Educational Program Objectives
Program Objectives effective for Academic Year 2021-2022 are also available below.
Effective Academic Year 2022-2023
MEPOs – Nov 2021 
A BUSM graduate will be able to:
Establish and maintain medical knowledge necessary for the care of patients (MK)
- MK.1: Describe the normal development, structure, and function of the human body.
- MK.2: Recognize that a health condition may exist by differentiating normal physiology from pathophysiologic processes.
- MK.3: Describe the risk factors, structural and functional changes, and consequences of biopsychosocial pathology.
- MK.4: Select, justify, and interpret diagnostic tests and imaging.
- MK.5: Develop a management plan, incorporating risks and benefits, based on the mechanistic understanding of disease pathogenesis.
- MK.6: Articulate the pathophysiologic and pharmacologic rationales for the chosen therapy and expected outcomes.
- MK.7: Apply established and emerging principles of science to care for patients and promote health across populations.
- MK.8: Demonstrate knowledge of the biological, psychological, sociological, and behavioral changes in patients that are caused by or secondary to health inequities.
Demonstrate clinical skills and diagnostic reasoning needed for patient care (CSDR)
- CSDR.1: Gather complete and hypothesis driven histories from patients, families, and electronic health records in an organized manner.
- CSDR.2: Conduct complete and hypothesis-driven physical exams interpreting abnormalities while maintaining patient comfort.
- CSDR.3: Develop and justify the differential diagnosis for clinical presentations by using disease and/or condition prevalence, pathophysiology, and pertinent positive and negative clinical findings.
- CSDR.4: Develop a management plan and provide an appropriate rationale.
- CSDR.5: Deliver an organized, clear and focused oral presentation.
- CSDR.6: Document patient encounters accurately, efficiently, and promptly including independent authorship for reporting of information, assessment, and plan.
- CSDR.7: Perform common procedures safely and correctly, including participating in informed consent, following universal precautions and sterile technique while attending to patient comfort.
- CSDR.8: Utilize electronic decision support tools and point-of-care resources to use the best available evidence to support and justify clinical reasoning.
- CSDR.9: Recognize explicit and implicit biases that can lead to diagnostic error and use mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of cognitive biases on decision making.
Effectively communicate with patients, families, colleagues and interprofessional team members (C)
- C.1: Demonstrate the use of effective communication skills, patient-centered frameworks, and behavioral change techniques to achieve preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic goals with patients.
- C.2: Clearly articulate the assessment, diagnostic rationale, and plan to patients and their caregivers.
- C.3: Effectively counsel and educate patients and their families.
- C.4: Communicate effectively with colleagues within one’s profession and team, consultants, and other health professionals.
- C.5: Communicate one’s role and responsibilities clearly to other health professionals.
- C.6: Demonstrate appropriate use of digital technology, including the EMR and telehealth, to effectively communicate and optimize decision making and treatment with patients, families and health care systems.
- C.7: Practice inclusive and culturally responsive spoken and written communication that helps patients, families, and health care teams ensure equitable patient care.
- C.8: Communicate information with patients, families, community members, and health team members with attention to health literacy, avoiding medical jargon and discipline-specific terminology.
- C.9: Communicate effectively with peers and in small groups demonstrating effective teaching and listening skills.
Practice relationship centered care to build therapeutic alliances with patients and caregivers (PCC)
- PCC.1: Demonstrate sensitivity, honesty, compassion, and responsiveness to a diverse patient population, including but not limited to diversity in gender, age, culture, race, religion, disabilities, and sexual orientation.
- PCC.2: Demonstrate humanism, compassion, empathy, integrity, and respect for patients and caregivers.
- PCC.3: Demonstrate a commitment to ethical principles pertaining to autonomy, confidentiality, justice, equity, and informed consent.
- PCC.4: Show responsiveness and accountability to patient needs that supersedes self-interest.
- PCC.5: Explore patient and family understanding of well-being, illness, concerns, values, and goals in order to develop goal-concordant treatment plans across settings of care.
Exhibit skills necessary for personal and professional development needed for the practice of medicine (PPD)
- PPD.1: Recognize the need for additional help or supervision and seek it accordingly.
- PPD.2: Demonstrate trustworthiness that makes colleagues feel secure when responsible for the care of patients.
- PPD.3: Demonstrate awareness of one’s own emotions, attitudes, and resilience/wellness strategies for managing stressors and uncertainty inherent to the practice of medicine.
Exhibit commitment and aptitude for life-long learning and continuing improvement (LL)
- LL.1: Identify strengths, deficiencies, and limits in one’s knowledge and expertise.
- LL.2: Develop goals and strategies to improve performance.
