An interdisciplinary course in women's health integrating basic and clinical sciences: clinical anatomy and women's health.

Traditionally, undergraduate medical education is divided into preclinical and clinical years, with basic sciences taught during the first years and clinical sciences taught during the latter years. In an effort to better integrate the basic and clinical sciences in undergraduate medical education, and focus on women's health, we have developed a new interdisciplinary fourth-year elective at the University of Michigan Medical School. The elective, titled "Clinical Anatomy and Women's Health," is a joint effort between the Division of Anatomical Sciences and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Health System. During the course students participate in didactic, laboratory, cadaveric dissection, and clinical-correlate sessions that focus on gynecologic anatomy and clinical issues in women's health. Educational goals and learning objectives were used to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum; revisions, based on outcomes of the educational assessment, will be implemented in the next offering of the course. Preliminary data from the first offering of the course in February 2002 are provided. The goals of this course include integrating basic science and clinical concepts while reducing the division between preclinical and clinical medical education, addressing issues of women's health, and encouraging lifelong learning by using basic science concepts and techniques of discovery in clinical practice.