Curriculum Innovations

Curriculum Innovations

Our Mission

  TMDU’s Faculty of Medicine was established in 1951, and since then we have pursued our goal of nurturing high-quality doctors and researchers who can contribute to the welfare of people by exploring health, medicine and sciences. Our mission is to serve society by developing doctors and scientists who have the following qualities:
Highly humane, intellectual sensitivities, with broad and ethical perspectives
Creative faculties to explore new problems in order to extend the frontier of medical science
Enthusiasm to work for the world’s populace as medical professionals, and aspiration to contribute to the international scientific community

Curriculum Renovation in 2011

  TMDU’s Faculty of Medicine renovated its curriculum in 2011, responding to the increasing demands of Japan’s aging society. We feel a stronger expectation than before to provide this society with medical professionals who can cope with the changing needs in the fields of medical sciences, health care, and social welfare. Our students are required to consolidate their professional foundation during their academic period for their future continuous contribution to society, and to be furnished with a strong sense of commitment to medicine, an active attitude for their self-development, and a broad perspective toward society. In order to realize these expectations, we devised our new curriculum based on the following educational schemes that encourage the students to longitudinally extend their professional scopes:
1.Systematic coherence of the disciplines
We redesigned and rearranged all courses so that the students can deepen their academic understanding.
2.Diversity of career paths
We launched a research oriented program and a community healthcare program.
3.Openness to general purposes
We newly introduced more comprehensive educational programs, including inter-professional education, English for medicine, medical ethics, and medical statistics.

Synthetic Buildup of Knowledge

  What was carefully considered in designing the new curricula is the synthetic buildup of foundation, integration, and application of knowledge. Regarding professional education, the students start with an Introductory Course in the second semester of their very first year.
  Then in the second year and the first two months of the third year, they study the biological mechanism of the human body through lectures and laboratory work. In addition, several fields of basic sciences are integrated into modules which are arranged so that the students can build their pathophysiological knowledge of diseases step by step.
  The following thirteen months in the third and fourth years are divided into study blocks, with each block allocated to the study of a disease group relating to one physiological system. For example, in the “Digestive System Block”, lectures and seminars are organized around digestive diseases so that the students can deepen their understanding of this system.
  For five months in the middle of the fourth year, from July to November, the students are given academic autonomy, and each student is engaged in his/her research project. The purpose of this “Project Semester” is for the students to learn research methods and develop scientific interests.
  The students start their clinical training from December of the fourth year. The first four months are spent on introductory training, where they acquire basic clinical skills, such as the medical interview, physical examination, and clinical reasoning. In the fifth and final years, the students experience various clinical clerkship settings in order to increase their understanding of different aspects of clinical medicine, and through this active participation, properly acquire the ability for clinical reasoning.

For Longitudinal Education

  In our new curricula, the students in the second and third years have the opportunity to take general education courses that encourage a broader perspective. Along with professional education, the students also take medical ethics and clinical statistics courses. These are designed with the idea that the students can cultivate their reasonable problem solving, accurate statistical processing, creative discussion, articulate presentation, and effective writing abilities, as we think those are necessary assets for the future leaders of medical professions.
  Inter-professional education was introduced into the new curricula in order to explore a new form of inter-professional cooperation among various sections of healthcare professions, including co-medical and dental medicine. We believe that a new interdisciplinary approach toward healthcare, which goes beyond the conventional departmental division, will be required to respond to our rapidly aging society. In these courses, we integrate students from medical and other departments, in the hope of fostering greater interdepartmental understanding and cooperation in the future.
  In view of globalization, the students are required to take medical course studies in English from the first to the third year. They are also offered chances to study abroad, such as the exchange program with Imperial College, London (in the fourth year) and the externship at Harvard Medical School (in the final year).
  Other special programs are also available for more research oriented students, or for those who are interested in community healthcare.