BSHS Selectives 2023-2024
Selectives Type:  Medical Humanities

Selective Title
Physician Healer Scholarly Concentration Immersion Capstone (BSHS Credit)		 Course Number
PHTU-4001
Prerequisites: Must be Physician Healer Scholarly Concentration student; successful completion of all Year 3 requirements; C Form required prior to enrollment - send to Chelsea Tippit (chtippit@utmb.edu)
Responsible Faculty Director:
Cara Geary, MD, PhD
Other Faculty:
Susan Gerik, Julia Tripple, Charlena Melnyk		 Contact Information
cageary@utmb.edu office 409-772-2815 Coordinator: Meagan Isaacks (meisaack@utmb.edu)		 Periods Offered
10
excluding holiday period 8		 Maximum Enrollment
50

Learning Objectives
Goal 1. Reflect upon the student's growth as a healer during medical training.
Goal 2: Further develop their professional identity through immersive review of healer topics.
Goal 3: Improve life balance as they progress to their next level of training.
Goal 4: Synthesis of learned techniques to address difficult medical situations.

Objectives, Students will:
1. Expand abilities in self-reflection for personal growth and professional identity
2. Review healer topics and continue to improve their body/mind/spirit relationship
3. Learn to synthesize and utilize healer techniques learned in the PHC to improve healing encounters and the healthcare environment
4. Review life balance techniques and create a career-life balance plan for upcoming residency
5. Expand communication skills with oneself, colleagues, and patients
6. Continue self-reflection, to expand one's knowledge and understanding of their inner critic
7. Carry on improving insight into human interactions to better improve working relationships with colleagues and patients.
8. Reflect on one's impact on UTMB as a healer, and how best to expand and grow these abilities at a new institution

Describe the qualifications background and career goals or interests of students who would benefit from the course:
Physician Healer Scholarly Concentration students will have an opportunity to refresh tenets of healing learned in their two month preceptorship but now from the eyes of someone that has engaged in our healthcare system with all its stressors, flaws and foibles. Preparation for life balance as a resident and for practice as a physician-healer will be the themes throughout the course. This BSHS is only being offered in block 12 of each year and students must be in their fourth year of the Physician Healer Scholarly Concentration.

Description of course activities
Students will be immersed in a 4-week course that includes sessions on loss, reflection, hard communication and healer challenges, and residency preparation. Students will be reading two books and completing a reflective essay. They will also do a presentation in PowerPoint reflecting on the last four years of training as a physician and a healer. Independent assignments including mindfulness practices, NVC, life balance, and many of the monthly assignments done over the first two years. Large group activities entail group processing of the individual assignments, Life-Mapping for their upcoming residency training and skill building in challenging communications. The most significant large group activity will entail a 1 to 2 day retreat where we explore a variety of topics. A final reflective essay will encourage students to dive more deeply into the theme of healing. 3 daily workshops with faculty will be focused on reflection, hard communications, residency preparation and challenges to healing.

Proposed time requirement (%) for the student activities per 40-hour week:
Activity Percent of Activity
Faculty contact time

60%
Self-directed study

40%
Data collection/analysis

Other


Method of student evaluation

Check all that apply - complete appropriate section(s) only:
1.  Grading
   
A. Please specify your grading criteria for outstanding performance:
  Active participation in the course sessions. Reflective writing assignments and submission of final written products. All PHSC students are familiar with how to write quality critical reflections. Any simply descriptive reflections or simple rambling will be returned to the student for additional work. The final written product will be held to the same rigor and returned for inadequate depth. Delays in receiving initial or returned written work will result in incomplete or failing grades. Allowed absences will follow the UTMB policy for earning course credit.

2.  Written Assignment (Homework, projects, notes, papers, abstracts, etc.)
A. Frequency of written assignment(s)
  Short reflective assignments will be part of preparing for a few of the small group session.
B. Type of written assignment
  Seminars or tutorials culminating in a research paper.
Basic science research plus documented written report.
Humanities, social sciences, biostatistical or epidemiological research culminating in a scholarly paper or written report.
Clinically-based written reports focusing on a basic science or humanities problem.
Journal club written reports
Grant proposals
Literature review
Oral presentation plus written report.
Other modality with a self-directed, scholarly research component culminating in a written report.
C. Format of written assignment
  Journaling will be free-form Reflective essays will be 2-4 paragraph critical reflection activities (which PHSC students have a great deal of experience with). Final written products (required of all BSHS selective) will be in two formats. The first will be a directed reflection on four years of training as both a physician and a healer including the challenges and barriers to healing encountered. The second assignment will be in the form of an oral presentation reviewing their experience in PHSC.
D. Method of content selection (student-selected, assigned, relate to cases, etc.)
  The personal reflection will be entirely self-selected although within the guidelines of the requested essay. The same is true for the oral presentation.

3.  Oral Presentation
  A. Frequency / duration of presentation(s)?
    Active participation in the daily sessions and a 10 min oral presentation at the end of the course. Active participation in small group sessions.
  B. Type and format of presentation
    10 minute oral presentation
  D. Assessment - Who assesses the student's presentation performance?
    Self-assessment   Peer assessment   Faculty assessment
  E. Method of content selection
    Student-selected topic   Assigned topic

4.  Professionalism
  What expectations do you have for the student to demonstrate participation in the elective (e.g. small group activities, seminars, thoughtful questions, providing resources, journal club, resident lecture attendance)?

The instructor will discuss principles of appropriate attribution and the referencing of literature with the student. The student is expected to understand and to adhere to the principle that all presented work must be solely the student’s own.
    Students previous clinical encounters with colleagues, peers and patients will be presented by students on a regular basis within small group discussions. This will provide ample opportunity to enhance skills in professionalism as we discuss topics of confidentiality within the group process and also anonymity in regards to the clinical presentations.

5.  Other Modes of Evaluation
  Please explain below.
    Students will be encouraged and required to engage in self evaluation and self directed growth during this course.