Discovering gender differences while teaching family genograms

information management medical school curriculum theme. We identified 5 information management content areas: reasoning, judgement and clinical decision making; biostatistics ⁄epidemiology; medical informatics; applying information to individual patients, and applying information to groups. We have begun to integrate information management knowledge and skills throughout the curriculum, focusing first on the pre-clinical years. Why the idea was necessary Providing good health care requires focusing on systems of health care and on population-based approaches, while movements toward competency-based assessment focus on complexes of knowledge and skills. Information management addresses these developments by equipping medical students with knowledge and skills needed to acquire, assess and apply information to address a broad variety of problems. While some elements were already taught (e.g. biostatistics ⁄epidemiology), the content needed more logical placement and appropriate clinical contextualisation. What was done The first courses and information management content integration have been implemented in the first 2 years of the medical school curriculum. These include introductory lectures on clinical reasoning and cognition, and the foundations of biostatistics and epidemiology (B ⁄E). Clinical reasoning is integrated into the first semester Integrated Clinical Correlations course, while B ⁄E is a 2-block unit taught during the first 2 years of medical school. We use clinical vignettes in both segments to promote integration of clinical reasoning concepts with B ⁄E. Biostatistics ⁄epidemiology content is further integrated into a project-based integrative module called ‘Social Context of Clinical Decisions’ (SCCD), where Year 2 students formulate a patient care policy based upon ethical, economic, epidemiological and health policy considerations. Finally, B ⁄E content is integrated with students’ clinical training in formal courses and within clinical clerkships. In Year 3, a course called ‘Critical Appraisal ⁄Analytic Medicine’ (CAAM) integrates B ⁄E within its 2 main components. In the first component, students build on the foundation developed in B ⁄E by critiquing primary research articles. In addition to critically reading research literature, the students in CAAM learn to focus questions and hone their searching skills. In the second component of CAAM, the students are required to work in teams to develop a research proposal designed to answer a researchable question. Additionally, several clinical clerkships require the students to use critical analytic skills in support of formal and informal clinical presentations. Evaluation of results and impact Implementation of the new 2-course B ⁄E sequence resulted in no dropoff in student achievement as reflected in course grades, with an 82% examination first-take pass rate and a 100% second-take pass rate. We surveyed students to determine their perceptions of the usefulness of components of the information management curriculum theme. More students felt that the Year 1 B ⁄E course was useful (70Æ5%) compared with the Year 2 course (55Æ5%). Additionally, 63% of the students felt the application of B ⁄E content to the SCCD module was useful. These results indicate a possible need to strengthen the perceived relevance of the Year 2 biostatistics ⁄epidemiology course material. While development of the information management theme is a work in progress, other programmes with limited curricular time and resources may wish to adapt a similar process of infusion for their own curriculum revision efforts.