Doctor of Medicine: Foundations of Medicine Elective Courses

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Berry
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

The purpose of this elective is to familiarize students with data standards and vocabularies, IRB compliance and protocols, as well as HIPAA in practice and research. The course will consist of a mixture of virtual lectures and hand on exercises. At the completion of this elective, the student should be able to:
- Describe how data standards are used in the electronic health record
- Build a protocol for extracting data using data standards, specifically SNOMED, LOINC and ICD-10 codes.
-Build an IRB protocol for a potential project involving human subjects research
- Apply the rules of HIPAA to research and practice situations

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Berry
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

The purpose of this elective is to familiarize students with all aspects of the Virtual Data Warehouse (VDW). The course will consist of a mixture of virtual lectures and hand on exercises. At the completion of this elective, the student should be able to:
- Perform a query in Slicer Dicer
- Clean data extracted from the VDW
-Validate data extracted from the VDW
- Discuss and apply different de-identification methods

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Berry
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

The purpose of this elective is to identify the key concepts of Clinical Decision Support (CDS). The course will consist of a a mixture of virtual lectures and hand on exercises. At the completion of this elective, the student should be able to:
- Discuss the benefits and drawbacks to Clinical Decision Support
- Critique current CDS alerts
-Design a CDS alert

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Berry
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

The purpose of this elective is to familiarize students with Natural Language Processing (NLP). The course will consist of a a mixture of virtual lectures and hand on exercises. At the completion of this elective, the student should be able to:
- Discuss the free platforms available
- Operate Canary NLP tool
- Employ Canary to extract text from EHR notes

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Berry
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

The purpose of this elective is to relate the key principles and concepts of precision medicine and how they impact individual and population health. At the completion of this elective, the student should be able to:
1. Describe precision health in medicine and its impact on individual health
2. Provide examples of precision health's impact on individual and population health
3. Discuss the role of Omics in medicine
4. Use precision medicine websites to identify how precision medicine is utilized to help improve individual and population health

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Woodcock
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

Students will perform an advanced prosection of a specific body region (e.g., Head and Neck, Thorax, Abdomen, Spinal Cord, Upper Limb, Lower Limb, or Pelvis). In addition, students will annotate at least two articles with reference to: standard bibliographic reference and a concise synthesis of the article. Students are evaluated according to their ability to summarize and articulate how each publication relates to their prosection and integrate it with medical practice. Upon completion of the prosection, students will present their project to an instructor and other students enrolled in the elective. The final presentation will include a description of the anatomy of the prosected region, any pathologies that were discovered during the process and how they may have presented in life, and how the prosection relates to the literature review.

Total time expectation is 20-30 hours per week.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Kilpatrick
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

Students will work alongside emergency medicine faculty and senior level residents caring for patients in a high volume emergency department. Students will work three, eight hour ED shifts, and will also attend weekly emergency medicine conferences. Total time expectations will be 25-30 hours per week.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Mastenbrook
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

Students will gain familiarity with a high performance prehospital EMS system. Along with EMS faculty and staff, they will attend various standing administrative meetings, and weekly emergency medicine grand rounds/simulation. They will complete two 8-hour ride along shifts with paramedics and one 8-hour ride along shift with medical first responder firefighters. Total time expectations will be approximately 25-30 hours per week.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
R. Baker
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
August only
Description:

This is a 30-hour experience. The student will work directly with fellows and faculty in the ambulatory setting providing pre-participation evaluations and evaluation and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Dickson
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
August only
Description:

Students will gain experience providing health services for medically underserved migrant farmworkers in southwest Michigan. Specifically, students will join InterCare medical personnel in a mobile clinic that travels from farm to farm, in a fixed clinic located in Bangor, MI, and traveling to farmworker housing to perform health screenings. Responsibilities will include assisting InterCare medical personnel with obtaining patient medical histories and performing physical examinations. This elective experience lasts 3 days; each day students will commute to and from Bangor, MI, via personal vehicle (~40 minute trip).

