title: Planning and incorporating public health preparedness into the medical curriculum.
abstract: As part of a 2010 conference entitled "Patients and Populations: Public Health in Medical Education," faculty from four U.S. medical schools (Case Western Reserve University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and the University of Vermont College of Medicine), collaborated on a workshop to help other medical educators develop scenario-based learning experiences as practical, engaging, and effective mechanisms for teaching public health principles to medical school students. This paper describes and compares four different medical schools' experiences using a similar pandemic exercise scenario, discusses lessons learned, and suggests a curricular framework for medical schools adding such exercises to their population health curriculum. Different strategies to create realistic scenarios and engage students, including use of professionals and stakeholders from the community, are described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA. jan.carney@uvm.edu
authors.forename: Jan K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Carney
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.forename: Scott H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Biddinger
authors.forename: Tania F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Bertsch
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Grace
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Finkelstein
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D058873:Pandemics / Q000517:prevention & control; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical