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PubMed1995

Designing a common core curriculum for operating department nursing.

This paper has been written to outline the experiences of the European Operating Room Nurses Association in designing a Common Core Curriculum for European Operating Room Nursing. The process of curriculum planning is never one to be undertaken without an understanding of the complexity of producing what often appears as nothing more than a simple document once the task is completed. In most situations the planning of a curriculum is undertaken by a small team of people who prepare a structure and content which they themselves are actually going to implement, therefore the curriculum responds to the needs of the particular location for which it is intended. When a National Curriculum is developed it is usually done so by a group of people who work within the framework and guidelines of a national body, but they include local representatives from different areas to ensure that the finished product is one which can usefully be applied to all areas of the country. The designing of a curriculum for Europe brings a whole new dimension to curriculum planning.

Curriculum↗

PubMed2002

Design of a problem-based curriculum: a general approach and a case study in the domain of public health.

A general approach to curriculum design in the context of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is outlined. Ten general 'steps' for problem-based curriculum development are proposed, using the case study methodology to describe the underlying iterative process. Examples are given from the case of the development of a public health professions education curriculum. The process starts with defining the purpose of the curriculum. General objectives are generated in a top-down fashion. The prior knowledge, skills and misconceptions of future students are considered. A preliminary schedule of the curriculum is developed, including sketches of unit blueprints. These are further elaborated. Unit subgoals are related to planned educational activities. Only then, are the learning materials created, with problem writing as the most important aspect. In developing a problem-based curriculum, assessment deserves special attention, because of its influence on the learning process. Finally, educational organization, curriculum management and evaluation procedures are considered.

Brazil↗

PubMed2000

Planning for the evaluation of a pediatric end-of-life curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Decision making at the end of life can be complex and emotionally challenging for healthcare providers, particularly in pediatrics. Unfortunately, few undergraduate and graduate medical education curricula adequately address these issues. In this article, we describe the plan and progress to date of the design, implementation, and evaluation of an end-of- life curriculum for pediatric residents. NEEDS ASSESSMENT: Prior to the development of a formal end-of-life curriculum, a survey was given to a single cohort of residents four times over the course of their training to assess their attitudes toward end-of-life issues and their experience with the informal curriculum in residency. Entering pediatric residents felt relatively uncomfortable dealing with death and dying, but by the end of training, residents felt more comfortable dealing with these issues. Residents were relatively ambivalent about the degree to which their education helped them to deal with end-of-life issues. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION PLAN: A number of curricular interventions were developed including a noon conference series, grand rounds presentations, a 3-hour seminar on giving bad news, and written information for the housestaff manual. The curriculum was implemented in the fall of 1999. The impact of the curriculum will be assessed using a single interventional group with historical control study design. The evaluation instruments will include the previously used survey and an objective written examination. The 3-hour seminar will be assessed with a pre-test post-test crossover design using standardized patients. DISCUSSION: This rigorous, feasible, and cost-effective approach to curriculum development is intended to serve as a model for end-of-life education in pediatric residencies.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Integrated problem-based learning in the neuroscience curriculum--the SUNY Downstate experience.

BACKGROUND: This paper reports the author's initial experience as Block Director in converting a Conventional Curriculum into a problem-based learning model (PBL) for teaching Psychopathology. As part of a wide initiative in curriculum reform, Psychopathology, which was a six-week course in the second-year medical school curriculum, became integrated into a combined Neuroscience block. The study compares curriculum conversion at State University of New York (SUNY), Downstate, with the experiences at other medical centres that have instituted similar curricula reform. METHODS: Student satisfaction with the Conventional and PBL components of the Neuroscience curriculum was compared using questionnaires and formal discussions between faculty and a body of elected students. The PBL experience in Psychopathology was also compared with that of the rest of the Neuroscience Block, which used large student groups and expert facilitators, while the Psychopathology track was limited to small groups using mentors differing widely in levels of expertise. RESULTS: Students appeared to indicate a preference toward conventional lectures and large PBL groups using expert facilitators in contrast to small group mentors who were not experts. Small PBL groups with expert mentors in the Psychopathology track were also rated favorably. CONCLUSION: The study reviews the advantages and pitfalls of the PBL system when applied to a Neuroscience curriculum on early career development. At SUNY, conversion from a Conventional model to a PBL model diverged from that proposed by Howard S. Barrows where student groups define the learning objectives and problem-solving strategies. In our model, the learning objectives were faculty-driven. The critical issue for the students appeared to be the level of faculty expertise rather than group size. Expert mentors were rated more favorably by students in fulfilling the philosophical objectives of PBL. The author, by citing the experience at other major Medical Faculties, makes a cautious attempt to address the challenges involved in the conversion of a Psychopathology curriculum into a PBL dominated format.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

A comprehensive curriculum for thoracic surgery: survey of opinions from program directors and residents.

