Reforming Medical Curriculum in India in Recent Years

Pathology is the study of disease and is an important component in medical education. However, with medical curriculum reform, its role and contribution to medical courses is under potential threat. We surveyed the status of pathology in all six Irish medical schools. Information was received from five direct undergraduate and four graduate entry programmes. Pathology was recognisable as a core subject in all but one of the medical schools, was generally taught in years two or three, and the greatest contact hours were for histopathology (44–102 hours). Lectures were the most common teaching modality, and all used single best or extended matching answer multiple-choice questions as part of assessments. Currently, pathology is very visible in Irish medical education but needs to remain relevant with the move to theme and case-based teaching. There is heavy reliance on lectures and on non-academic/full-time hospital staff to deliver teaching, which may not be sustainable.

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A primer in resilience status for German medical graduates - a necessary step in building an emotionally equipped healthcare workforce

10.21203/rs.3.rs-59603/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jan Kiesewetter ◽

Johanna Huber

Keyword(s):

Work Performance ◽

Work Force ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Medical Graduates ◽

Graduate Survey ◽

Resilience Scale ◽

Healthcare Work ◽

Unpleasant Feeling ◽

One Year ◽

The Moment

Abstract BackgroundResilience is a widely-used catchword in the last couple of years to describe the resistance to psychological strains of life, especially for the healthcare work force. The promises of resilience to burnout sound great and what we all would want: less health impairment despite stress, higher work satisfaction and last but not least higher work performance. However, little is known scientifically regarding the resilience status of the upcoming work-force. With our study we would like to investigate the resilience status of medical graduates from five medical schools within their first year after graduation. MethodsFor the identification of the resilience status we included the 5-point Likert 10-Item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, German Version in a graduate survey posted to 5 medical schools and over 1610 eligible participants of whom 610 (60% female) filled out at least parts of the survey. ResultsThe resilience status showed a mean resilience score of M = 37.1 (SD = 6.30). The score ranges from 3.22 (I am not easily discouraged by failure) to 4.26 (I am able to adapt to change). The item “I am able to handle unpleasant feeling” is interesting as one third of the participants did choose not to answer. Relationships to other constructs are presented in the article. ConclusionsThe study shows that the overall resilience status of medical graduates one year after their graduation is rather high, but subjectively they do not feel equivalently resilient for the different aspects they face in their job. Further research needs to see how trainings can provide medical students and professionals with the emotional coping skills that they lack in the moment.

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Food for Thought: The Process of Bringing a Universal Medical Curriculum to the Plate – Part I of III

Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development ◽

10.4137/jmecd.s17495 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. JMECD.S17495 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aaron M. McGuffin

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Education System ◽

Medical Curriculum ◽

Burden Of Proof ◽

Medical Schools ◽

The United States ◽

Medical Education System

There is currently no universally accepted core collection of competencies or medical education material for medical students. Individual medical schools create their own competencies and set of educational material using a variety of approaches. What has resulted is a medical education system wherein medical students are trained without any burden of proof that they are indeed competent in agreed upon areas of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors befit of a graduating medical student. In fact, the only uniform assurance a member of the public in the United States can have for a graduating allopathic medical student is that the student has successfully passed USMLE Step 1 and 2 by correctly answering a rumored 55–65% of questions correctly (yes, that is an F) and that they have maintained at least a “C” average or “Pass” equivalent in all of their medical school courses. This article discusses these inadequacies within the current medical education system, and the need to standardize the competencies and curricula for all medical schools through a narrative disclosing this author's experience with trying to initiate such a movement at his own medical school.