Total time expectation: 25-30 hours per week.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Woodhams
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This elective is offered in the second term. The elective consists of eight two hour interactive discussions led by faculty with a student moderator. Each event includes preparatory readings and videos related to the discussion topic.

Each student is responsible for developing and moderating a one hour educational event as assigned by the course director.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Woodhams
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This elective allows students to travel to India to collaborate with the Institute for Rural Health Studies (IRHS). Students will collaborate on a project identified by the IRHS, and with the guidance of the organization and the elective director, will contribute to their chosen project.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Dickson, Sherwood
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

This elective course is focused at the intersection of interprofessional education, cultural diversity, and environmental justice in Puerto Rico. This longitudinal elective will help students understand the Puerto Rican healthcare system to better prepare them to work with diverse communities and to address health inequities. Topics covered in this course will include structural health inequities, and the impacts of colonialism on healthcare, the effect of climate change on healthcare and the complexities of providing ethical healthcare aid. Facilitated group discussions will focus on environmental justice, social determinants of health, structural racism and social justice. Students will gain the skills to not only identify health inequities unique to Puerto Ricans, but also how to mitigate their effects by working interprofessionally with nurses and social workers.

The course will combine in person classroom instruction, self-directed online learning, and an optional onsite experiential learning opportunity in San Juan Puerto Rico within the El Cano Martin Pena (ECMP) community.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Dickson
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This longitudinal elective will help students analyze our current healthcare system for structural health inequities. Facilitated group discussions will focus on implicit bias, social determinants of health, structural racism, and microaggressions and how they lead to health inequity. Students will gain the skills in analyzing the institution of healthcare for these inequities, and develop skills to mitigate their effects.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Mithal
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This one week elective is designed for M1/M2 students interested in learning the basic skills of history taking and examination of acute and chronic musculoskeletal condition. At the completion of this objective student should be able demonstrate these basic skills as well understand the underlying principle of musculoskeletal ultrasound and electrodiagnosis. This elective is held virtually through Microsoft Teams.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Dickson
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This is a one week elective where M1 and M2 medical students will have the opportunity to work with Kalamazoo Public High School Students who participated in the Early Introduction to Healthcare Careers-2 pipeline program. Medical Students will have the opportunity to help develop curriculum and facilitate teaching in anatomy, pharmacology, physiology in a hands-on, interactive approach to learning and teaching. The elective helps support partnership with community, working with students who are minority and underprivileged to help foster an interest in science and math and encourage them to pursue higher education.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
McCarroll
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
3 seats available prior to June, 10 seats after July
Description:

Canopy Learn, the Canopy Medical Spanish training course teaches English-speaking providers the skills needed to communicate effectively with Spanish-speaking patients. With a modular lesson design, this elective can be taken at your own pace. Relecant for all proficiency levels: with progressive course levels, it's appropriate for beginners who have little or no prior knowledge of Spanish. Each level is a 12-hour commitment. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking exercises provide learners a diverse, interactive blend of activities that emulate language learning with a tutor. There is a custom written and produced Telenovela focus on the most common practitioner-patient interactions, demonstrating the factual context in which medical Spanish is used.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
McCarroll
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

Canopy Learn, the Canopy Medical Spanish training course, teaches English-speaking providers the skills needed to communicate effectively with Spanish-speaking patients. With a modular lesson design, this elective can be taken at your own pace. Each level is approximately a 12 to 15-hour commitment. Students are expected to complete two consecutive levels within an elective week.

Prerequisites: Students should have an intermediate Spanish level proficiency (usually equivalent to three to four college semesters of Spanish). Learner must achieve a score of 70% pass on the Canopy Pre-Course Assessment Test to enroll in Levels II & III. The assessment test is available at: http://learn.canopyapps.com/courses/16/trial.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Busha
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This elective is designed to provide a framework for patient safety concepts. It utilizes IHI Open School modules and a reflection of a hallmark article.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Busha
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This elective is designed to provide a framework for quality improvement in healthcare. It utilizes IHI Open School resources to provide a foundation in the area of CQI.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Gibb
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This course will be examine the theoretical and practical implications of the modern healthcare system through the lens of critical race theory. CRT is a lens that seeks to unmask and illuminate structural and societal implications of race and racial disparities in the current healthcare system. After completing some required background readings, students will be permitted to explore any aspect of the issues raised and produce a basic research project.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Gibb
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

