New Curriculum

The UW School of Medicine curriculum renewal process began in 2010, prompted by our commitment to providing exceptional training for tomorrow’s leading physicians and advancing knowledge across the medical field. The curriculum aligns with new national standards of medical education brought about by broader shifts in the healthcare landscape. Implementation began with first-year students in the fall of 2015.

This innovative, competency-based model has three integrated learning phases: a Scientific Foundations Phase, a Patient Care Phase and a Career Exploration and Focus Phase. Each phase includes highly integrated curricula with active learning modalities — approaches made possible by new developments in technology and new understandings of how students best learn.

The Idaho WWAMI program at the University of Idaho has implemented this new curriculum effective August 2015. Physicians and clinicians throughout our local communities have joined together with our WWAMI faculty in training the medical students within the Patient Care and Scientific Foundation Phase. Furthermore, these select physicians continue to provide support, guidance and mentoring to each student for their entire duration they are in the WWAMI program.