The course serves as a transition from the basic science courses to the clinical clerkship year. The goal is to help the student acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to participate in the active care of patients in the context of a healthcare team. The course addresses the pathophysiology of important diseases and the differential diagnosis of cardinal symptoms. The course will help the student become proficient in data gathering, clinical reasoning and judgment, and practical skills, as well as understanding and demonstrating an attitude of professionalism.

The course includes educational and evaluative components. The educational components are designed to facilitate the student’s learning through practicing the skills and applying the knowledge learned without being evaluated. The evaluative components provide two types of feedback to the student. Formative feedback occurs throughout the course and alerts the student to areas where improvement is necessary. Summative feedback occurs as a grade is assigned at the end of the course that reflects the student’s overall performance.

The program in medical microbiology is designed to familiarize medical students with the fundamentals of immunology and infectious diseases and their etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and prevention. Initially, there is an introduction to the basic principles of host immune system and its functions and to microbiology as a basic science through discussions concerned with microbial physiology and genetics. As the course proceeds (in integration with pathology, introduction to clinical medicine and pharmacology courses), host-parasite interrelationships for specific groups of disease-producing agents in organ systems are discussed. Throughout the course, concepts and basic information on medical microbiology are accompanied by clinical correlates. Instruction includes lectures, laboratory exercises, and case- or clinical-based small-group discussion facilitated by the faculty.