LCME Subcommittee 5

Standard 6:  Competencies, Curricular Objectives, and Curriculum Design

The faculty of a medical school define the competencies to be achieved by its medical students through medical education program objectives and is responsible for the detailed design and implementation of the components of a medical curriculum that enable its medical students to achieve those competencies and objectives. Medical education program objectives are statements of the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that medical students are expected to exhibit as evidence of their achievement by completion of the program.

Element

Narrative

Questions to be completed by subcommittees

6.1
Program and Learning Objectives

The faculty of a medical school define its medical education program objectives in outcome-based terms that allow the assessment of medical students’ progress in developing the competencies that the profession and the public expect of a physician. The medical school makes these medical education program objectives known to all medical students, faculty, residents, and others with responsibility for medical student education and assessment. In addition, the medical school ensures that the learning objectives for each required learning experience (e.g., course, clerkship) are made known to all medical students and those faculty, residents, and others with teaching and assessment responsibilities in those required experiences. 

Have educational program objectives been developed that are stated in outcome-based terms and are they linked to the competencies expected of a physician?  Evaluate whether the objectives are being used for the assessment of medical students’ progress in achieving these competencies.  Evaluate whether the educational program objectives and the objectives of individual courses and clerkships have been shared with medical students and with relevant individuals and groups responsible for curriculum planning and implementation and for medical student teaching and assessment. (6.1)

6.2
Required Clinical Experiences

The faculty of a medical school define the types of patients and clinical conditions that medical students are required to encounter, the skills to be performed by medical students, the appropriate clinical settings for these experiences, and the expected levels of medical student responsibility.

Evaluate whether the faculty have defined the patient types and clinical conditions that all students are expected to encounter and the procedures/clinical skills that all students are expected to perform.  Have these experiences been assigned to relevant clerkships?  Is each type of patient encounter and procedure/clinical skill associated with a clinical setting and level of medical student responsibility? (6.2)

6.3
Self-Directed And Life-Long Learning

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes self-directed learning experiences and time for independent study to allow medical students to develop the skills of lifelong learning. Self-directed learning involves medical students’ self-assessment of learning needs; independent identification, analysis, and synthesis of relevant information; and appraisal of the credibility of information sources.

Evaluate the sufficiency of self-directed learning experiences in the pre-clerkship curriculum to allow students to acquire and demonstrate lifelong learning skills.  Is there enough time available for these experiences within and outside of formal class hours? (6.3)


6.4
Inpatient / Outpatient Experiences

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes clinical experiences in both outpatient and inpatient settings.

Comment on the adequacy of inpatient and outpatient experiences in the curriculum to allow the objectives of the educational program and the individual clerkships to be met. (6.4)

6.5
Elective Opportunities

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes elective opportunities that supplement required learning experiences and that permit medical students to gain exposure to and deepen their understanding of medical specialties reflecting their career interests and to pursue their individual academic interests.

Evaluate whether sufficient time is available in the curriculum for electives that supplement required learning experiences. (6.5)

6.6
Service-Learning

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical education program provides sufficient opportunities for, encourages, and supports medical student participation in service-learning and community service activities.

Evaluate the availability of service-learning and community service activities and the adequacy of time students have to participate.  Does the medical school support service-learning/community service and provide information to medical students about these opportunities. (6.6)

6.7
Academic Environments

The faculty of a medical school ensure that medical students have opportunities to learn in academic environments that permit interaction with students enrolled in other health professions, graduate and professional degree programs, and in clinical environments that provide opportunities for interaction with physicians in graduate medical education programs and in continuing medical education programs.

Does the medical school exist in an environment that permits the interaction of medical students with other learners, including other health professions students, graduate students, residents, and physicians engaging in continuing medical education? (6.7)

6.8
Education Program Duration

A medical education program includes at least 130 weeks of instruction

 

Does the medical education program consist of at least 130 scheduled weeks? (6.8)

Standard 8:  Curricular, Management, Evaluation, and Enhancement

The faculty of a medical school engage in curricular revision and program evaluation activities to ensure that that medical education program quality is maintained and enhanced and that medical students achieve all medical education program objectives and participate in required clinical experiences and settings.

