Undergraduate Medical Education in Genetics Using Standardized Patients

This project is a collaborative effort of faculty from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the Departments of Human Genetics, Medical Education, Community and Preventive Medicine, and The Morchand Center for Clinical Competence. It is designed to develop standardized patient (SP) cases for the education of medical students about the appropriate uses and issues associated with genetic testing and evaluation, and to enhance the genetics curriculum currently provided to students by the inclusion of didactic and practical sessions that address the ethical issues associated with genetic testing, and that provide students with interviewing and history taking skills. The specific aims of the project are to: 1) enhance the current genetics curriculum provided to medical students at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM) in order to achieve defined educational objectives; 2) develop SP cases related to common encounters in the evaluation and testing of patients for genetic issues; 3) integrate the new curricular materials and the SP encounters into the undergraduate education of medical students at MSSM, and assess the feasibility of extending the program to other schools that use The Morchand Center; 4) evaluate student performance during the SP encounters including skills related to: obtaining complete family history information, eliciting the relevant medical history, conducting a targeted physical examination as required, maintaining an appropriate professional demeanor, providing information in a non-directive manner, providing sufficient information to permit patients to provide informed consent, demonstrating awareness of the need for confidentiality of genetic information, and assessing and addressing the psychosocial needs of the patient; 5) evaluate overall student attainment of information related to the appropriate use of genetic evaluations including: test selection, test interpretation, selection of patients for genetic evaluation and testing, awareness of the issues related to informed consent and confidentiality, and awareness of the ethical issues associated with genetic testing; and 6) prepare a manual comprised of the SP case objectives and scenarios, and the ethics curriculum for wide distribution to other medical schools.