICS, PROF) (EPA 1, EPA 5);
- S2. Perform both a complete and organ-specific examination, including a mental statusexamination (MK, PC, ICS) (EPA 1, EPA 5);
- S3. Perform core technical procedures in each of the required clerkships (MK, PC) (EPA 12);
- S4. Obtain informed consent from patients for selected procedures and tests (PC) (EPA 11);
- S5. Select and justify the use of appropriate common diagnostic tests and medicalimaging modalities and accurately interpret and utilize them in patient care (MK, PC)(EPA 3);
- S6. Prioritize a differential diagnosis following a clinical encounter (MK, PC, PBLI) (EPA2);
- S7. Communicate effectively, orally and in writing, with patients and their families,colleagues, and other health professionals (PC, ICS) (EPA 6);
- S8. Retrieve, critically evaluate, and utilize evidence-based information, for solvingproblems and making decisions relevant to the care of individuals and populations(MK, PC, PBLI) (EPA 7);
- S9. Construct appropriate management strategies, both diagnostic and therapeutic, forpatients with common acute and chronic medical conditions (MK, PC) (EPA 4);
- S10. Recognize a patient requiring urgent or emergent care and initiate evaluation andmanagement (MK, PC) (EPA 10);
- S11. Reason deductively in solving clinical problems including those in whichinformation is incomplete or ambiguous (MK, PBLI);
- S12. Identify their learning needs and initiate, monitor and evaluate learning strategiesto meet those needs (MK, PC, ICS, PBLI, SBP, PROF);
- S13. Give or receive a patient handover to transition care responsibility (PC, SBP) (EPA8);
- S14. Collaborate effectively as a member of an interprofessional team (PC, ICS, SBP,PROF) (EPA 9).
Attitudes and Behaviors
Students will display professionalism when they:
- AB1. Demonstrate respect, compassion, accountability, dependability and integritywhen interacting with patients and families, peers, faculty, residents andinterprofessional healthcare providers (PROF)
- AB2. Advocate at all times for the interests of their patients and provide altruistic serviceto the healthcare of others (PROF);
- AB3. Practice collaborative decision making while acknowledging and accepting one'slimitations in the practice of medicine (SBP);
- AB4. Combined with AB6. Please see below.
- AB5. Demonstrate the ability to investigate and evaluate one’s care of patients, toappraise and assimilate scientific evidence, and to continuously improve patientcare based on constant self-evaluation and life-long learning (excellence) (PC, PBL,PCRS 3);
- AB6. Adhere to institutional and professional standards (loyalty AB4) (PROF);
- AB7. Demonstrate awareness of the role of the social determinants of health incommunication, development of the treatment plan, and all aspects deliveringquality care(PC, PROF, ICS).