BACKGROUND: The Comprehensive Thoracic Surgery Curriculum was developed to provide program directors with a basis for planning instruction and evaluating residents, program practices, and outcomes. A survey design was selected to obtain opinions about the curriculum from a large group of people, ie, all program directors and all active residents. METHODS: Two parallel instruments were developed: one to be completed by program directors and one to be completed by active residents. Responses were collated for directors and residents, entered into a computerized database, and compared using the chi 2 statistic. RESULTS: A response rate of 93% was obtained from the directors and 79% from the residents. The survey demonstrates broad-based support for a comprehensive curriculum by the respondents. Current perceptions of and expectations for the curriculum are diverse and regionalized. Serious concerns are expressed about quality issues and particularly the environment for residency education. CONCLUSIONS: The thoughtful responses of our colleagues will guide leaders who will implement the curriculum for thoracic surgery. Strategies for change will necessarily focus on the prerequisite curriculum.

Administrative Personnel↗

PubMed2004

A media literacy nutrition education curriculum for head start parents about the effects of television advertising on their children's food requests.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether a media literacy nutrition education curriculum about the effects of television advertising on children's food choices influenced the behavior, attitudes, and knowledge of Head Start parents. SUBJECTS: Participants were a convenience sample of 35 parents from Head Start programs. DESIGN: This study used a pretest-posttest, comparison condition-intervention condition design. INTERVENTION: The 35 parents participated in both a four-week food safety curriculum (to serve as an educational placebo, comparison condition) that was followed immediately by a four-week media literacy nutrition education curriculum (intervention condition). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Evaluation measures included parents' understanding of the persuasive techniques of commercials; ability to distinguish between truths and claims in advertising; and outcome expectations, values, self-efficacy, and behaviors in relation to talking about television advertisements with children while co-viewing or in response to purchase requests in the grocery store. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Paired t tests, analysis of covariance, and chi(2) analyses were used. RESULTS: The media literacy nutrition education intervention curriculum had significant effects in terms of Head Start parents' understanding television advertising (P<.001), attitudes about television advertisements (P<.001), outcome expectations (P<.05), values (P<.01), self-efficacy (P<.001), and TV mediation behaviors (P<.001), and understanding of, and ability to read, food labels (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS/APPLICATIONS: Results suggest that a media literacy nutrition education curriculum can be easily conducted by dietitians. Dietitians can modify the curriculum to teach parents how to critically analyze many other forms of media (supermarket magazines, brochures, newspapers, Web sites) that sell nutrition misinformation to the public.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Teaching communication skills to medical students, a challenge in the curriculum?

INTRODUCTION: As communication skills become more and more important in medical practice, the new medical curriculum at Ghent University (1999) implemented a communication curriculum. METHOD: Communication training or experiences in 'real life' settings are provided every year of the medical curriculum. The training starts with simple basic skills but gradually slips into medical communication or consultation training and results in communication in different contextual situations or with special groups of patients. Rehearsal is important and seen as inevitable. Poorly performing students get extra training. Several didactical methods are used: the skills are demonstrated by means of videotapes and paper cases of patient stories. Skills are trained in small groups (10-15 students), with focus on role-playing with colleague students or simulated patients (SP). Videotapes of real consultations give an idea of the performance of each student. Every year the students are assessed by means of an OSCE (objective structured clinical examination). CONCLUSION: After 6 years of experience with the new curriculum, several remarks and questions need to be answered. Small group training gives a huge workload and with different trainers discrepancies between groups can appear. Choosing the most suitable trainer for communication skills is not easy; several options are available: specialists in communication like psychologists with interest in medical practice, GPs with interest in medical communication, medical specialists for communication topics concerning medical problems within their domain. As the most important didactical approach lies in practising the skills, the selection and training of simulated patients remains a challenge. PRACTICE IMPLICATION: A communication continuum during the whole curriculum seems to be worthwhile. Students with specific communicative problems are detected early, remediation is provided. Rehearsal every year seems to lead to better acquisition. The most positive point is that communication is embedded in a global patient-, student- and community-oriented curriculum and that communication skills are seen as core elements of good doctoring.