Element

Narrative

Questions to be completed by subcommittees

8.1
Curricular Management

A medical school has in place an institutional body (e.g., a faculty committee) that oversees the medical education program as a whole and has responsibility for the overall design, management, integration, evaluation, and enhancement of a coherent and coordinated medical curriculum

Is there a central committee responsible for the curriculum that has appropriate responsibility and authority for overseeing and approving the design, management, and evaluation of the curriculum to ensure that it is coherent, coordinated and integrated horizontally and vertically?  Is this authority codified in institutional bylaws and/or policy?  Is there evidence that this authority is being appropriately and regularly exercised? (8.1 plus Overview section)

8.2
Use Of Medical Educational Program Objectives

The faculty of a medical school, through the faculty committee responsible for the medical curriculum, ensure that the medical curriculum uses formally adopted medical education program objectives to guide the selection of curriculum content, review and revise the curriculum, and establish the basis for evaluating programmatic effectiveness. The faculty leadership responsible for each required course and clerkship link the learning objectives of that course or clerkship to the medical education program objectives.

Evaluate whether the educational program objectives are being used to guide curriculum planning, select and apportion curriculum content among instructional units, review and revise the curriculum, and evaluate curricular outcomes.  As a means to determine the sufficiency and placement of content and to guide program evaluation, have the course and clerkship objectives been linked to the educational program objectives. (8.2)

8.3
Curricular Design, Review, Revision/Content Monitoring

The faculty of a medical school are responsible for the detailed development, design, and implementation of all components of the medical education program, including the medical education program objectives, the learning objectives for each required curricular segment, instructional and assessment methods appropriate for the achievement of those objectives, content and content sequencing, ongoing review and updating of content, and evaluation of course, clerkship, and teacher quality. These medical education program objectives, learning objectives, content, and instructional and assessment methods are subject to ongoing monitoring, review, and revision by the faculty to ensure that the curriculum functions effectively as a whole to achieve medical education program objectives.

Is there appropriate faculty participation in curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation?  Are the units of the curriculum (i.e., courses and clerkships), the segments of the curriculum (i.e., years or phases) and the curriculum as a whole being reviewed according to a predetermined schedule?  Are there tools, such as a curriculum database, available to support these reviews and to allow a determination of the adequacy and placement of curriculum content?  Are the results of these evaluations used by the curriculum committee, the course leadership, and the departments to inform needed change? (8.3 plus Overview section)


8.4
Program Evaluation

A medical school collects and uses a variety of outcome data, including national norms of accomplishment, to demonstrate the extent to which medical students are achieving medical education program objectives and to enhance medical education program quality. These data are collected during program enrollment and after program completion.

Evaluate the adequacy of the system of program evaluation for judging whether educational program objectives are being met and desired program outcomes are being achieved.  Are appropriate data being collected from students and graduates to allow such judgments to be made and are these data being appropriately used? (8.4 plus Overview section)

8.5
Medical Student Feedback

In evaluating medical education program quality, a medical school has formal processes in place to collect and consider medical student evaluations of their courses, clerkships, and teachers, and other relevant information.

Evaluate the adequacy of the system to collect student feedback on courses and clerkships and on faculty, residents, and others who teach, supervise, and assess medical students.  Does the system provide valid and reliable data, for example, through adequate response rates to questionnaires?  How are the data used for program review and improvement? (8.5 plus Overview section)

8.6
Monitoring Of Completion Of Required Clinical Experiences

A medical school has in place a system with central oversight that monitors and ensures completion by all medical students of required clinical experiences in the medical education program and remedies any identified gaps.

Evaluate the adequacy of the processes for monitoring medical student clinical encounters at the clerkship and department levels and centrally.  Do the processes used for monitoring ensure that required clinical experiences or identified alternatives are completed? (8.6)

8.7
Comparability Of Education/Assessment

A medical school ensures that the medical curriculum includes comparable educational experiences and equivalent methods of assessment across all locations within a given course and clerkship to ensure that all medical students achieve the same medical education program objectives.

Are there processes in place to ensure comparability of education and assessment across individual courses and clerkships?  Evaluate whether there is effective monitoring at the department and medical school levels to identify and correct any inconsistencies across sites. (8.7)

8.8
Monitoring Student Time

The medical school faculty committee responsible for the medical curriculum and the program’s administration and leadership ensure the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures regarding the amount of time medical students spend in required activities, including the total number of hours medical students are required to spend in clinical and educational activities during clerkships.

Does the medical school have policies for the time that medical students spend in required activities and are these policies understood by students?  Is the time medical students spend in required activities monitored?  Comment on the presence and effectiveness of mechanisms for medical students to report violations of these policies and the willingness of students to utilize these mechanisms. (8.8)

 

 

Last edited on 08/12/2015.