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Surgery course load in Brazilian medical schools

Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica ◽

10.1590/1981-5271v45.1-20200221.ing ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Athos Paulo Santos Martini ◽

Sofia Romay Oliveira ◽

Suely Grosseman

Keyword(s):

Medical Curriculum ◽

National Level ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Geographic Region ◽

Median Percentage ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Test Analysis ◽

Course Load ◽

The Mean ◽

Geographic Regions

Abstract: Introduction: Surgery is an important curricular component of undergraduate medical courses. This study was conducted because the surgery course load in Brazilian medical has not been systematically explored at the national level. Objective: To analyze the surgery course load in Brazilian medical schools. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out with Brazilian medical schools acknowledged by the Ministry of Education, which had begun their activities prior to December 31, 2017 and, as of September 2018, had their curriculum matrix and/or political-pedagogical project with the surgery course load available on the internet. The variables studied were total medical curriculum course load and surgery course load before and during clerkship, as well as the schools’ geographic region and fee status. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistic Student t-test, analysis of variance, and Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, with the null hypothesis rejected for p < .05. Results: The study included 205 of the country’s 323 existing medical schools, of which 175 had available information on the surgery course load during the clerkship, 157 before the clerkship, and 129 had information on course load before and after the clerkship. The median total surgery course load in hours was 815.0 (P25 - 75 = 677.5 - 992.0; minimum = 340.0 h; maximum =1,665.0), while the mean surgery course load before clerkship in hours was 268.7 (SD = 140.3; minimum = 32.0; maximum = 780.0), with no difference between geographic regions or fee status. During the clerkship, the median course load was 540.0 hours (P25 - 75 = 400.0 - 712.0; minimum = 170.0 h; maximum = 1,410.0), with no difference between geographic regions, but with higher values in medical schools with no tuition fees. Regarding the total curriculum course load, the mean percentage of the surgery course load before clerkship was 3.2% (SD = 1.7), the median percentage during the clerkship was 6.4% (P25 - 75 = 5.0 - 8.2), the median percentage of the total surgery course load was 6.4% (P25 - 75 = 5.0 - 8.2%, and the median percentage of surgery course load (both periods) was 9.7% (P25 - 75 = 8.3 - 11.8%). Conclusions: Despite the considerable variation in the surgery course load limits, the median of total surgery and the mean of surgery course load before clerkship were similar across geographic regions and fee statuses. The median surgery course load during clerkship was also similar across regions but higher in tuition-free medical schools. The values found in this study can help schools’ administrators to assess and plan the surgery course load in their institutions.

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Review Paper: Gender Competencies in the Medical Curriculum: Addressing Gender Bias in Medicine

Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/1010539509337730 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 359-376 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Yut-Lin Wong

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Gender Bias ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Curriculum Reform ◽

Medical Curriculum ◽

Gender Inequalities ◽

Care Providers ◽

Inequalities In Health ◽

Medical Curricula ◽

And Gender

Gender inequalities in health and gender bias in medicine are interrelated challenges facing health care providers and educators. Women and girls are disadvantaged in accessing health care because of their low social status and unequal treatment in medical care. Gender bias has long been inherent in clinical practice, medical research, and education. This can be traced to the medical curriculum that shapes the perceptions, attitudes, and behavior of the future doctor. The author advocates medical curricula change to address gender inequalities in health and gender bias in medicine. She analyses the reasons for integration of gender competencies in the medical curriculum, discusses what gender competencies are, and reviews ways to in-build gender competencies and their assessment. Efforts to change and gender sensitize medical curricula in developed and developing countries are also reviewed. The review hopes to contribute to strategic medical curriculum reform, which would lead to gender-sensitive health services and equity in health.

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Do we need a core curriculum for medical students? A scoping review

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027369 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. e027369 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Maulina Sharma ◽

Ruth Murphy ◽

Gillian A Doody

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Core Curriculum ◽

Medical Curriculum ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Medical Council ◽

