Chronic disease prevention and management in medical education

Chronic disease is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. With an increase in the demand for health care and rising costs related to chronic care, it’s important for physicians to receive comprehensive training to address chronic disease at various stages of illness in a collaborative and cost-effective manner.

As part of the American Medical Association’s Education Consortium, the Chronic Disease Prevention and Management (CDPM) interest group was formed—a team of medical educators dedicated to improving CDPM in medical education and practice by drawing on health systems science—the “third pillar” of medical education.

The CDPM interest group meets monthly and focuses on developing and disseminating methods and tools to enhance CDPM curricula in undergraduate medical education (UME) to help prepare all medical students to provide high-quality chronic disease prevention and care.  The interest group has produced the CDPM learning objectives and H&P 360 tool.

CDPM learning objectives

Specific and measurable learning objectives are key to the design and evaluation of effective training, but to date, there has been no consensus on chronic disease learning objectives appropriate to medical student education. The CDPM interest group developed eleven learning objectives that cut across education on the prevention and management of individual chronic diseases. They are intended to be used in combination with traditional disease-specific pathophysiology and treatment objectives.

H&P 360 tool

Treating chronic conditions composes the bulk of medical practice, but the traditional history and physical (H&P) has not evolved to serve this need. The CDPM interest group developed and tested a new H&P model—the H&P 360. This tool is designed to help collect biopsychosocial data, better manage chronic disease, and address social determinants of health.

The CDPM interest group focuses on advancing the utilization of the tool by promoting awareness and collaborating to develop additional resources.  The H&P 360 Grantee Workgroup includes four institutions that are currently incorporating the H&P 360 tool within their training programs.

Snapshot of the H&P 360

Learn more about the evolution of the H&P 360 video, its structure, and how it's been tested and implemented in clinical settings.

Access the background of the CDPM Group and H&P 360 as well as published papers and presentations.

CDPM

• CDPM learning objectives (PDF)

CDPM papers and presentations

• Development of Learning Objectives to Guide Enhancement of Chronic Disease Prevention and Management Curricula in Undergraduate Medical Education; Published in Teaching and Learning in Medicine
• Enhancing Chronic Disease Prevention and Management in the Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum (PDF)
• Using a Delphi Survey to Establish Learning Objectives in Chronic Disease Management for Medical Students (PDF)
• Learning Objectives to Guide Enhancement of Chronic Disease Curricula in Undergraduate Medical Education (PDF)

H&P 360

• H&P 360 template (pages 5-7; PDF)
• H&P 360 interview guide (pages 8-11; PDF)
• Cases and rubrics (pages 12-25; PDF)
• H&P 360 implementation grants

H&P 360 papers and presentations

• Expanding the Traditional History and Physical Examination to Address Chronic Diseases and Social Needs: A Multisite Randomized Control Trial of 4 Medical Schools; Published in Academic Medicine
• Advancing the Traditional History and Physical to Address Chronic Diseases and Social Determinants (PDF)
• Using the H&P 360 to Identify Social Determinants of Health Integral to Chronic Disease Management (PDF)
• Advancing the Traditional History and Physical to Address Chronic Diseases and Social Determinants (PDF)

Learn more

Explore how the AMA is collaborating to create health care that helps people live longer, healthier lives.