The JMP Clinical Skills (CS) curriculum introduces JMP students to the fundamentals of clinical skills, the environments in which healthcare is delivered and the social structures and forces which affect them. Principles of antiracist care are integrated throughout the CS curriculum. The curriculum includes a focus on interprofessional education and teamwork.
The CS curriculum includes weekly sessions in which students learn and practice clinical skills through small group activities, simulation sessions with standardized patients, and preceptorships in clinical settings throughout the Bay Area. As first-years, students learn the foundational skills of the physical examination and patient interviewing through a lens of antiracism, trauma-informed/healing centered care, and cultural humility. As second-years, students focus on advanced and specialized exams, integrated clinical reasoning, and health systems improvement. Third-years prepare for the transition to clerkships with advanced practice including inpatient experiences, a focus on health teams and systems, and high-yield classroom sessions integrated with clinical reasoning. In addition to traditional clinical knowledge and skills, the CS curriculum addresses racism in medicine, health care disparities, and structural determinants of health.
Coursework is designed to integrate with a wide variety of graduate classes that explore the structures and systems that affect health and health care including Critical Race Theory, Structural Competency, Motivational Interviewing, Systems Improvement and other clinically-relevant studies through in-depth elective graduate classes offered by any department at UC Berkeley.