The Interdisciplinary Generalist Curriculum Project at the University of Wisconsin Medical School: the Generalist Partners Program

The Generalist Partners Program (GPP) provides all University of Wisconsin Medical School students with a comprehensive generalist core curriculum through early clinical experiences, interactive faculty presentations, and small-group discussions during the first two years of medical school. The GPP is the first component of a comprehensive, longitudinal generalist curriculum offered during all four years of medical education. Faculty members from family medicine, general internal medicine, and general pediatrics work together to develop the learning goals and provide the curriculum for the GPP courses. Each of the 145 entering first-year medical students is matched with a community-based physician, the generalist practice partner, and the students participate in early clinical experiences at this site throughout their first two years of medical education. Students' clinical experiences are presented and discussed in case-based small-group sessions led by the school's generalist faculty. A core lecture series on professionalism, communication skills, evidence-based medicine, and the organization of the health care system supplements the early clinical experiences.