Inspiration Station: APGO Medical Student Objectives
While the APGO Medical Student Educational Objectives have been around for years, the 10th edition, published in 2014, transformed the resource from a static text to an interactive, online database. In recent years, additional committee-led projects have expanded the Objectives beyond its teacher-focused print version to a multimedia resource for use by both preceptors and learners. Today, the APGO Objectives include a library of animated videos, faculty and student teaching cases, a student logbook and osteopathic objectives related to women’s health, and have come a long way from the original spiral-bound reference book many of us remember.
The APGO Objectives define a central body of women’s health knowledge, skills and attitudes that are fundamental to the practice of a general physician, and are intended to provide clerkship directors, faculty and students with a resource for curriculum development, teaching and learning. The Objectives are reviewed on a regular basis by the APGO Undergraduate Medical Education Committee (UMEC) to ensure their relevance, importance and helpfulness in assisting with the development of obstetrics and gynecology clinical clerkship curricula.
One of the great things about the Objectives is that they’re a starting point for exploring the many resources APGO has to offer. The Objectives are the foundation upon which APGO resources are developed, and the educational topics covered in the Objectives are the same ones you’ll find in our Educational Series on Women’s Health Issues, Undergraduate Web-Based Interactive Self-Evaluation (uWISE), and Basic Clinical Skills Curriculum. That’s why, in the 10th edition of the Objectives, you’ll not only find what med students should learn, but also where and how they can learn it. So, if you’re looking for a crash course in our offerings or how to teach a specific topic, the Objectives are a great place to start.
The purpose of this article is help you unlock the full potential of the Objectives. There are several ways to approach the resource, and we’ll walk you through how to do it based on your individual goals. Whether you’re a longtime Objectives disciple or are new to academic medicine, we hope you’ll learn something new and become better acquainted with everything APGO has to offer.
Objectives Use Case #1: The Buffet
Your Goal: You want to view all of the learning objectives before choosing a topic.
Solution: Browse the Table of Contents
Often times we want to see what’s out there before we commit, or get the lay of the land before choosing a direction. If this is you, you’ll want to go straight to the Objectives Table of Contents. Once you arrive at the Objectives landing page, click the “Browse the Table of Contents” button. Here you’ll see a snapshot of all of the units and topics, and can then select a topic and see all of the associated learning objectives.
Objectives Use Case #2: The Bee Line
Your Goal: You have a specific instructional method, assessment method, hot topic or keyword you want to search for.
Solution: Use the Curriculum Builder
We get it– you know what you’re looking for, and you don’t want to waste time reading through content to find it. If this describes you, head to the Curriculum Builder. Type in your search term or select an instructional method, assessment method or hot topic from the filter options (or any combination of items in these categories). The Curriculum Builder tool will show you all of the learning objectives tagged with your selections.
Objectives Use Case #3: The Grab and Go
Your Goal: You want to see what resources are available and put them straight to use.
Solution: Locate the APGO e-Resources column
Just looking for some resources to teach an ob-gyn topic? You can go directly to any topic in the Table of Contents and see the recommended APGO resources for each learning objective. Just scan to the last column in the learning objective tables for direct links to the uWISE quiz, Objectives companion video, Basic Clinical Skills Curriculum topic, Effective Preceptor Series Pamphlet or Objectives teaching case for teaching that particular learning objective.
You can also check out the Related Resources section of the Objectives for teaching resources. Here you’ll find all of the Objectives teaching cases– both faculty and student versions (the student versions do not include answers), the complete library of Objectives companion videos (short animated videos for introducing topics to med students and residents) and the Student Logbook.