- LL.3: Develop and answer questions based on personal learning needs.
- LL.4: Actively seek feedback and opportunities to improve one’s knowledge and skills.
- LL.5: Locate, appraise, and assimilate evidence from scientific studies related to patients’ health.
- LL.6: Actively identify, analyze, and implement new knowledge, guidelines, standards, technologies, or services that have been demonstrated to improve patient outcomes.
Demonstrate knowledge of health care delivery and systems needed to provide optimal care to patients and populations (HS)
- HS.1: Identify the many factors that influence health including structural and social determinants, disease prevention, and disability in the population.
- HS.2: Apply principles of epidemiological sciences to the identification of health problems, risk factors, treatment strategies, resources, and disease prevention/health promotion efforts for patients and populations.
- HS.3: Demonstrate respect for the unique cultures, values, roles/responsibilities, and expertise of the interprofessional team and the impact these factors can have on health outcomes.
- HS.4: Work with the interprofessional team to coordinate patient care across healthcare systems and address the needs of patients.
- HS.5: Participate in continuous improvement in a clinical setting, utilizing a systematic and team-oriented approach to improve the quality and value of care for patients and populations.
- HS.6: Initiate safety interventions aimed at reducing patient harm.
- HS.7: Incorporate considerations of cost awareness and risk-benefit analysis in patient and/or population-based care.
- HS.8: Integrate preventive interventions into the comprehensive health care of individuals.
- HS.9: Explain how different health care systems, programs and community organizations affect the health of neighborhoods and communities.
Exhibit commitment to promoting and advancing health equity for all patients (HE)
- HE.1: Define health equity and describe the individual and population level differences in health outcomes and disease burden due to inequities in health care.
- HE.2: Comprehend the historical and current drivers of structural vulnerability, racism, sexism, oppression, and historical marginalization and how they create health inequity.
- HE.3: Explain how one’s own identity, lived experiences, privileges, and biases influences their perspectives of colleagues, patients and clinical decision making.
- HE.4: Comprehend and identify the impact of health care inequities through medical decision making tools, interpreting medical literature and reviewing scientific research.
- HE.5: Identify factors needed to advocate for a more diverse and equitable healthcare environment at a local, community, and systems based level.
Approved by the Medical Education Committee in November 2021.
Academic Year 2021-2022
BU CARES Info Sheet 
Linked ACGME competencies are in parenthesis
Expand each section of the Institutional Learning Objectives (BU CARES) below to view the Medical Education Program Objectives (MEPOs) and their link to the Physician Competency Reference Set (PCRS are linked in parenthesis next to each MEPO).
Medical Education Program Objectives Info Sheet
The BUSM Graduate:
Behaves in a caring, compassionate and sensitive manner toward patients and colleagues of all cultures and backgrounds (Patient Care and Professionalism)
- B.1 – Apply principles of social-behavioral sciences to provision of patient care; including assessment of the impact of psychosocial and cultural influences on health, disease, care-seeking, care compliance, and barriers to and attitudes toward care. (2.5)
- B.2 – Demonstrate insight and understanding about emotions that allow one to develop and manage interpersonal interactions. (4.7)
- B.3 – Demonstrate compassion, integrity, and respect for others. (5.1)
- B.4 – Demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to a diverse patient population, including but not limited to diversity in gender, age, culture, race, religion, disabilities, and sexual orientation. (5.5)
Uses the science of normal and abnormal states of health to prevent disease to recognize and diagnose illness and to provide an appropriate level of care
(Medical Knowledge; Patient Care)
- U.1 – Perform all medical, diagnostic, and surgical procedures considered essential for the area of practice. (1.1)
- U.2 – Gather essential and accurate information about patients and their conditions through history-taking, physical examination, and the use of laboratory data, imaging and other tests. (1.2p)
- U.3 – Interpret laboratory data, imaging studies, and other tests required for the area of practice. (1.4)
- U.4 – Make informed decisions about diagnostic and therapeutic interventions based on patient information and preferences, up-to-date scientific evidence and clinical judgement. (1.5)
- U.5 – Develop and carry out patient management plans. (1.6)
- U.6 – Provide health care services to patients, families, and communities aimed at preventing health problems or maintaining health. (1.9)
- U.7 – Demonstrate an investigatory and analytic approach to clinical situations. (2.1)
- U.8 – Apply established and emerging bio-physical scientific principles fundamental to health care for patients and populations. (2.2)
- U.9 – Apply established and emerging principles of clinical sciences to health care for patients and populations. (2.3)
- U.10 – Recognize that ambiguity is a part of clinical health care and respond by utilizing appropriate resources in dealing with uncertainty. (8.8)
