A Disease-Based Approach to the Vertical and Horizontal Integration of a Medical Curriculum

PhD, Charles A. Gullo; Dzwonek, Brian; Miller, Bobby

doi:10.1007/s40670-015-0208-5

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The present study describes a pilot program that implements our new instrument, namely the Work Station Learning Activities (WSLA), for teaching basic sciences with a horizontally integrated scheme. With the purpose of designing our flexible approach, we first established the Integration Subcommittee to review, track and improve curricular integration, similar to other universities [ 13 ]. The Integration Subcommittee was formed by eight faculty members from different fields of knowledge (i.e., biology, physiology, genetics, histology, and biochemistry).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work station learning activities: a flexible and scalable instrument for integrating across basic subjects in biomedical education

et al. 2017

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BackgroundEstablishing innovative teaching programs in biomedical education involves dealing with several national and supra-national (i.e. European) regulations as well as with new pedagogical and demographic demands. We aimed to develop and validate a suitable instrument to integrate activities across preclinical years in all Health Science Degrees while meeting requirements of national quality agencies.MethodsThe new approach was conceived at two different levels: first, we identified potentially integrative units from different fields according to national learning goals established for each preclinical year (national quality agency regulations). Secondly, we implemented a new instrument that combines active methodologies in Work Station Learning Activities (WSLA), using clinical scenarios as a guiding common thread to instruct students from an integrated perspective. We evaluated students’ perception through a Likert-type survey of a total of 118 students enrolled in the first year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine.ResultsOur model of integrated activities through WSLA is feasible, scalable and manageable with large groups of students and a minimum number of instructors, two major limitations in many medical schools. Students’ perception of WSLA was positive in overall terms. Seventy nine percent of participants stated that WSLA sessions were more useful than non-integrated activities. Eighty three percent confirmed that the WSLA methodology was effective at integrating concepts covered by different subjects.ConclusionsThe WSLA approach is a flexible and scalable instrument for moving towards integrated curricula, and it can be successfully adapted to teach basic subjects in preclinical years of Health Science degrees. WSLA can be applied to large groups of students in a variety of contexts or environments using clinical cases as connecting threads.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work station learning activities: a flexible and scalable instrument for integrating across basic subjects in biomedical education

et al. 2017

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“…This "firmware" differs from quite common formal coordination of the programs taught in medical schools, as the former requires that the content of the disciplines in the integrated program is very tightly synchronized in the time-table, coordinated and subordinated to the main goal -adequate preparation of students for the clinical exposure and development of their clinical thinking "Horizontal" integration with the development of interdisciplinary modules allows to identify "gaps" and redundancies in the teaching content of preclinical disciplines, to do the "mapping" of the topics taught to ensure the quality of construction of the educational ladder, whether it is based on the study of systems or diseases/pathological conditions. To provide greater "rigidity" to the whole "construction" the necessary attribute of an integrated program -problem-based learning -is introduced, which is demonstrating growing importance and increasing its share in preclinical medical education up to 16 hours a week in a number of western universities [9,19].…”

Section: "Horizontal" and "Vertical" Integration In Medical Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

Is it time for transition from the subject-based to the integrated preclinical medical curriculum?

Kapitonova¹,

Gupalo²,

Dydykin³

et al. 2020

Russ Open Med J

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In the 60s of the last century, a number of new universities in the world began to apply an integrated program of medical education, the cornerstone of which was problem-oriented education. Thus, the Flexner model of higher education adopted by that time in most countries of the world, with its characteristic segregation of teaching of the theoretical and clinical disciplines, which had ceased to satisfy the needs of modern healthcare, was gradually replaced by a new system that put the student in the center of the educational process and opened the way to active methods of teaching being focused on the end result – training of graduates whose qualifications most fully satisfy the needs of society. Over the half-century history of its existence, this system has been adopted by most medical universities in different countries of the world, in many of which it has undergone significant modifications in accordance with the needs of national educational standards. Many medical universities in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union showed interest in this system, some of the medical faculties of our country accepted certain elements of it. However, up to date no integrated preclinical medical education program has been applied in any of the Russian universities. Hereby we are undertaking an attempt to analyze the reasons and assess the possible perspectives for the transition of medical universities in Russia to teaching of fundamental and biomedical disciplines using the integrated curriculum.

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“… 1 , 8 In line with its pursuit of “excellence in medical education and patient care” and a commitment to a “dynamic curriculum,” Balamand Medical School (BMS) has been progressively revising its curriculum since 2012 to move away from more traditional “rote” learning and memory-based content approaches toward a hybrid curriculum with both didactic and problem and case-based learning approaches. While such revisions have been studied globally 11 and to a lesser extent in Lebanon such as in the American University of Beirut, 12 there is still vast room for research in the Lebanese and Middle Eastern contexts as well as in the area of measuring assessment practices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the curriculum changed, the nature of the exams needed to change as well. 3 , 11 , 16 , 17 Assessment procedures had to reflect the shift from memorization to critical thinking and prepare students to a lifelong practice. 18 It was with this rationale that the NBME was adopted to monitor changes in performance and compare our curricula in light of international standards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

National Board of Medical Examiners and Curriculum Change: What Do Scores Tell Us? A Case Study at the University of Balamand Medical School

Ojaimi

Khairallah

Younes

et al. 2020

Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development

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Objectives: This study describes the results of NBME (National Board of Medical Examiners) implementation in Balamand Medical School (BMS) from 2015 to 2019, after major curricular changes were introduced as of 2012. BMS students’ performance was compared with the international USMLE step 1 (United States Medical Licensing Examination, herein referred to as step 1) cohorts’ performances. The BMS students’ NBME results were analyzed over the successive academic years to assess the impact of the serial curricular changes that were implemented. Methods: This longitudinal study describes the performance of BMS preclinical second year medicine (Med II) students on all their NBME exams over 4 academic years starting 2015-2016 to 2018-2019. These scores were compared with the step 1 comparison group scores using item difficulty. The t test was computed for each of the NBME exams to check whether the scores’ differences were significant. Results: Results revealed that all BMS cohorts scored lower than the international USMLE step 1 comparison cohorts in all disciplines across the 4 academic years except Psychiatry. However, the results were progressively approaching step 1 results, and the difference between step 1 scores and BMS students’ NBME scores became closer and not significant as of year 4. Conclusions: The results of the study are promising. They show that the serial curricular changes enabled BMS Med II students’ scores to reach the international cohorts’ scores after 4 academic years. Moreover, the absence of statistical difference between cohort 4 scores and step 1 cohorts is not module dependent and applies to all clinical modules. Further studies should be conducted to assess whether the results obtained for cohort 4 can be maintained.

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A Disease-Based Approach to the Vertical and Horizontal Integration of a Medical Curriculum

Cited by 4 publications

References 7 publications

Work station learning activities: a flexible and scalable instrument for integrating across basic subjects in biomedical education

Work station learning activities: a flexible and scalable instrument for integrating across basic subjects in biomedical education

Is it time for transition from the subject-based to the integrated preclinical medical curriculum?

National Board of Medical Examiners and Curriculum Change: What Do Scores Tell Us? A Case Study at the University of Balamand Medical School

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