Qualitative Synthesis ◽

Medical Graduates ◽

Core Curricula ◽

The Uk

ObjectiveThe General Medical Council (GMC) recommends medical schools to develop and implement curricula enabling students to achieve the required learning outcomes. UK medical schools follow the GMC’s Outcomes for graduates, which are generic. GMC plans to introduce a national Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) for the medical graduates wanting to practise medicine in the UK in 2022. With no standardised or unified undergraduate (UG) curriculum in UK, various specialties have expressed concerns about not being represented in medical schools and developed specialty-specific core curricula. The aim of this review was to identify learned bodies who have developed a core curriculum for UK medical schools and highlight the drivers, gaps and future approaches to curricular development and implementation.MethodsA literature search was conducted using online databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE, ERIC, HMIC, PubMed and CDSR), search engines and related websites (Google and Google Scholar, Department of Health, GMC and BMA) for relevant articles from 1996 to 5 March 2019 (~20 years). A methodological framework to map the key concepts of UG medical curriculum was followed. Any relevant body with a core curriculum for UK medical UGs was included.ResultsA total of 1283 articles were analysed with 31 articles included in the qualitative synthesis, comprising 26 specialties (clinical n=18, foundation subjects n=4 and professionalism related n=4). WHO, European and national (eg, Royal Colleges of UK) specialty bodies provided specific core learning outcomes for the medical graduates. Patient safety, disease burden, needs of society and inadequate preparedness of medical graduates were drivers for the development of these curricula.ConclusionsThis is the first comprehensive review of literature on UG core curricula recommending minimum standards on knowledge and skills, in alignment with GMC’s Outcomes for graduates for all the UK medical students. Adopting and assessing unified standards would help reduce variability across UK medical schools for both generic and specialty-specific competencies.

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Carga horária de cirurgia em escolas médicas do Brasil

Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica ◽

10.1590/1981-5271v45.1-20200221 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Athos Paulo Santos Martini ◽

Sofia Romay Oliveira ◽

Suely Grosseman

Keyword(s):

Medical Curriculum ◽

National Level ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Geographic Region ◽

Median Percentage ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Test Analysis ◽

Course Load ◽

The Mean ◽

Geographic Regions

Abstract: Introduction: Surgery is an important curricular component of undergraduate medical courses. This study was conducted because the surgery course load in Brazilian medical has not been systematically explored at the national level. Objective: To analyze the surgery course load in Brazilian medical schools. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out with Brazilian medical schools acknowledged by the Ministry of Education, which had begun their activities prior to December 31, 2017 and, as of September 2018, had their curriculum matrix and/or political-pedagogical project with the surgery course load available on the internet. The variables studied were total medical curriculum course load and surgery course load before and during clerkship, as well as the schools’ geographic region and fee status. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistic Student t-test, analysis of variance, and Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, with the null hypothesis rejected for p < .05. Results: The study included 205 of the country’s 323 existing medical schools, of which 175 had available information on the surgery course load during the clerkship, 157 before the clerkship, and 129 had information on course load before and after the clerkship. The median total surgery course load in hours was 815.0 (P25 - 75 = 677.5 - 992.0; minimum = 340.0 h; maximum =1,665.0), while the mean surgery course load before clerkship in hours was 268.7 (SD = 140.3; minimum = 32.0; maximum = 780.0), with no difference between geographic regions or fee status. During the clerkship, the median course load was 540.0 hours (P25 - 75 = 400.0 - 712.0; minimum = 170.0 h; maximum = 1,410.0), with no difference between geographic regions, but with higher values in medical schools with no tuition fees. Regarding the total curriculum course load, the mean percentage of the surgery course load before clerkship was 3.2% (SD = 1.7), the median percentage during the clerkship was 6.4% (P25 - 75 = 5.0 - 8.2), the median percentage of the total surgery course load was 6.4% (P25 - 75 = 5.0 - 8.2%, and the median percentage of surgery course load (both periods) was 9.7% (P25 - 75 = 8.3 - 11.8%). Conclusions: Despite the considerable variation in the surgery course load limits, the median of total surgery and the mean of surgery course load before clerkship were similar across geographic regions and fee statuses. The median surgery course load during clerkship was also similar across regions but higher in tuition-free medical schools. The values found in this study can help schools’ administrators to assess and plan the surgery course load in their institutions.

