AIMS is a unique program that will help support development of educational, clinical, population health, and basic science research projects and presentation of outcomes to a broad academic community. The Academy encourages, inspires and supports the spirit of inquiry and learning in a community of faculty scholars.

A new approach to having medical students become familiar and comfortable with applying both Evidence-Based Medicine and Clinical Outcomes Research. All learning sessions are preceded by assigned articles with self-directed learning that are guided by Learning Goals and Objectives. Students are assessed by meaningful contributions in class that are guided by the Socratic Questioning approach.

In an effort to deepen and broaden the experience of medical education, students choose to pursue a Capstone Program Project that provides an in-depth exposure and research contribution to specific concentrations. They continue to acquire knowledge in a chosen area and start working with a Capstone Program Mentor. Approved projects culminate in a presentation at the Interdisciplinary Student Research Day at the IAU Academy of International Medical Scholars, prior to graduation. Successful capstone scholars graduate with the diploma “Doctor of Medicine with Distinction in Research”.

• Pre ICE (1st semester): The Pre Initial Clinical Experiences course serves to set the foundations of understanding of and experiences with the key elements of Clinical Skills development: Professionalism, Communication (patient interviewing and medical writing), Ethics and Physical Examination. PreICE involves use of peer-standardized patients and coordination with experiences of live patients in the Community Clinics.
• ICE (2nd semester): In addition to use of simulated patients and coordination with patient experiences in the Community Clinics and the Student-Run Community Health Assessment Center, ICE involves employment of standardized patients.
• PreACE (3rd semester): PreACE, all of the pedagogical approaches used in PreICE and ICE will be continued along with level-specific expectations such as “On the Wards” and “Grand Rounds” – style presentation of patients that were experienced in the Community Clinics or Hospitals.
• ACE (4th semester): All of the pedagogical approaches used previously will be continued with more advanced expectations. MS4 ACE students serve an advisory role in the Community Clinics along with the Clinical Director for junior students. The ACE student will experience and have a good understanding of the role of physicians in a team-based collaborative care setting.
• Introduction to Clinical Medicine (5th Semester): This new program will be inaugurated in 2017 (Saint Lucia). ICM will follow and advance the trajectory of clinical skills acquisition pursued across the first four semesters with ICE and ACE. The main educational advancement of ICM is to prepare students for upcoming experiences in the Clinical Clerkships of Year 3.

A key component of IAUCOM’s clinical experience is having students visit Community Clinics (with licensed physicians) and practice the clinical skills learned in the ICE-ACE Programs. Further, as discussed above, students present these patients to their peers in the ICE/ACE program, much as they are required to do regularly, in their Clerkship rotations.

A Public Health Screening Center (PHSC) is run bi-weekly to allow the health of walk-in patients (30-60) to be evaluated by medical students with faculty supervision. In this setting, senior students advise junior peers how to assess patients using the (ACE level) clinical skills they have achieved.

A group of fifteen 3rd year students agreed to serve in the role of SAM’s in order to have junior peers have a better understanding of what lies ahead for them in the future of formal licensure testing (Step 1) and Clinical Clerkships.

This is a new direction of higher order learning, published 2016 in a top medical education journal, by Drs. Gannon and Kheck. The COIL Program is based on the principles of having students conduct Self Directed Learning, based upon the Goals and Learning Objectives, that capture the depth and breadth of each Learning Session in a course. In the learning session, students are inspired to engage by contributing higher order discussions, in a peer learning / teaching environment, that is triggered by the (faculty) “Interactive Learning Conductor” using Probing, Open-Ended Questions with the Socratic Pedagogy.