MEDICAL EDUCATION FOR TB CONTROL IN THE 21ST CENTURY

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The principal goal of this project is to improve the teaching of tuberculosis and tuberculosis control at Harvard Medical School (HMS), its affiliated teaching hospitals, post-graduate courses, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), and especially among primary care providers working in three different models of managed health care. It is anticipated that improved TB education will have long-term health benefits for patients with TB infection and disease among the high- risk, inner city populations of Boston and Cambridge served by Harvard teaching hospitals. It is further expected that greater awareness of the public health aspects of TB control will reduce transmission in these communities, resulting in less TB in the future. The specific aims of this educational effort are to improve the TB knowledge base of students, faculty, practicing physicians, and other health professionals in the Harvard Medical Community. The project begins with a detailed audit of the TB content in the curricula of HMS, HSPH, and the adult and pediatric primary care residency training programs of the Harvard teaching hospitals. Based on the audit results, interdisciplinary improvements to the curricula will be developed with the aid of professional educators at HMS, and changes negotiated with various course directors. Materials for self-learning using the HMS student's palmtop computers will also be developed. A new 4th year interdisciplinary TB elective, to be offered to both HMS and HSPH students is proposed. AssessrAent of these initiatives will be by periodic re-audits of curricula, and by specific assessment instruments developed with HMS educators. Interventions to increase teaching of residents and practicing primary care physicians are also proposed. Because many of the educational methods and materials developed at HMS, such as teaching cases, are used by other medical schools, the benefits of this project are likely spread beyond Harvard institutions.