A detailed inquiry into the theory, practice, and history of the narrative form in the context of the modern medico-industrial complex. Through the humanities and humanities-based analysis, students will be afforded the opportunity to develop their own creative skills, but also be able to gain new avenues to better connect with their patients. After completing some required background readings, students will be permitted to explore any aspect of the issues raised and produce a basic research project.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Gibb
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

America has been described as a 'death denying culture'. Dying in America is a complex process. Legal, cultural, and medical barriers often prevent patient from dying in the manner, at the time, and in the location of their preference. A detailed inquiry into the physiological, legal, and social process of death and dying. This course will allow students to delve deeply into the philosophical and legal issues involved in death in America. After completing some required background readings, students will be permitted to explore any aspect of the issues raised and produce a basic research project.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
M. Redinger
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

Catholic Healthcare Ethics has played a significant role in the development of secular bioethics and continues to influence medical practice, at times controversially, in Church-owned and operated healthcare facilities and hospitals. This course will allow students to delve deeply into a current area of debate within Catholic Healthcare Ethics. After completing some required background readings, students will be permitted to explore any aspect of the issues raised and produce a basic research project.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Gibb
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

"The past is never dead. It's not even past." - William Faulkner

The history of the field of medicine is the story of its current state. In this elective, students will develop a research question related to an area of individual interest, develop a bibliography, and stake a historian's position. After an initial period of inquiry and investigation, the student will produce a paper on their chosen topic relating to a particular period, movement, or figure in the history of medicine.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Brooks
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During Year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

Students will work alongside forensic pathology faculty and staff providing forensic pathology services in a high-volume medical examiner's office. Students will work alongside autopsy assistants, the forensic pathology fellow, and attending pathologists for five days, and will also attend daily forensic pathology conferences. Total time expectations will be 20-30 hours per week.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Blok
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
Prior approval required.
Offered:
During Year 1 and 2 elective weeks
Description:

This course is designed to provide an opportunity to learn about the process of drug development from drug discovery through approval by regulatory authorities. In an eLearning format, students will gain greater understanding of the roles of individuals in all stages of making a new medicine available and be exposed to the nature of research in both the basic science and the clinical science aspects of the process. The nature of the review process by the FDA or other regulatory agencies will be examined as well. The course would be a great opportunity to explore non-traditional career paths for physicians.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Schauer, Horneffer-Ginter
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

This longitudinal elective will take place in 10 one-hour sessions from 5:30-6:30pm with assigned practices and reflection to be done outside of class between sessions. We will start each session with an opening mediation, and then a brief check-in with students about the previous week. Then, we will introduce a new mindfulness technique (examples include eating meditation, walking meditation, and journaling), after which we will debrief about the experience. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know your peers in a small group environment, and to acquire tools to build resiliency in the challenging field of medicine. Students must attend 7 of the 10 dates for credit, and are encouraged to attend weekly.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Horneffer-Ginter
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

This elective covers key concepts and strategies across multiple facets of mind-body-spirit wellness. Students are asked to reflect on the application of this content in relation to their own professional and personal well-being and to identify ways in which they can promote individual and institutional wellness in their daily interactions with peers, patients, and community members. The elective will be interactive and experientially based. A retreat day will be held in person as part of the elective, or virtually, as necessary.

Credits:

.5

Directors:
Horneffer-Ginter
Grading:
Pass/Fail
Prerequisites:
None
Description:

The integration of spirituality into the practice of medicine holds many opportunities for deepening the meaning and impact of health care relationships for providers and patients alike. At the same time, multiple obstacles exist to practically implementing whole-person care in the ways encouraged in scholarly writings and training programs. This elective offers students an overview of existing resources and current research in this area, and invites them to reflect on their own values and interests in engaging in medical practice in a way that promotes mind-body-spirit well-being.