{"id":22578,"date":"2025-02-24T13:52:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T18:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=22578"},"modified":"2025-02-25T14:49:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T19:49:57","slug":"building-wisdom-and-flourishing-geisel-pilots-innovative-new-on-doctoring-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2025\/building-wisdom-and-flourishing-geisel-pilots-innovative-new-on-doctoring-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Wisdom and Flourishing: Geisel Pilots Innovative New “On Doctoring” Curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Kurt Wehde<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amid the lightning-fast changes and challenges in today\u2019s healthcare climate, high standards of professionalism and wise decision making are expected of medical practitioners.<\/p>\n

While medical education traditionally focuses on gaining knowledge and building skills, the Geisel School of Medicine is also committed to developing a learning environment that furthers the holistic character development necessary for medical students to flourish in medical school, their professional careers, and life.<\/p>\n

Roshini Pinto-Powell, MD, director of Geisel\u2019s preclinical On Doctoring curriculum, has spent the past several years studying character education, and why it\u2019s essential for medical students.<\/p>\n

Collaborating with Geisel colleagues in foundational courses, and the Office of Student Life, she created and implemented a pilot curriculum focused on teaching character development\u2014Building Wisdom and Flourishing\u2014that began last fall in the first year On Doctoring course and will continue in a four-year arc across the medical school\u2019s curriculum.<\/p>\n

Defined as the sum of the moral and mental qualities which distinguish an individual, character is shaped in part by temperament, decisions, and habits that are formed over a lifetime and not easily altered. It is part of who we are, and it shapes our capacity to flourish.<\/p>\n

Not typically discussed in medical school, character education differs from acquiring knowledge\u2014it relies on self-reflection, discussion, and deep thinking.<\/p>\n

Building Wisdom and Flourishing<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the start, Pinto-Powell shared with her students what she learned about the character-related intellectual virtues of critical thinking, lifelong learning, and moral virtues necessary to be a successful physician, such as compassion and kindness. She also uses poetry to discuss ethical issues and talked about the value of leaning into the arts and humanities as a basis for reflection. \u201cT. S. Eliot said, \u2018we have the experience, but we miss the meaning,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cWithout reflection, we miss life\u2019s meaning and the same is true for medical education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Character is not static, she explains. \u201cThis curriculum is about preparing our students to succeed in this work which needs ongoing attention, and by working on our character we are building the lifelong professional values that lead to flourishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phase one includes a mix of brief large group presentations and small group discussions and reflective writing focused on a variety of readings and complex discussion topics such as difficult conversations and wise negotiation, the wisdom of servant leadership, and whether the values of humanism and professionalism are in conflict.<\/p>\n