Overson Ellen, Angra Aakanksha
University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
American Society of Hematology, Washington, DC, USA.
Clin Teach. 2025 Oct;22(5):e70200. doi: 10.1111/tct.70200.
Despite the high prevalence of skin conditions, access to dermatologists remains limited, leaving patients to rely on primary care doctors, paediatricians or emergency medicine providers for diagnosis and treatment. Additionally, dermatology education in medical school is often insufficient, with limited hours dedicated to the specialty. The widespread need for dermatologic care and the curricular time devoted to training medical students in dermatology topics are misaligned, which underscores the importance of enhancing dermatology training within the undergraduate medical curriculum.
To address this gap, we expanded the existing curriculum to create a dermatology course which showcased foundational subjects such as anatomy, physiology, histology, pathology and biochemistry in the context of the body's largest organ: the skin. We collaborated with dermatologists, physicians, scientists and education specialists to systematically design and align all aspects of the course content and assessments with specific learning objectives to ensure practical, real-world relevance.
The course received positive feedback from students, who appreciated the diverse representation of skin conditions across various skin tones, the case-based learning experiences, use of in-person and remote learning formats and the use of practice questions and interactive modules. All students successfully passed the course.
Curriculum design is an iterative process, and we hope to refine the course based on student feedback and our experiences. We hope that by giving students more time in the curriculum devoted to understanding skin diseases, they will feel more confident diagnosing and managing skin conditions in medical school and beyond.
尽管皮肤疾病的患病率很高，但皮肤科医生的可及性仍然有限，患者只能依靠初级保健医生、儿科医生或急诊医学提供者进行诊断和治疗。此外，医学院校的皮肤科教育往往不足，专门用于该专业的课时有限。对皮肤科护理的广泛需求与用于培训医学生皮肤科主题的课程时间不匹配，这凸显了在本科医学课程中加强皮肤科培训的重要性。
为了弥补这一差距，我们扩展了现有课程，创建了一门皮肤科课程，该课程在人体最大的器官——皮肤的背景下展示了解剖学、生理学、组织学、病理学和生物化学等基础学科。我们与皮肤科医生、内科医生、科学家和教育专家合作，系统地设计课程内容和评估的各个方面，并使其与特定的学习目标相一致，以确保其具有实际的现实意义。
该课程得到了学生的积极反馈，他们赞赏课程中对各种肤色皮肤状况的多样化呈现、基于案例的学习体验、面对面和远程学习形式的使用以及练习题和互动模块的使用。所有学生都成功通过了该课程。
课程设计是一个迭代过程，我们希望根据学生的反馈和我们的经验对课程进行完善。我们希望通过在课程中给学生更多时间来了解皮肤疾病，他们在医学院及以后的学习中对诊断和管理皮肤状况会更有信心。
