Office of Student Affairs
Harkness Hall, ESH 219
367 Cedar Street
New Haven, CT 06510
USA
Student Affairs
203.785.2644
Admissions
203.785.2643
Financial Aid
203.785.2645
Student Research
203.785.6633
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Education:
Mission Statement
Mission Statement and School Wide Objectives
MISSION: to educate and inspire scholars and future leaders who will
advance the practice of medicine and the biomedical sciences.
SCHOOL-WIDE OBJECTIVES
KNOWLEDGE: To function effectively as physicians, Yale
medical students must acquire a basic understanding, theoretical as well
as factual, of the physical, psychological, economic and cultural matters
that affect the care of patients. Knowledge consists not only of that information
alone however, but also includes a critical understanding of how that information
is obtained, expanded, and renewed.
Knowledge must also include the ability
to augment itself through a lifetime of learning and scholarship. Yale
medical students must couple this self-renewing capacity with an ability
to evaluate new information critically and contribute to the discovery
of new medical knowledge by engaging in an independent research project
culminating in a medical thesis.
The Medical School will ensure that all graduating students demonstrate,
to the satisfaction of the faculty, the following:
- An understanding of normal structure of the human body at the whole-body,
organ, tissue, cell and molecular level.
- An understanding of normal physiological functions at the whole-body,
integrated system, organ, tissue, cell and molecular level.
- Understanding of the normal anatomic and physiologic changes
that occur over the human life cycle.
- An understanding of the genetic and biochemical basis of cellular
function.
- An understanding of normal psychological development.
- An understanding of the multiple causes of illness, including
genetic, nutritional, developmental, metabolic, toxic, environmental,
microbiological, inflammatory, neoplastic, degenerative, psychological,
social, traumatic, and stress-related.
- An understanding of abnormal structure/function relationships
in humans.
- An understanding of basic epidemiologic principles and the use of
statistics in describing illness within defined populations.
- An understanding of the major challenges, both present and future,
to the health of communities and nations, as well as a familiarity with
the prevention and treatment strategies needed to address these challenges.
- Knowledge of the clinical, laboratory, diagnostic imaging and
pathologic manifestations of disease, and proficiency in interpreting
each type of information. Depth of understanding should be sufficient
to allow for creation of appropriate differential diagnoses in clinical
medicine and establishment of additional investigative strategies, when
needed.
- A critical understanding of the principles of both curative
and palliative therapeutics. This includes objectives of treatment, assessment
of efficacy and risks, and awareness of the common use of alternative
and complementary treatments.
- Knowledge of the strategies needed to promote health and prevent illness.
- Knowledge of health care systems in the United States and other
countries, and familiarity with healthcare management strategies to develop
systems (both large scale and small ) that maximize medical effectiveness,
reduce medical error, efficiently utilize scarce resources, and to correct
inequities in health and access to health care.
- Awareness of the necessity for scientific method, and knowledge
of its application, for the discovery of new medical knowledge.
SKILLS: Yale medical school seeks to educate physicians
who will demonstrate skill in the core set of activities required for
patient care. At the heart of these activities are history taking and
physical examination, complemented by facility with the appropriate
use and interpretation of procedures and tests. Yale medical students must
learn to communicate effectively while carrying out all of these activities.
Students must demonstrate the ability to acquire, interpret, and apply
information from a diverse array of sources to optimize diagnosis and
management.
The Medical School will ensure that all graduating students
demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the faculty, the following:
- The ability to obtain an accurate medical history that covers relevant
and essential aspects of the history, including issues related to age,
race, gender, culture, sexuality, and socio-economic status, while recognizing
and addressing any barriers to communication.
- The ability to perform
both a complete and a focused clinical examination in a manner that
demonstrates respect for the patient.
- An understanding of the clinical
method: the process whereby information obtained from the history,
physical examination and laboratory data is formulated into a differential
diagnosis.
- The ability to formulate a plan of care that takes into
consideration the patient's goals of care, and the risks, benefits,
alternatives and financial consequences of each therapeutic option.
- The ability to find, identify, critically interpret and utilize
the relevant information from both printed and electronic media, and
apply the scientific method in order to practice informed, up-to-date
medicine.
- An understanding of the principles of medical scholarship, including
literature review, design of hypothesis, formulation of specific aims,
identification and application of state-of-the-art methods including
statistics, analysis and interpretation of data, and familiarity with
the elements of clinical and translational research, and knowledge of
the responsible conduct of research.
