Medical Education Program Objectives

The MD program curriculum at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine equips students to meet core competencies through the curriculum milestones to ensure they have the necessary medical knowledge and clinical skills to succeed as residents and later as practicing physicians.

1. Medical and scientific knowledge: Demonstrate knowledge of established and evolving biomedical, clinical, epidemiological, and social-behavioral concepts in caring for healthy patients, ill patients, and the community.
2. Patient care and health promotion: Provide evidence-based care that is compassionate, culturally appropriate, and effective for illness prevention, health promotion, treatment of disease, and improvement in quality of life, including appropriate end-of-life care.
3. Professionalism and self-awareness: Demonstrate commitment to professional services, adherence to ethical principles, and awareness of one’s own interests, personal biases, vulnerabilities, and limitation of knowledge.
4. Practice-based and life-long learning: Demonstrate the ability to appraise, assimilate, innovate, and incorporate scientific evidence to evaluate and improve patient care practices based on continuous self-evaluation and life-long learning.
5. Systems-based and interprofessional practice: Demonstrate awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context of health care and the ability to call on system resources, including other health care professionals, to provide optimal care.
6. Interpersonal and communication skills: Demonstrate effective information exchange and collaboration with patients, their families, peers, and other health professionals to enhance their care.