Medical Student Mission Statement and Education Program Objectives

The mission of the The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is to educate medical students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in accordance with the highest professional standards; to prepare clinicians to practice patient-centered medicine of the highest standard; and to identify and answer fundamental questions in the mechanisms, prevention and treatment of disease, in health care delivery and in the basic sciences.

The aim of the pre-doctoral curriculum of the School of Medicine is to produce leaders in Medicine who will take the foundation of a broad education in Medicine to improve health through patient care, research, and education.

As a measure of their competence, every graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will:

The Science and Practice of Medicine

• Apply scientific principles and a multidisciplinary body of scientific knowledge to the diagnosis, management, and prevention of clinical problems.

• Understand the variation in the expression of health and disease through critical evaluation of biomedical research.

Clinical Competence

• Obtain a sufficient level of medical knowledge to understand the basic facts, concepts, and principles essential to competent medical practice.
• Exhibit the highest level of effective and efficient performance in data gathering, organization, interpretation and clinical decision making in the prevention, diagnosis, and management of disease.

 The Social Context of Medicine

• Understand and respond to factors that influence the social, behavioral, and economical factors in health, disease and medical care.

Communication

• Demonstrate effective and compassionate interpersonal communication skill toward patients and families necessary to form and sustain effective medical care.
• Present information and ideas in an organized and clear manner to educate or inform patients, families, colleagues and community.

Professionalism

• Display the personal attributes of compassion, honesty and integrity in relationship with patients, families, and the medical community.
• Adhere to the highest ethical standards of judgment and conduct as it applies to the health care milieu.
• Demonstrate a critical self-appraisal in his/her knowledge and practice of medicine, as well as received and give constructive appraisal to/from patients, families, colleagues and other healthcare professionals.

 Lifelong Learning

• Understand the limits of personal knowledge and experience and will demonstrate the intellectual curiosity to actively pursue the acquisition of new knowledge and skills necessary to refine and improve his/her medical practice or to contribute to the scientific body of medical knowledge.