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A Primer in Resilience Status for German Medical Graduates - A Necessary Step in Building an Emotionally Equipped Healthcare Workforce

10.21203/rs.3.rs-59603/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jan Kiesewetter ◽

Johanna HUber

Keyword(s):

Work Performance ◽

Work Force ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Medical Graduates ◽

Graduate Survey ◽

Resilience Scale ◽

Healthcare Work ◽

Unpleasant Feeling ◽

One Year ◽

The Moment

Abstract BackgroundResilience is a widely-used catchword in the last couple of years to describe the resistance to psychological strains of life, especially for the healthcare work force. The promises of resilience to burnout sound great and what we all would want: less health impairment despite stress, higher work satisfaction and last but not least higher work performance. However, little is known scientifically regarding the resilience status of the upcoming work-force. With our study we would like to investigate the resilience status of medical graduates from five medical schools within their first year after graduation. MethodsFor the identification of the resilience status we included the 5-point Likert 10-Item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, German Version in a graduate survey posted to 5 medical schools and over 1610 eligible participants of whom 610 (60% female) filled out at least parts of the survey. ResultsThe resilience status showed a mean resilience score of M = 37.1 (SD = 6.30). The score ranges from 3.22 (I am not easily discouraged by failure) to 4.26 (I am able to adapt to change). The item “I am able to handle unpleasant feeling” is interesting as one third of the participants did choose not to answer. Relationships to other constructs are presented in the article. ConclusionsThe study shows that the overall resilience status of medical graduates one year after their graduation is rather high, but subjectively they do not feel equivalently resilient for the different aspects they face in their job. Further research needs to see how trainings can provide medical students and professionals with the emotional coping skills that they lack in the moment.

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The Problem of Policy Coordination in a Newly Decentralised Government: A Study of Policy Implementation in the Province of Bali, Indonesia

Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences ◽

10.2478/mjss-2018-0140 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 83-95

Author(s):

Luqman H. Zainuri

Keyword(s):

Policy Implementation ◽

Local Governments ◽

Political System ◽

Local Economic Development ◽

National Level ◽

Radical Change ◽

Policy Coordination ◽

Politics And Government ◽

Government Relations ◽

Societal Needs

Abstract The aim of this article is to describe inter government relations resulted from disorganized political change from Autocratic political system to the Democratic one. This purpose is described through a challenge against Governor’s moratorium policy in 2010 made by three Heads of Districts within the province of Bali over the issuance of principle of building permit of new hotels and tourist accomodations. The method by which this research is conducted is exploratory. The research found that the problems of coordination in the policy emanate from a radical change in politics and government from centralised to decentralised government and termination of President Soeharto from the office. The un-coordinated political transition at the national level being faced by Indonesia has brought about serious problems on coordination of inter government institutions of the local governments. In effect, to the large extent, the performance of local governments -as it has been the case in the province of Bali-is contra productive in fulfilling societal needs of public services as well as local-economic development.

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The Impact of a Novel Outdoor Orientation Program on Incoming Medical Students

Journal of Experiential Education ◽

10.1177/10538259211048611 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 105382592110486

Author(s):

Jacquelyn B. Kercheval ◽

Alec Bernard ◽

Hanna Berlin ◽

Nicole Byl ◽

Boone Marois ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Personal Development ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Orientation Program ◽

Outdoor Orientation Programs ◽

One Year ◽

The Impact ◽

Outdoor Orientation ◽

Outdoor Orientation Program

Background: Undergraduate outdoor orientation programs facilitate students’ transition into college. Research has yet to be conducted on the few programs at medical schools, which may have unique benefits given the specific challenges of transitioning to medical school and high rates of burnout among medical students. Purpose: This mixed methods study examines the impact of one medical school's outdoor orientation program on its participants. Methodology/Approach: A survey was administered immediately following the 2018 trip ( N = 56 responses). Follow-up focus groups were conducted with a sample of the same participants ( N = 18) in 2019. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Participants felt that the program helped ease their transition into medical school, establish a support system, and hone personal development and wellness skills. Many of these effects persisted up to one year later. Implications: These findings are of particular interest to the medical and experiential education communities because many outcomes persisted for at least one year after the original trip and aligned with factors believed to protect against medical student burnout. There is opportunity for additional research as well as expansion of similar programs to other medical schools.

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