Challenges in the Implementation of Competency-Based Medical Curriculum: Perspectives of Prospective Academicians

Abstract

The medical education system all over the world is witnessing a paradigm shift from traditional methods of teaching to competency-based medical education. With the current curricular change, teachers are supposed to play a catalyst role in terms of moderating the different frameworks of competency-based medical education (CBME). Following the implementation of the new curriculum in India ( 2019), the present study aims to understand the challenges that medical teachers face in its implementation. Materials and methodsThis nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted among 297 teaching faculty representing 91 medical colleges across 20 states between February and July 2020. A self-validated structured questionnaire on the views of the newly implemented competency-based medical curriculum was prepared, uploaded as a Google form link, and circulated to medical teachers through an electronic platform across the country The faculty responses were exported and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. ResultsAround 77.4% opined that making incremental changes to the old curriculum would have been better than the overhaul revision, and 85.6% have opined that input from more faculty must have been taken before implementing the new curriculum. Around 80% felt that the pace at which faculty are getting trained in the nodal/regional center is not adequate, and 75% of them believed that the faculty members are not adequate for preparatory work for CBME implementation. About 74.7% opined that framing specific learning objectives (SLOs) for all competencies is time-consuming. ConclusionIt is the need of the hour for the curriculum to incorporate a systematic feedback mechanism built into the system. Despite the fact that many of the suggested changes are progressive, given the time and resource constraints, this can only be accomplished through the concerted and combined efforts of all those involved in medical education.

The Literature Review on Curriculum Implementation Problems

“…The scope of literature might have constrained the exploration of less documented but potentially significant barriers in low-resource settings or in non-traditional educational formats. Additionally, the predominantly retrospective nature of the review limits the ability to predict future challenges that might arise with advancements in technology or changes in educational policy (24)(25)(26)(27). Moving forward, the review suggests several recommendations for practice and further research.…”

Formando médicos para el siglo XXI: El rol crucial de la educación basada en competencias

“…La enseñanza centrada en el alumno implica la integración interna de los conocimientos en la mente de los estudiantes. Además, es vital incorporar el mundo exterior al plan de estudios mediante la integración vertical y horizontal (37)(38)(39) . La integración horizontal se refiere a la vinculación de contenidos impartidos simultáneamente en una sección de estudio, mientras que la integración vertical implica la fusión de los conocimientos fundamentales con la aplicación clínica.…”

Large language models (ChatGPT) in medical education: Embrace or abjure?

“…In addition, Universities in resource-poor settings often find inadequate number of educators as a barrier to implement new teaching strategies and curriculum reformation, particularly with the shifting paradigms to competency based medical education (Ramanathan et al, 2022). Effective incorporation of LLM tools could ease their workload to some extent, providing more time to explore new teaching pedagogies and scope for curricular reformations.…”