Communicates with colleagues and patients to ensure effective
interprofessional medical care (Interpersonal and Communication Skills,
Patient Care)
- C.1 – Gather essential and accurate information about patients and their conditions through history-taking, physical examination, and the use of laboratory data, imaging and other tests. (1.2h)
- C.2 – Counsel and educate patients and their families to empower them to participate in their care and enable shared decision making. (1.7)
- C.3 – Participate in the education of patients, families, students, trainees, peers and other health professionals. (3.8)
- C.4 – Communicate effectively with patients, families, and the public, as appropriate, across a broad range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. (4.1)
- C.5 – Communicate effectively with colleagues within one’s profession or specialty, other health professionals, and health related agencies (4.2, see also 7.3)
- C.6 – Maintain comprehensive, timely, and legible medical records. (4.5)
- C.7 – Demonstrate sensitivity, honesty, and compassion in difficult conversations, including those about death, end of life, adverse events, bad news, disclosure of errors, and other sensitive topics. (4.6)
- C.8 – Communicate with other health professionals in a responsive and responsible manner that supports the maintenance of health and the treatment of disease in individual patients and populations. (7.3)
Acts in accordance with the highest ethical standards of medical practice (Professionalism)
- A.1 – Demonstrate responsiveness to patient needs that supersedes self-interest. (5.2)
- A.2 – Demonstrate respect for patient privacy and autonomy. (5.3)
- A.3 – Demonstrate accountability to patients, society, and the profession. (5.4)
- A.4 – Demonstrate a commitment to ethical principles pertaining to provision or withholding of care, confidentiality, informed consent, and business practices, including compliance with relevant laws, policies, and regulations. (5.6)
- A.5 – Work with other health professionals to establish and maintain a climate of mutual respect, dignity, diversity, ethical integrity, and trust. (7.1)
- A.6 – Demonstrate trustworthiness that makes colleagues feel secure when one is responsible for the care of patients. (8.5)
Reviews and critically appraises biomedical literature and evidence for the
purpose of ongoing improvement of the practice of medicine
(Practice-based learning and Improvement, Medical Knowledge)
- R.1 – Apply principles of epidemiological sciences to the identification of health problems, risk factors, treatment strategies, resources, and disease prevention/health promotion efforts for patients and populations. (2.4)
- R.2 – Locate, appraise, and assimilate evidence from scientific studies related to patients’ health problems. (3.6)
- R.3 – Continually identify, analyze, and implement new knowledge, guidelines, standards, technologies, products, or services that have been demonstrated to improve outcomes. (3.10)
Exhibits commitment and aptitude for life-long learning and continuing improvement (Practice-based Learning)
- E.1 – Identify strengths, deficiencies, and limits in one’s knowledge and expertise. (3.1)
- E.2 – Set learning and improvement goals. (3.2)
- E.3 – Identify and perform learning activities that address one’s gaps in knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes. (3.3)
- E.4 – Incorporate feedback into daily practice. (3.5)
- E.5 – Obtain and utilize information about individual patients, populations of patients, or communities from which patients are drawn to improve care. (3.9)
- E.6 – Develop the ability to use self-awareness of knowledge, skills, and emotional limitations to engage in appropriate help-seeking behaviors. (8.1)
- E.7 – Manage conflict between personal and professional responsibilities. (8.3)
Supports optimal patient care through identifying and using resources of the health care system (Systems-based Practice; Patient Care)
- S.1 – Provide appropriate referral of patients including ensuring continuity of care throughout transitions between providers or settings, and following up on patient progress and outcomes. (1.8)
- S.2 – Systematically analyze practice using quality-improvement methods and implement changes with the goal of practice improvement. (3.4)
- S.3 – Use information technology to optimize learning. (3.7)
- S.4 – Work effectively with others as a member or leader of a health care team or other professional group. (4.3, see also 7.4)
- S.5 – Work effectively in various health care delivery settings and systems relevant to one’s clinical specialty. (6.1)
- S.6 – Coordinate patient care within the health care system relevant to one’s clinical specialty. (6.2)
- S.7 – Incorporate considerations of cost awareness and risk-benefit analysis in patient and/or population-based care. (6.3)
- S.8 – Advocate for quality patient care and optimal patient care systems. (6.4)
- S.9 – Use the knowledge of one’s own role and the roles of other health professionals to appropriately assess and address the health care needs of the patients and populations served. (7.2)
- S.10 – Participate in different team roles to establish, develop, and continuously enhance interprofessional teams to provide patient- and population-centered care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable. (7.4)
Institutional Learning Objectives (BU CARES) updates approved by the Medical Education Committee on September 10, 2015.
Medical Education Program Objectives approved by the Medical Education Committee on February 8, 2018.