Belgium↗

PubMed2004

Revised European core curriculum for RTs.

AIM: To update the first version of the European core curriculum to reflect many developments in radiotherapy and educational philosophy that have taken place in the interim period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The first version of the European core curriculum was reviewed by the Steering Group together with current education programmes from the various member states and taking into account the developments and changes that have taken place in radiotherapy. From these initial meetings, a working document and provisional timetable were prepared. Given the diversity of the existing programmes, the language difficulties and lack of national curricula it was agreed that a representative from both the clinical and academic areas endorsed by their national professional body would be identified for each country. These participants were then invited to participate in two workshops and the working document and timetable were circulated. Two workshops were held and a final draft document was circulated to the professional bodies and other interested groups. RESULTS: The revised European Core Curriculum for RTTs was endorsed by the participants of the workshops representing academic and clinical areas of all the member states and was welcomed by the wider circulation. Compared to the first version the revised curriculum describes the background underpinning the practice of radiation therapy and the variation across the member states, issues of staffing, educational philosophy, certification level, legislation governing recognition of qualifications and a core syllabus. CONCLUSION: The revised core curriculum is an important step in the progress of professional recognition for RTTs, towards harmonisation of education programmes in Europe and meeting the aim of best practice and equality of care for all patients receiving radiotherapy. Responsibility for developing education programmes from the curriculum will rest with the local and/or national education bodies and authorities.

Accreditation↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Curriculum trends in nurse-midwifery education. Views of program directors.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which nurse-midwifery education programs are addressing the practice competencies that have been recommended by the Pew Health Professions Commission and others as essential for effective practice in the 21st century. This study was part of a larger survey of eleven health professions education programs. The 56 nurse-midwifery program directors whose names and addresses were provided by the American College of Nurse-Midwives were surveyed by mailed questionnaire, with a response rate of 59% (n = 33). The study sought to identify current and ideal emphasis placed on 33 broad topics, most important curriculum topics, and barriers to curriculum change as perceived by respondents. Findings revealed that nurse-midwifery program directors would like to see greater emphasis placed on every topic except one (tertiary/quaternary care). Desired increases ranged from .04 to 1.36. The overall mean rating for all topics was 3.51 for current emphasis (5-point scale) and 4.18 for ideal emphasis, both of which were higher than any other survey group. The greatest desired increases (> 1.00) were for "primary care," "managed care," "use of electronic information systems," and "business management of practice." Respondents identified "primary care," "health promotion/disease prevention," and "accountability for cost-effectiveness and patient outcomes" as the most important topics. The top three barriers to curriculum change were identified as "already crowded curriculum," "inadequate funding," and "limited availability of clinical learning sites," the last being statistically significant compared with other survey groups. Findings indicate that nurse-midwifery program directors perceived that they are adequately addressing most of the curriculum topics, while continuing to focus on the need for curriculum change as the health care environment changes.

Curriculum↗

PubMed1996

Sunny days, healthy ways: evaluation of a skin cancer prevention curriculum for elementary school-aged children.

BACKGROUND: Primary prevention of skin cancer must start early in life to reduce total life-time sun exposure and severe overexposure in childhood. Childhood is an excellent time to form life-long prevention habits. A school-based curriculum can be an effective prevention strategy. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine the effectiveness of a skin cancer prevention curriculum at increasing knowledge and attitudes supporting prevention and decreasing sun exposure by children in grades four, five, and six. METHODS: Twenty-four classes (N = 447 students) from four public elementary schools in southern Arizona participated. Half received a pretest, half were tested at the conclusion of the 5-week curriculum in early spring, and half were tested 8 weeks later in late spring. Objective measures of suntanning were obtained. RESULTS: The curriculum increased knowledge about skin cancer prevention and attitudes supporting prevention and decreased suntanning. Self-reported preventive behavior was inconsistent and only weakly associated with measures of suntanning. CONCLUSION: The curriculum was effective at increasing skin cancer prevention. Resulting reduction in sun exposure was superior to that achieved with previous prevention curricula. Change in attitude needed time to emerge, appearing after 8 weeks. Self-reported preventive behavior by children in elementary school may lack validity. Pretesting did not alter effectiveness. Sixth-graders may be ready for more advanced content, but the curriculum is probably too advanced for kindergarten through third grade.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1996

Nursing curriculum content: an innovative decision-making process to define priorities.

Curriculum planning in the health sciences is becoming increasingly complex due to rapid societal change and scientific discovery. The half-life of most curricula is 5 years, which necessitates a periodic close examination and revision of both content and process. For nursing faculty, this exercise is often viewed as an arduous one and traditionally can lead to endless hours of circular debate. Planning is usually in two stages; the first stage being the development of or agreement about a theoretical framework and the second stage is deciding on core content and teaching methodologies. This article focuses on decisions in the second stage. Traditionally, decisions around curriculum are arrived at by much debate. Some argue that all health issues should be addressed in the curriculum in order that the graduate be prepared to deal with a breadth of issues. However, this approach often leads to what has been referred to as 'curriculum hypertrophy', where, in an attempt to be all-inclusive, the curriculum grows without bounds. Rarely is anything dropped from the curriculum when this approach is used. Sometimes priorities are established on the basis of what the individual teaching staff deems important. In other cases a consensus approach is chosen.

Curriculum↗

PubMed2002

A quality improvement curriculum for medical students.

BACKGROUND: Despite frequent recommendations that quality improvement (QI) be incorporated into medical education, reports of this activity are few. A pilot project to develop and implement a curriculum on QI into a family medicine clerkship was conducted in the 1999-2000 academic year. INTERVENTION: A five-part curriculum was developed and implemented on successive weeks of a family medicine clerkship. The curriculum involved students working alone and in small groups. After an orientation to QI principles, students performed a series of chart audits of diabetes care. They then met with QI coordinators from a local health system to review their results. Improvement recommendations were developed and presented to the clinic director. Evaluation included completion of the module, assessment of student knowledge and opinion, and interviews with the QI coordinators. EVALUATION: Two clinic sites and 30 third-year medical (M3) students participated. Each student conducted at least two chart audits, met with the QI coordinators, and developed at least one improvement recommendation. The QI coordinators felt that students were interested in the subject but needed more training in QI principles and more faculty development. Students assessed the curriculum as being moderately effective and useful. DISCUSSION: A curriculum in QI that involved active learning strategies was successfully implemented during a family medicine clerkship. Students viewed the curriculum as being appropriate to their learning. Future efforts should include more work on faculty development and role modeling of QI activity.

Clinical Clerkship↗

PubMed2000

Student satisfaction with curriculum modifications in a French dental school.

Since 1994, important modifications have been implemented in the dental curriculum in France, and an additional year has been included in the dental curriculum. The 1st year has remained unchanged; it is common to both medical and dental schools and leads to a selection procedure of 1 in 10 dental students. In the new curriculum, the dental student is engaged in a 5-year programme in dental school (years 2 to 6), as opposed to 4 years in the former programme (years 2 to 5). Basically, this new curriculum emphasises research initiation, links with medical training and offers broader clinical experience. During the academic year 1998-1999, dental schools had 2 different types of students: the 4th year students belonging to the new programme along with the 5th year students in their final year of the old curriculum. Using a specially devised questionnaire, we investigated the students' perception of their respective training, their motivation and professional plans. At the Faculty of Odontology in Lyon, the new curriculum is perceived as an increased strain by the dental students.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Integrating what is taught with what is practised in the nursing curriculum: a multi-dimensional model.

The discrepancy between nursing as it is taught in the classroom (theory) and nursing as it is experienced by students in the clinical setting (practice) has long been a source of concern to teachers, practitioners and learners. This paper provides an overview of the literature on the theory-practice gap, exploring some of the many reasons cited for its existence as well as suggested ways of bridging the gap. Drawing upon the findings, a comprehensive and multi-dimensional model designed to integrate theory and practice of nursing is proposed for use by curriculum planners. Fundamental to the model is the notion of collaboration between education and service staff at all stages of the curriculum process. The model highlights eight key areas for the curriculum team to consider: the curriculum model to be used, sequencing of taught content and clinical practice, the content of the course, teaching methods to be used, assessment criteria, the role of tutors in the learning process, the contribution of service staff, and the influence of the hidden curriculum. It is argued that only through such a comprehensive model can integration of theory and practice within the curriculum be achieved. Adoption of the model, however, will require considerable individual and organizational commitment.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed1999

Differences in curriculum emphasis in US undergraduate and generalist residency education programmes.

