The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville offers a hands-on, real-world experience that isn’t a mere promise for the future, but a way of life. The USC School of Medicine Greenville is a place where students learn using the latest clinical, information and simulation technology and where they develop the leadership, clinical and interpersonal skills essential to delivering the next generation of patient-focused health care with confidence and compassion.

The majority of students will follow a four-year medical education program. Starting in the Fall of 2023, students may apply for the Primary Care Accelerated Track which involves an intensive three-year medical education program, followed by three years of family medicine residency training at Prisma. This accelerated track is tuition-free and includes a four-year commitment to practice primary care in the state of South Carolina.

Learning Outcomes

PATIENT CARE: Provide patient-centered care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the treatment of health problems and the promotion of health  

• PC 1:  Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate the ability to perform routine technical procedures. 
• PC 2:  Students in the MD program are expected to gather essential and accurate information about patients and their condition through history-taking, physical examination, and the use of laboratory data, imaging, and other tests  
• PC 3: Students in the MD program are expected to organize and prioritize responsibilities to provide care that is safe, effective and efficient. 
• PC4:  Students in the MD program are expected to interpret laboratory data, imaging studies, and other tests required for the area of practice  
• PC 5: Students in the MD program are expected to make informed decisions about diagnostic and therapeutic interventions based on patient information and preferences, up-to-date scientific evidence, and clinical judgment  
• PC 6: Students in the MD program are expected to develop and carry out patient management plans  
• PC 7: Students in the MD program are expected to counsel and educate patients and their families to empower them to participate in their care and enable shared decision making  
• PC 8:  Students in the MD program are expected to provide appropriate referral of patients including ensuring continuity of care throughout transitions between providers or settings and following up on patient progress and outcomes  
• PC 9: Students in the MD program are expected to provide health care services to patients, families, and communities aimed at preventing health problems or maintaining health  

KNOWLEDGE FOR PRACTICE: Demonstrate knowledge of established and evolving biomedical, clinical, epidemiological, and social-behavioral sciences, as well as the application of this knowledge to patient care  

• KP1: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the normal structure and function of the body and of each of its major organ systems across the life span. 
• KP2: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the molecular, biochemical, and cellular mechanisms that are important in maintaining the body’s homeostasis. 
• KP3: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the various causes (genetic, developmental, metabolic, toxic, microbiologic, autoimmune, neoplastic, degenerative, and traumatic) of maladies and the ways in which they affect the body (pathogenesis). 
• KP4: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the altered structure and function (pathology and pathophysiology) of the body and its major organ systems that are seen in various diseases and conditions. 
• KP5: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate an investigatory and analytic approach to clinical situations  
• KP6: Students in the MD program are expected to apply established and emerging biophysical scientific principles fundamental to health care for patients and populations  
• KP7: Students in the MD program are expected to apply established and emerging principles of clinical sciences to diagnostic and therapeutic decision making, clinical problem solving, and other aspects of evidence-based health care  
• KP8: Students in the MD program are expected to 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  
• KP9: Students in the MD program are expected to apply principles of social-behavioral sciences to provision of patient care, including  assessment of the impact of psychosocial-cultural influences on health, disease, care-seeking, care-compliance, and barriers to and attitudes toward care  

PRACTICE-BASED LEARNING AND IMPROVEMENT: Demonstrate the ability to investigate and evaluate their care of patients, to appraise and assimilate scientific evidence, and to continuously improve patient care based on constant self-evaluation and lifelong learning  

