Badging in the MD Curriculum
Badging in the MD Curriculum
Badging was approved as a required form of curriculum for the MD Program & was approved by UMEC on October 7, 2020, acting upon the recommendation by CEMC. Badging grew out of a curriculum review process conducted at the direction of UMEC and led by the Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning. The purpose of the review centered around Domains 7 (Interprofessional Collaboration) and 8 (Personal and Professional Wellbeing) and identified needs within the curriculum.
A committee of approximately 15 people spent one year reviewing literature, curriculum, and proposed the adoption of badging as a means of providing and documenting required curriculum. Contributing members of the group included: Assistant Dean for Medical Curriculum, Phase 1 Director, Dean of Student Affairs and Admissions, Instructional Designers, Director of the Office Interprofessional Education, Student Wellness Coordinator, and Four Medical Students.
Badging addresses a unique set of challenges:
- Our program competencies are not outcomes measured at a single point in time, such as memorizing the names of different parts of the anatomy. They are the synthesis of multiple knowledge, skill, and attitudinal outcomes as applied over time in medical profession settings of the profession. This means we must require students to demonstrate them over time.
- The identified competencies and attitudes are not linear and conclusive, to but are instead demonstrated at different levels of accomplishment over time and with experience. This means we must assess these competencies at different levels of mastery.
- While attitudes can be partially assessed through formal assessment methods, they must be assessed by the choices students make in the contexts in which those attitudes should be demonstrated. This means we must assess these competencies in part by the choices students make over time.
- This is the logic behind why PCRS (the basis for our Domains and Competencies) has EPAs—people wanted a way to understand what behaviors go with each of those competencies. EPAs are day one residency—we need to document competencies as they occur within UME
- Because mastery of these competencies requires both knowledge and attitudes, it is important that they be documented within the normal workflow and practice of medical professionals. This also allows students to do so by documenting things they are already doing for other purposes which are also evidence of the competency.
Two badging programs have been proposed and implemented:
1. Interprofessional Collaboration: Approved by UMEC on April 21, 2021, and implemented in July of 2022 for the Class of 2026. Primary contact- Dr. Eric Johnson.
2. Telehealth: Approved by UMEC on June 28, 2023, and implemented in July 2023 for the Class of 2027. Primary contact- Dr. Richard Van Eck.