"PISCEs is a longitudinal integrated course that prepares students with the medical knowledge needed to care for patients. It integrates foundational science, pathophysiology and disease management. The course is broken into 3 foundational modules followed by eight systems-based (e.g., cardiovascular, neuro/psych) modules. Woven into each of these modules are longitudinal threads which include oncology, infectious disease, anatomy, microbiology, pharmacology and pathology, as well as the school’s health equity curricular themes.   The PISCEs curriculum uses multiple instructional design strategies to support active learning, peer learning and team development. The last 10 weeks of the pre-clerkship curriculum, called the Advanced Integration Weeks, focuses on integrated cases based on the Core patient presentations organized by clinical areas and disciplines. Students will revisit prior foundational, clinical, and social science content in patient cases to help students consolidate and integrate the material. In these final ten weeks of the preclerkship phase, students are immersed each week in patient cases that begin with a patient presentation to a clinic or ER and then evolve over a week where students navigate patient signs, symptoms, labs and imaging to again connect foundational science to patient data they will see in clerkships.  These cases also have a goal of introducing students to patient cases that are representative of our patient population at Boston Medical Center, our primary teaching hospital.  All cases are based on real patient cases and integrate teaching about our unique populations highlighting knowledge and skills needed to address our curricular key themes and populations. Finally, students collaborate in small groups to solve clinical problems, simulating the “clinical team” in medical practice and review and prepare for the USMLE Step 1 exam. "

Note that this information may change at any time. Please visit the MyBU Student Portal for the most up-to-date course information.