Curriculum

There are two guiding principles around which the ASMPH medicine and management curriculum are designed.

The first is Integration of learning in all its aspects, corollary to our goal of training the Doctor of the Future. In pursuit of this, the modules are designed and timed to spiral to provide the evolving educational and training needs of the students as they progress through the course. The strategy of spiral learning ensures that foundational and basic principles taught are reiterated, expanded and further elucidated with cases and examples in all year levels to ensure the students’ full capture and grasp of the fundamental principles. The image of a spiral is used to describe that the learning expands but always returns as well to the core knowledge of theories that students must master.

Learning experiences are student-centered and coordinated to reinforce knowledge and continually prepare the student for higher-order learning. To facilitate learning, a multitude of well-studied and globally accepted strategies are employed, including strategies in small- and large-group learning, problem-based learning, evidence-based medicine and advanced information technology.

The second principle ASMPH adheres to is relevance in learning. All modules are designed to provide relevant learning experiences not only from the standpoint of the doctor but the community as well. Learning experiences will not be limited to the classroom, the hospital and the community, but will include public and private sector exposure and community public health work. 

The professional years in the ASMPH are designed to provide reinforcement to previous learning; that is, new knowledge draws from the old, allowing relevant learning to take place from year to year. The fund of knowledge as well as the level of difficulty of courses increases as the student participates through the course.

Years One & Two

The first professional year (first year medicine proper) sets the requisite foundational scientific knowledge needed to become an outstanding clinician. The program of learning consists of integrated modular courses organized around the basic medical sciences of Anatomy (Gross and Microscopic), Biochemistry and Physiology logically integrated by organ system of the normal human body. Enriching this learning will be an introduction and overview of key management principles relating to organizations and its various functions. These introductory courses will not only set the tone for the learning of the basics but will also ensure that students’ appreciation of the fundamental principles of the normal human body are fortified by parallelisms in organizations which are environments where individuals move in and exist. The social and community relevance of the modular material is integral to the cohesiveness of the course, and is unique to the ASMPH.

Year Two is comprised of integrated modular courses organized around the medical science subjects of Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology and Parasitology. The focus for the second year will be on illnesses and diseases in the human body. 

Years Three & Four

Years Three and Four are the clinical years, comprised of spiraled, vertically- and horizontally-integrated organ system training with modules spanning the human body, with integrated management and formative hours woven in, where appropriate. The relevance of the subject areas revolving around the social determinants of health such as Leadership, Ethics, Sociology, Legal Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, Public Health and Management when seamed into the medical curriculum cannot be overemphasized.

Year Five

Year Five is clinical internship, designed to culminate clinical training with a course integrating the previous learning of the previous four years into a cohesive whole. Since ASMPH students will only receive their diploma after this internship year, the rotation of students to the different clinical departments, while guided by parameters determined by the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges will also be scheduled in such a way that students will be given time to review for the medical licensure examinations.   Regular review sessions are provided to students to ensure that their performance in the boards will be exemplary.

At the end of the five-year professional phase (or medicine proper years plus internship), the ASMPH doctor will then be awarded a dual degree of Doctor of Medicine and Master in Business Administration – truly the Doctor of the Future, equipped with outstanding clinical skills and the capacity and appreciation for systems thinking as applied not only to the human body but also to organizations, societies and populations.