• PBLI 1: Students in the MD program are expected to identify strengths, deficiencies, and limits in one’s knowledge and expertise  
• PBLI 2: Students in the MD program are expected to set learning and improvement goals  
• PBLI 3: Students in the MD program are expected to identify and perform learning activities that address one’s gaps in knowledge, skills, or attitudes  
• PBLI 4: Students in the MD program are expected to incorporate feedback into daily practice  
• PBLI 5: Students in the MD program are expected to locate, appraise, and assimilate evidence from scientific studies related to patients’ health problems  
• PBLI 6: Students in the MD program are expected to use information technology to optimize learning  
• PBLI 7: Students in the MD program are expected to participate in the education of patients, families, students, trainees, peers, and other health professionals  
• PBLI 8: Students in the MD program are expected to obtain and utilize information about individual patients, populations of patients, or communities from which patients are drawn to improve care  
• PBLI 9: Students in the MD program are expected to continually identify, analyze, and implement new knowledge, guidelines, standards, technologies, products, or services that have been demonstrated to improve outcomes  

INTERPERSONAL AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and collaboration with patients, their families, and health professionals  

• ICS 1: Students in the MD program are expected to communicate effectively with patients, families, and the public, as appropriate, across a broad range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds  
• ICS 2: Students in the MD program are expected to communicate effectively with colleagues within one’s profession or specialty, other health professionals, and health-related agencies 
• ICS 3: Students in the MD program are expected to work effectively with others as a member or leader of a health care team or other professional group  
• ICS 4: Students in the MD program are expected to maintain comprehensive, timely, and legible medical documentation 
• ICS 5: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate sensitivity, honesty, and compassion in difficult conversations (e.g. about issues such as death, end-of-life issues, adverse events, bad news, disclosure of errors, and other sensitive topics)  
• ICS 6: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate insight and understanding about emotions and human responses to emotions that allow one to develop and manage interpersonal interactions  

PROFESSIONALISM: Demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles  

• P 1: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate honesty, integrity, compassion and respect in all interactions with others 
• P 2: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate responsiveness to patient needs that supersedes self-interest  
• P 3: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate respect for patient privacy and autonomy  
• P 4: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate accountability to patients, society, and the profession  
• P 5: Students in the MD program are expected to 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  
• P 6: Students in the MD program are expected to 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  

SYSTEMS-BASED PRACTICE: Demonstrate an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care, as well as the ability to call effectively on other resources in the system to provide optimal health care  

• SBP 1: Students in the MD program are expected to coordinate patient care within the health care system  
• SBP 2: Students in the MD program are expected to incorporate considerations of cost awareness and risk-benefit analysis in patient and/or population-based care  
• SBP 3: Students in the MD program are expected to advocate for quality patient care and optimal patient care systems for all patients 
• SBP 4: Students in the MD program are expected to participate in identifying system errors and implementing potential systems solutions to promote patient safety and quality outcomes  

INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION: Demonstrate the ability to engage in an interprofessional team in a manner that optimizes safe, effective patient and population-centered care  

• IPC 1: Students in the MD program are expected to work with other health professionals to establish and maintain a climate of mutual respect, dignity, diversity, ethical integrity, and trust  
• IPC 2: Students in the MD program are expected to use the knowledge of one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the health care needs of the patients and populations served  
• IPC 3: Students in the MD program are expected to 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  
• IPC 4: Students in the MD program are expected to 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  

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Demonstrate the qualities required to sustain lifelong personal and professional growth  

• PPD 1: Students in the MD program are expected to develop the ability to use self-awareness of knowledge, skills, and emotional limitations to engage in appropriate help-seeking behaviors  
• PPD 2: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate healthy coping mechanisms to respond to stress  
• PPD 3: Students in the MD program are expected to manage conflict between personal and professional responsibilities  
• PPD 4: Students in the MD program are expected to practice flexibility and maturity in adjusting to change with the capacity to alter behavior  
• PPD 5: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate trustworthiness that makes colleagues feel secure when one is responsible for the care of patients  
• PPD 6: Students in the MD program are expected to provide leadership skills that enhance team functioning, the learning environment, and/or the health care delivery system  
• PPD 7: Students in the MD program are expected to demonstrate self-confidence that puts patients, families, and members of the health care team at ease  
• PPD 8: Students in the MD program are expected to recognize that ambiguity is part of clinical health care and respond by using appropriate resources in dealing with uncertainty