Case-based teaching in preventive medicine: rationale, development, and implementation.
The importance of prevention teaching is increasingly recognized in medical education, but its implementation in medical school curricula is hampered by its cross-specialty nature, lack of curricular time, and perception as a topic of less importance than the traditional basic and clinical sciences. The Case-Based Series in Population-Oriented Prevention (C-POP) was developed to address national objectives for prevention education in a format that recognizes the students' abilities and preferences for case-based learning. This series uses small-group discussion cases that can be adapted to a variety of settings and instructor capabilities. These cases guide the learners from a specific clinical problem to the broader clinical and population-based prevention issues for the topic. The cases were developed with the use of local health department scenarios and data and have been taught and refined in a number of settings. As part of the curriculum development project, evaluation tools that examined prevention skills and orientation were developed and tested. With its emphasis on small-group learning, clinical relevance, and adaptability to a variety of learner and instructor needs, the C-POP project effectively integrates prevention concepts into medical education.
Epling
John W
JW
SUNY-Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York 13210, USA.
Morrow
Cynthia B
CB
Sutphen
Sally M
SM
Novick
Lloyd F
LF
D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017145:Models, Educational; D009518:New York; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000193:education*; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation