The challenge of reform: 10 years of curricula change in Italian medical schools

Abstract

Italy has a long history of versatility in medical training in which the tension between 'knowing' and 'doing' is a recurrent theme dating from the origins of the first European medical faculties in Bologna in the eleventh century. Italian medical schools are currently undergoing widespread reforms building on two decades of concerted efforts by medical educators to move from traditional teacher and subject-centred degree programmes to integrated student-centred curricula. European higher education policies have helped drive this process. A challenge in these developments is that the adoption of integrated and outcomes-based curricula in medicine requires a discursive shift in teaching practices. While investment in teacher training is essential, it is also important for educational leaders in medicine to communicate a compelling vision of the type of health professional medical schools are aiming to produce. Systematic educational research should accompany this transition to evaluate the process and gauge sustainability. Investigation should also examine how external influences and pressures are calibrated and adapted to the national context and epistemology. The adoption of a common international vocabulary to describe educational processes means Italy will be able to participate more fully in the European medical education debate in future.

The value of neurosurgical and intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging tractography in clinically integrated neuroanatomy modules: A cross‐sectional study

“…In Italian medical schools, the undergraduate curriculum explicitly states the intention of enhancing integration through interactive and multidisciplinary teaching approaches (Snelgrove et al, ). In this context, integration between neuroanatomy and neuroradiology/neurosurgery is crucial when related to the difficulty of the subject (Familiari et al, ).…”

“…The undergraduate course of medicine and surgery at Rome Sapienza University's Medical School (held at the “Sant'Andrea” Hospital associated with the faculty) consists of a 6‐year curriculum as established by the academic rules and regulations governing the Italian University System (Snelgrove et al, ).…”

Bologna Process, More or Less: Nursing Education in the European Economic Area: A Discussion Paper

“…Efforts to fully establish nursing education at university level according to international recommendations are not as effective as they could be (Palese, 2010). [Vassiliou, 2010]) have driven this process (Snelgrove et al, 2009) but the process relies mainly on a bottom-up approach from universities and other interested groups (professional, academicians, students, nursing association and quality assurance agencies) (Oliver & Sanz, 2007). The Bologna Declaration implementation at country level appears to follow four different patterns: (1) some countries have harmonized the already established university education with the lines of the Bologna Declaration, (2) other countries have enhanced the nursing education, establishing it at the University level or Institute of Technology level, (3) other countries have harmonized curricula leaving nursing education out of the university sector, and (4) some countries have created a binary vocational-academic based nursing education inspired by the Bologna Declaration.…”

Getting off the carousel: Exploring the wicked problem of curriculum reform

“…To highlight how curriculum reform is a process rather than an outcome, rather than just focusing on ‘did it (the change(s)) work’ [2, 3, 6, 18, 19], it would be useful to also think about ‘how did it work’ and ‘what have we learned’ (from the process of reform). Those involved in curriculum reform will then change their perspective from one that is relatively simplistic and linear (and maintains the circling round and round), which in turn will help to slow down or get down from Whitehead et al.’s carousel [8].…”