The Curriculum

Education is the rule at Tulane, and no program has the multi-faceted modalities to fit every learning style like Tulane does. There are 8 components to the Tulane Resident’s curriculum. For all eight components, the following philosophical tenets hold true:

• Learning should be fun, not something you suffer through.
  
• You learn medicine by being actively engaged in it… not by passively listening to someone drone on as the power-point slides click by.
• It helps to keep the lights on (i.e., no powerpoint lectures)
• There is little to be gained by learning what you already know. Instead, the maximal “juice for the squeeze” comes from identifying those areas in which you are weak, and then shoring up those weakness.
• Medicine is a team sport. Learning in the context of a team of colleagues is more fun than learning alone, and adds the benefit of teaching team skills.
• When the desire to learn presents, there should be no time wasted in getting into the heart of the lesson (literature searches, choosing amongst a 1000 articles, downloading articles, copying articles, etc.). The information you want to read should be readily available at your fingertips.
• Some skills require actively doing the skill. Tulane University’s state-of-the-art, six-million dollar virtual hospital (simulation center) is just the ticket to practice your procedures and codes in a multi-disciplinary setting.
• The curriculum should provide balance in your life, making you’re a better person, as well as a better physician. Check out the CAS curriculum as an example.

The Nine Pillars of the Tulane Resident’s Curriculum are listed below:

1. The Medical Matrix:
Believe it or not, the Board makes the learning objectives for the Internal Medicine Boards available. The Tulane Curriculum is based upon these learning objectives.

Each year all Tulane residents take the In-Service Training Examination. The results of this exam are not used for promotion or evaluation, but rather to alert the Tulane resident to his or her area of greatest improvement. Residents usually choose to do an elective in the area of their greatest weakness in order to tighten up their game. At the bottom of the sheet is a listing (by code) of all of the learning objectives the resident missed on the examination.

The medical matrix is the key to shoring up these weaknesses. By plugging in the code number of the missed objective, the Tulane Medical Matrix takes the resident to the question he or she missed. By clicking on the learning objective, the matrix takes the resident to a PDF file of a high-yield review article on the topic chosen from the top five internal medicine journals in the past five years.

This is important, because after a day of work, you’ll want to have focused, efficient study time in order to catch that great jazz band ready to play on a Tuesday night! (Philosophical tenet #5- there should be no time wasted.) The task of the Tulane resident, then, is not to waste time trying to figure out what to read, nor to waste time reading again what he or she already knows. Instead, the Medical Matrix focuses the resident on what he or she most needs to know.

If you complete the Medical Matrix over your three years at Tulane, I guarantee you will pass the Internal Medicine Boards- 100% of those who have done so have passed their boards with flying colors. (Philosophical tenet #3- shore up your weakness to get the maximum juice for the squeeze).

To help you even further, the Friday School schedule is also based on the ABIM learning objectives (see below). If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

The catch is that the Tulane Medical Matrix is only available to Tulane Residents.

2. Friday School:
Wow, are you going to love this! Friday School is the most innovative and forward-thinking curricular innovation in the country. Click on the link to see Friday School in Action!

3. Resident Rounds:
Autonomy is a feature of the Tulane Resident’s experience, and work rounds epitomizes this principle. You can only learn medicine by actively making decisions, and it is the protected hour of work rounds that enables Tulane Residents to learn the important skill of making decisions. Learn more about work rounds in “A Day In the Life.”

4. Afternoon Delight (aka "Morning Report"):
Afternoon Delight (Tulane’s version of “morning report”)  is not a lecture- it is a graduate-level discussion conference where the residents do the talking. Learn more about Afternoon Delight in “A Day In the Life.”

5. Attending Rounds:
Attending rounds is not a time where you watch your attending write notes, nor is it a time where the attending merely flips cards while you stand passively by. Attending rounds at Tulane is the old-school model of learning medicine at the bedside. Because there is nothing to rush off to (i.e. noon conference (Friday School), or clinic ( “The 4+1”) attending rounds is relaxed and focused upon your learning. Learn more about attending rounds in “A Day In the Life.”

6. Afternoon Teaching:
The learning doesn’t stop when the work is done. Each resident at Tulane is trained in the art and science of medical education, and after this formal training the expectation is clear: All residents at Tulane are expected to teach their team. Learn more about developing mastery in clinical education at Tulane in “Learning to Teach.” Add in the benefits of “The 4+1” System, and you’ll see the benefits of having additional “resident-to-intern” teaching time each and every day of your residency.

7. Standing Conferences:
Grand Rounds, M&M, CPC, CPS: Grand Rounds occurs each week. Each Friday at noon one of the four standing conferences occurs: CPC, CPS, M&M,  “Win Wiese’s Money” . Morbidity and Mortality conferences focus upon areas for improvement in patient care, whether it be mistakes that were made, or systems areas that could be improved to augment patient care. The Clinical Problem Solving (aka “Stump the Chump”) conference evokes the expertise of one of Tulane’s Faculty members in solving a difficult or interesting case. The Clinical Problem Solving conference is similar to the CPC conferences, except that the discussant is not provided the case ahead of time, and leads an interactive discussion as the case proceeds.

8. C.A.S.
CAS is the “Curriculum for Additional Skills”… which is the polite way of describing the reaction to its announcement (“Wow, that’s Cool As Shit!”). In this longitudinal curriculum, you will have a half-day every four weeks (as a part of your “+1” week) to be with your firm in studying life… you’ll read literature, philosophy and current events… share in the interpretation of art and music…. All of the things that makes life worth living. Topics and readings are chosen by Dr. Wiese and your firm, introducing new thoughts that you might not have otherwise considered. And this is important as you care for the diversity of Tulane’s patients.., being able to speak with then on a level they understand… and to the topics for which they most care… is the key to being the ultimate physician.  

9. Spartacus
If Tulane was not innovative enough for you, wait until you see this! Tulane’s Newest Innovation is coming soon!

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