OBJECTIVES: Little attention has been paid to the differential emphasis undergraduate and graduate medical education programmes place on the broad competencies that will be needed for practice in an increasingly managed health care environment. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in emphasis that undergraduate and primary care graduate medical education programmes are currently placing on 33 broad practice competencies, compared with the emphasis they ideally would like to give them, and the barriers they perceive to curriculum change. DESIGN: Subjects were surveyed by mailed questionnaire. A reminder postcard and follow-up mailing were sent to non-respondents. SETTING: US allopathic medical schools. SUBJECTS: Academic deans identified by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and generalist (family medicine, internal medicine, paediatrics and obstetrics-gynaecology) residency programme directors identified by the American Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). RESULTS: Findings revealed that residency programmes placed greater emphasis on the study's broad curriculum topics than did undergraduate medical education programmes. Statistically significant differences were found in current emphasis for 12 topics and ideal emphasis for six topics. Both groups identified an already crowded curriculum and inadequate funding as the top two barriers to curriculum change. CONCLUSIONS: The differences in curriculum emphases and perceived barriers to curriculum change most probably reflect the different realities of undergraduate and graduate medical education programmes, i.e. academics vs. a focus on immediate practice realities.

Curriculum↗

PubMed2002

Faculty opinions about a revised pre-clinical curriculum.

INTRODUCTION: Medical schools having innovative curricula have been encouraged to ascertain the levels of satisfaction of faculty members with the curriculum. Faculty at schools that employ problem-based learning (PBL) have been shown to have positive perceptions, but not all schools are in a position to adopt PBL on a large scale. This study sought to determine faculty members' opinions about a new curriculum that is less ambitious than one utilizing true PBL. CONTEXT AND SETTING: Since 1997, the University of Otago Medical School (Dunedin, New Zealand) has had an integrated, modular pre-clinical curriculum that emphasizes clinical relevance. It has proved popular with students. This study focused on faculty members' impressions. METHODS: We surveyed faculty members' opinions with a questionnaire identical to one used in studies at PBL schools. Faculty compared the students and their own levels of satisfaction in the old and new curricula on 7 to 10 items. The overall response rate was 85.4% (152 of 178). RESULTS: Perceptions of the new curriculum were positive among teachers who taught during the pre-clinical years and those who taught the students only after they reached the clinical years. Results for individual questions were in the same direction and generally similar in magnitude to those reported on identical items for PBL. CONCLUSION: We conclude that a hybrid curriculum that is more acceptable to many traditional teachers and students than is PBL has almost as great a positive effect on faculty members' perceptions of students' abilities and of the curriculum as does PBL.

Attitude↗

PubMed1995

A comprehensive transfusion medicine curriculum for medical students. Transfusion Medicine Academic Award Group.

BACKGROUND: The Transfusion Medicine Academic Awards (TMAA) program, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, has provided grants to medical schools to help them develop comprehensive curricula in transfusion medicine. In 1989, the TMAA Group published a set of comprehensive curricular goals for teaching transfusion medicine. The medical student portion of this curriculum has now been revised to reflect new developments in transfusion medicine and recent trends in medical school education. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Two medical schools independently revised the 1989 curriculum for their students. Because significant similarities were noted between curricula of the two institutions, the two revisions were combined and submitted to all TMAA institutions for comment. As a result, a revised medical school curriculum was developed and approved by the TMAA Group. RESULTS: The revised curriculum consists of 28 objectives in six major areas of transfusion medicine. It is presented in its entirety in this article. CONCLUSION: The TMAA transfusion medicine curriculum should provide to medical schools a valuable resource for evaluating their teaching of transfusion medicine and should provide to medical school deans and curriculum committees an authoritative source of transfusion medicine expertise.

Autoimmunity↗

PubMed2005

Developing and evaluating a residents' curriculum.

This study examines the impact of a Bright Futures-based curriculum designed to teach pediatric residents how to integrate health education principles into everyday clinical practice. A two-phase study was conducted to evaluate the curriculum using both quantitative and qualitative methods. To measure the curriculum's impact on residents' clinical performance, a pre- and post-objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) design was administered to 14 residents in two groups: a control group (n=8) and an intervention group (n=6). Performance scores improved in the intervention group from pre- to post-testing in three core curriculum concepts (there was no change in the control group); performance in a fourth concept improved in both groups; and for the remaining two concepts, there was no change among the intervention group but an improvement in scores among those in the control group. Residents in the intervention group reported the curriculum to be of high quality and low difficulty. This study demonstrated that the curriculum had a positive impact on a resident's perceptions of his or her practice one year after participating in the intervention. The data suggest that each of the modules can be taught, the content learned and the principles applied to one's clinical practice.

Clinical Competence↗