NEWS

BY TOM HUGHES
UNC School of Medicine

CHAPEL HILL -- A new report calling for improvements in the education of medical students in behavioral and social sciences has identified the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a leader.

The Institute of Medicine’s recent report named UNC’s School of Medicine as one of four model programs nationwide. The report recognized the school’s department of social medicine for curriculum innovation, faculty expertise and development, and stability of funding.

The institute is a nonprofit organization chartered in 1970 as a component of the National Academy of Sciences and advises the nation on issues related to improving health.

"It is great to get the recognition," said Dr. Desmond Runyan, department chair. "We have a stellar department that’s unique in the country."

UNC’s School of Medicine is one of only five in the United States with a social medicine department and "each of these is a little different from the others," Runyan said. UNC’s department is one of the oldest, dating to 1977. Among the programs noted in the report, UNC’s is the only one providing substantial time for its social medicine curriculum in the first and second years of medical school.

Physicians need knowledge and skills in the behavioral and social sciences because about half of the causes of death nationwide are linked to social and behavioral factors, the report said. These include smoking, alcohol and other substance abuse, obesity, driving behaviors, and child and spousal abuse.

To improve medical school education on such factors, the institute conducted a study reviewing current approaches used by medical schools, developing a prioritized list of social and behavioral science topics that should be included in medical school curricula and suggesting strategies for overcoming barriers to incorporating this content.

The resulting report, titled "Improving Medical Education: Enhancing the Behavioral and Social Science Content of Medical School Curricula," highlighted UNC in three separate passages.

After noting that providing faculty development is a challenge for many medical schools, the report said that UNC "has a 26-year history of well-supported curriculum innovation in the behavioral and social sciences and faculty that possesses the needed expertise.

"That expertise is the product of many years of experience in providing faculty training, coteaching arrangements that pair generalists with behavioral and social science specialists, and regular updates in the behavioral and social sciences for faculty who participate in this curriculum," the report said.

Resources for instruction are often lacking, and most medical schools don’t have adequate funding to maintain a single departmental home for behavioral and social science faculty, the report said. UNC was mentioned as one of two notable exceptions to this challenge, along with the University of Kentucky.

Another problem cited in the report was a lack of protected time and resources for faculty to work on the curriculum-change process. Again, the report said UNC was an exception, adding that UNC receives significant funding from the N.C. General Assembly, as well as support through the School of Medicine’s N.C. Area Health Education Center program for medical education in the behavioral and social sciences.

"These direct-funding sources ensure the department’s stability, setting it apart from departments at other medical schools that have cited major difficulties regarding the sustainability of their curricular changes in the behavioral and social sciences," the report said.

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Note: The report is available online at www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=19413. Contact Runyan at (919) 843-8261 or drunyan@med.unc.edu.

School of Medicine contact: Stephanie Crayton-Robinson, (919) 966-2860 or scrayton@unch.unc.edu