Development of the Physiology Professional Skills Curriculum Mapping Tool (PS-MAP)

During the course of undergraduate studies, physiology (and related STEM) majors should acquire a both broad and in-depth foundation in physiological knowledge along with a distinct range of transferable (professional) skills (e.g., critical thinking, communication skills, data analysis). Previously, through a consultative and iterative process with physiology educators, the Professional Skills Committee of the Physiology Majors Interest Group (PMIG) defined and refined a consensus list of professional skills that physiology majors should acquire during their program of study. Here we describe the development and beta testing of a convenient tool to enable physiology and physiology-related program educators to map these professional skills across their curricula. The tool, referred to as PS-MAP, uses the Qualtrics platform and allows programs to collect and organize data about whether students are provided the opportunity to learn and develop the defined professional skills during their undergraduate experience. The authors have made the PS-MAP tool freely available to educators and provide practical tips for its implementation. Use of the PS-MAP tool and the data collected can help programs identify curricular strengths and gaps as well as facilitate curricular discussions among educators within the program.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In addition to foundational physiology knowledge, undergraduate physiology and related STEM majors should develop a range of transferable professional skills. However, evidence of this curricular goal has been lacking. Therefore, the Professional Skills Committee of the Physiology Majors Interest Group (PMIG) developed the freely available and convenient Physiology Professional Skills Curriculum Mapping Tool (PS-MAP) to assist educators in mapping these professional skills throughout their programs.