- The ability to communicate effectively,
with patients, patients' families, colleagues, and others with whom
physicians must exchange information in carrying out their responsibilities.
These abilities should include, among others, proficiency in the education
of patients and families, inquiries about domestic violence, breaking
bad news, counseling for behavior modification, obtaining informed
consent, and discussions of end-of-life issues.
- Knowledge of the indications
for a core set of medical procedures, as well as the complications
of those procedures. Students must demonstrate ability to obtain consent
for the procedure, perform the procedure, and to recognize and interpret
the results.
- The ability to develop a scientific question, survey the literature,
design and carry out a study to address that question, and prepare a
written presentation of that work in the form of an independent research
project.
- The skills required to be a life-long physician-scholar, including
the ability to assess the validity of the literature and apply the
scientific method to clinical decision-making
ATTITUDES: Medicine is an altruistic profession.
Physicians must be committed to serving others and devoted to the care
of their patients. They must bring intention and action, as well as empathy
and compassion, to the doctor-patient relationship. They must demonstrate
honesty and integrity in all of their professional interactions.
Empathy requires curiosity, and a willingness to understand and perceive
the experience of another person. In medicine, physicians must listen
openly to their patient's story, understanding their patient's experience
of illness in the context of the patient's beliefs, values, personal
circumstances and unique human qualities and responding compassionately
based on the patient's concerns. Physicians also have the responsibility
to be aware of their own reactions and emotions, with attention to how
this influences their attitudes toward and behavior with their patients.
Thus, Yale seeks to admit students who demonstrate humanitarian values,
maturity and the capacity for self-reflection. Yale medical school, through
its curriculum and system of education, will provide opportunities for
students to maintain, preserve and enhance the empathy and compassion
that brought them to medicine so that it is clearly evident in their
development and work as physicians.
The Medical School will ensure
that all graduating students demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the faculty,
the following:
- Empathic care of the patient through their interest in how patients
experience and cope with illness.
- Respect for the patient's dignity,
including the right to privacy and confidentiality.
- Knowledge of the
principles that guide ethical decision-making and awareness of the
major ethical dilemmas in medicine, including those arising at the beginning
and end of life, those posed by the expansion of science and technology,
and those resulting from financial constraints and incentives.
- Honesty,
accuracy, and integrity in all interactions with patients, families,
colleagues and others with whom they work as physicians, including
scientific integrity.
- The ability to recognize and accept the limitations
in one's knowledge and skills, along with an ongoing, lifelong commitment
to improve one's knowledge and abilities as a physician.
- A commitment
to understand and advocate for the patients' interests and those of
the community over one's own personal interests.
- An awareness of one's
vulnerability to stress, and the influence stress has on the ability
to care for patients.
- An awareness of the possibility of physician
bias, arising both from personal background, conflicts of interest,
and the culture of medicine, and the ways that bias can affect the delivery
of care and the doctor-patient relationship.
THE CONTEXT AND INTEGRATIVE NATURE OF MEDICINE:
Neither patients nor physicians exist in isolation. Yale medical students
must understand the context in which their patients live and the complex
interactions between the mind, the body, and the environment. Medical
students must realize that they will practice medicine within a context;
they must understand the needs and expectations of society at large and
they must have the ability to work with colleagues and healthcare teams.
Further, they must realize that being a physician is a privilege - one
that comes with a responsibility to serve the community that has empowered
them and given them access to training and knowledge.
The Medical School will ensure that all graduating students
demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the faculty, the following:
- An ability to understand the multi-factorial nature of health and
illness and relate such insight to the context of the individual patient,
including, but not limited to, psychological, social, economic and cultural
factors.
- The ability to elicit patients' goals, values and preferences in
an understanding manner and to integrate these values and preferences
into an appropriate plan of care.
- An awareness of one's participation as a member of a healthcare
team, and the ability to collaborate appropriately with all those involved
in the care of the patient, respecting their roles and professional expertise.
- Demonstrate a theoretical and practical understanding of how healthcare
is delivered, and how the manner of that delivery can affect the individual
physician.
- An understanding of the utility and limitations of
evidence-based decision-making and cost-effective healthcare delivery.
- An appreciation of the medical profession's responsibility to society,
both in our own country and throughout the world. These responsibilities
should include not only service to the underserved or disenfranchised
members of our own society, but also advocacy for the care of the disadvantaged
persons in other nations, who bear a heavy burden of disease, death,
and disability.
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