Longitudinal Integrated Curriculum

The Longitudinal Integrated Curriculum (LIC) at Columbia-Bassett is the core experience of the Major Clinical Year and one of the outstanding attributes of the program. In addition to scheduled clinical experiences, students follow their own panel of patients across many clinical events for the full year. Patients see their students as integral to their care and students benefit from providing an invaluable service to patients.  

The Longitudinal Integrated Curriculum (LIC) is not unique to Columbia-Bassett. There are similar programs at both Harvard Medical School and the University of California at San Francisco in addition to variants at a number of medical schools. Training in the LIC is an exceptional opportunity for self-motivated students who are seeking to enhance their learning through development of in depth interpersonal relationships and the perspective of navigating care across a broad clinical continuum. 

There are three essential components of the 36-week Longitudinal Integrated Block.  

Scheduled Clinics 

• Students are assigned outpatient clinical preceptors in a variety of specialties with whom they work with throughout the Major Clinical Year. The preceptors are attending physicians who are dedicated to teaching and working with students on a one-on-one basis. 
  • In this way, students develop familiar relationships over time and get a feel for what life within a specialty is like as a career.  
• Students are paired with an outpatient primary care preceptor at one of the Bassett regional clinics, and they visit this site once every 1-2 months during the MCY longitudinal portion. In the January after the Major Clinical Year, students spend four weeks at their regional clinic learning and practicing primary care. 
• Students will additionally have interspersed inpatient exposure in week long blocks.  

Longitudinal Patient Panel 

• In above scheduled clinics, students select patients of interest to them (or with whom they bond) and add them to their longitudinal panel, which is the second major component.  
• Students use a customized component of the hospitals' electronic medical record, EPIC, to optionally "follow" patients and are notified electronically of upcoming patient events – scheduled clinics, procedures, and operations, for example. 
• Patients in our environment tend to come back for follow-ups, and to appreciate and trust their doctors. Students will make deep, memorable connections with their patients.  
• Students have the flexibility and responsibility to guide their learning to be most effective on a day-to-day basis – whether that means staying to see patients in a regularly scheduled clinic, or choosing to go and follow up with a longitudinal patient. 

Educational Conferences 

• Weekly protected time for group-based learning specific to the designated shelf exams. 
• Hands-on simulation series in the active learning center.