Education

PSP provides educational experiences throughout all four years of undergraduate education. These include didactics in the pre-clinical years (Y1 and Y2), and experiential cases and learning and specific electives in the clinical years (Y3 and Y4). 

In addition to providing information and learning around the Health Systems Science (HSS) Curriculum domains as outlined by the American Medical Association, PSP curriculum aims to help students identify the clinical correlations between what was taught in pre-clinical years and what they practice in clinical spaces.  

The core functional and foundational domains of Health Systems Science Curriculum as outlined by the American Medical Association are listed below with the didactics that cover each listed.

Population, Public and Social Determinants of Health 
Orientation to PSP (Y1), Introduction to PSP/SDOH (Y1), Introduction to Biostatistics (Y1), Study Design I and II (Y1), Understanding Data and Interpretation (Y1), Diagnostic and Screening Tests (Y1), PSP in the Real World (Y2), History of the Opioid Crisis,  Outbreak Investigation and Test Evaluation (Y2), Social and Structural Determinants of Health in Mental Illness (Y2), Understanding Our Biases (Y2), PSP Experience (Y2)

Healthcare Structure and Process 
Healthcare Delivery (Y1), PSP in the Real World (Y2), Rural Healthcare Delivery (Y2)

Health Systems Improvement  
Safety Culture & Quality Improvement (Y2), Physician Leadership & Systems-based Practice (Y2)

Healthcare Policy and Economics 
PSP in the Real World (Y2), The Chronic Care Policy (Y2), Clinical Informatics (Y2)

Value in Healthcare
Quality Improvement (Y2)

Clinical Informatics and Health Technology
Clinical Informatics (Y2)

Ethics and Legal  
Complex Ethical Issues (Y2)

Teaming  
Physician Leadership & Systems-based Practice (Y2)

Leadership 
Physician Leadership & Systems-based Practice (Y2)

Change Agency, Management and Advocacy
Social and Structural Determinants of Health in Mental Illness (Y2)

PSP in Practice, a specialty-specific curriculum developed by PSP and embedded in the eight core clerkship rotations (Y3), provides learning experiences that incorporate aspects of all the HSS domains. The HSS domains covered in each specialty are listed below:

Teaming
Emergency Medicine

Clinical Informatics and Health Technology
Family and Community Medicine

Value in Healthcare
Internal Medicine

Ethics and Legal
Neurology 

Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health (with focus on Women's Health and Maternal Health Disparities)
OBGyn 

Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health
Pediatrics

Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health (with focus on Stigma)
Psychiatry

Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health (with focus on Nutrition and Associated Surgical Outcomes)
Surgery 

In addition, PSP Electives, available in the fourth year, provide additional concentrated learning and experiences. The domains and their corresponding electives are listed below:

Population, Public and Social Determinants of Health 
Cancer Health Disparities, Clinical Epidemiology, Emerging Trends in Public Health

Value in Healthcare 
Advancing Health Equity in Clinical Practice
 
Teaming 
Population Health Leadership, All Hazards Preparedness & Response

Leadership 
Population Health Leadership

Healthcare Structure and Process 
Advancing Health Equity in Clinical Practice

Health Systems Improvement 
All Hazards Preparedness and Response

Change Agency, Management & Advocacy 
Health Policy Government Relations

Healthcare Policy and Economics  
Health Policy Government Relations 

For graduate students (residents and fellows) PSP curriculum includes an annual experience at graduate medical education orientation, a Quality Improvement and Patient Safety seminar, and various didactics in conjunction with clinical departments.

The MD/MPH program aims to graduate physicians who are prepared to become leaders in public and population health. Administration of this program is overseen by PSP Education and requires the recruitment of potential candidates, interviews, coordination of acceptance and enrollment, teaching required electives, and duties associated with ensuring students complete their six-week practicum.  It also entails collaboration with the faculty and program administration at the MPH program in Carbondale, and the Admissions office at SIU SOM.

i. "Teaching Up" Health Systems Science in the Clinical Clerkships. doi: 10.21955/mep.1115318.1

i. M.Volle, T.Johnson, A.Hartman. PSP In Practice: Integrating Population Science and Policy in the Pediatric Clerkships. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition; October, 2022; Anaheim, CA.

ii. T.Johnson, M.Volle. Population Science and Policy in Practice: Integrating PSP in the Clinical Clerkships. Association of American Medical Colleges Central Group on Educational Affairs Annual Meeting; April 2023; Indianapolis, IN.
 

iii. M.Volle, T.Johnson, A.Hartman, M.Miner, S.Yockey, J.Patterson. We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident: Pediatric Populations are NOT All Treated Equally – A Pediatrics Residency Curriculum for Learning about Healthcare Disparities and Social Determinants Through Clinical Experience. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition; October 2023; Washington, D.C.
 

iv. M.Volle, T.Johnson. “Teaching Up” Health Systems Science in the Clinical Clerkships. Association of Medical Educators in Europe; August 2023; Glasgow, Scotland.
doi: 10.21955/mep.1115318.1.
 

v. M.Volle, T.Johnson, A.Hartman, M.Miner, S.Yockey, J.Patterson. PSP in Practice – A Pediatrics Curriculum for Learning About Health Care Disparities and Social Determinants Through Clinical Experience. Pediatric Academic Societies; May 2024; Toronto, Canada.