Systems, Society, and Humanism in Medicine (SSHM)

A strength of the Geisinger Commonwealth Total Health Curriculum is the integration of six longitudinal themes that transform responsible students into socially accountable leaders in the healthcare system and their communities. These themes foster the development of compassionate and adaptable physicians dedicated to a person-centered approach to improving the health and well-being of the patients and communities they serve. These themes are collectively called Systems, Society, and Humanism in Medicine (SSHM).

1. Social Justice and Health Equity: Ensures awareness and recognition of historic inequities in medicine to establish the next generation of physicians as agents of change. Students will learn to recognize their own biases and practice cultural humility in their interaction with patients and colleagues.

2. Health System Citizenship: Prepares future doctors to contribute to quality improvement, participate in early adoption of technology and function in teambased models of care. This theme delves deeply into healthcare delivery science and leverages the strength of Geisinger’s value-based care model to focus on system improvement.

3. Primary Care: Focuses attention on the most critical health need in the nation and centers the future physician’s approach on wellness and disease prevention, regardless of medical specialty.

4. Personal and Professional Development: Supplies the tools, skills and knowledge necessary to promote lifelong learning and skill development, personal wellness and career development.

5. Community Immersion: Enables meaningful relationships with and accountability to the community. Students engage in service learning with mentorship by both community leaders and patients.

6. Population Health: Leverages Geisinger’s signature programs to introduce future physicians to successful models that recognize and mitigate the social determinants of health that affect individual patients, neighborhoods, communities and populations.