Introduction to the Profession (iPro)

Introduction to the Profession (iPro) is the first course in the Yale School of Medicine curriculum. The goal of iPro is to introduce first-year medical students to their professional identity in medicine. iPro also aims to introduce and foster a holistic approach to the learning and practice of medicine.

The course focuses on introducing students to the MD competences and ensuring that our students experience an inspiring start to their professional careers. There is a particular focus on patient-centered care, professional identity formation, communication, and responsibility to society.

In the first days of the course, students enter the patient care environment, joining care teams at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) in multiple clinical environments. They are also inspired to reflect on their roles as members of the New Haven community and engage with local community organizations in New Haven.

The instructional methods in iPro are designed to engage students in early progress toward multiple professional competencies, with a focus on interactive large and small group discussions and skills sessions, small group experiences in the community and museum, simulation exercises, patient care exposure, and reflective writing exercises.

Formative

• Written reflection

• Explain how personal biases, beliefs, experiences could come in conflict with beliefs and backgrounds of patients and thus interfere with the care of the patient.
• Explain how social determinants of health may be the result of structural and systemic issues found in the community in which we live, in the larger society, and may be the result of historical precedents.
• Describe ways in which observation is a critical component of clinical skills. • Explain why it is important to engage with the medical school pre-clinical curriculum.
• Explain why it is important for you to consider and reflect on the story you wish to tell as a physician and the story that you wish told about you.
• Explain why reflection and communication with others around the stressors encountered in medical practice are so important.