| Medical Decision Making addresses the knowledge and skills that are required in making basic and important decisions in the practice of medicine. These include physician computer literacy skills, writing and presentation skills, critical evaluation of the literature, study design, biostatistics, epidemiology, issues related to diagnosis and the ordering and interpretation of clinical tests, decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and decision psychology. MDM provides a context that will help students understand and apply the large amount of basic science and clinical information learned in the first two years. The course is taught in three blocks (MDM I, II, and III), two in the first year and one in the second year. The first course students have in medical school is MDM I. The format for this one week block includes lectures and discussions at the college level. Students are introduced to the problems of making decisions with incomplete or imperfect information as well as how to acquire and evaluate medical information. MDM II is a two week block that takes place in the last two weeks of the first year and is taught in small group workshops as well as lectures; content includes basic study designs, biostatistics, epidemiology, literature critique, and basic concepts in diagnostic test use. MDM III is a two week block in spring of the second year, has a format similar to MDM II, and deals with advanced concepts in test use, the practice of evidence-based medicine, decision modeling including cost-effectiveness, additional study designs and critique, decision psychology related to both the patient and the physician, and computer decision aids. The purpose of the MDM courses is to assist a student with their abilities to: - Independently evaluate the state of current medical knowledge
- Discuss the impact of the healthcare system within a broader social context
- Critically assess the quality of medical literature
- Define and discuss basic study designs
- Discuss the impact of disease and secondary effects on patients
- Discuss method of treating the patient as both a person and a member of a larger community
- Discuss the principles of biostatistics
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