Jumping in Feet First

Duke University School of Medicine is launching a new “patient first” curriculum that puts students in the clinic earlier and trains them in social determinants of health, data science, and leadership

Meghan Sullivan and Ivana Premasinghe still can’t believe they got to spend their very first week of medical school in the clinic, conducting patient interviews and learning basic exam skills like blood pressure reading and heart rate monitoring.

The first-year Duke University medical students are part of a pilot class for Duke University’s new “Patient First” medical school curriculum. Implementation of the new curriculum has already begun and will continue to roll out over the next four years. The revised first year experience, launched in August 2020, includes a new Clinical Immersion course, which allows students to spend time with patients almost immediately.