Research On The Curriculum Design Of8-Year Medical Education Program

Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) used to be the only medical school in China that provided8-year medical education since1917. More Universities followed suit with the inception of The "Outline of China’s Medical Education Reform and Development" issued by Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education in2001. Since then, several other medical schools initiated8-year medical education program. However, there has been no national standard of accreditation of the8-year medical education programs. As a result, the curricula of these medical schools are very different. This might have implications for quality of higher education in medicine.Applying both qualitative and quantitative research methods, this study aims to examine the differences and problems of the curricula of pioneering medical schools that provide8-year program in China. In addition, a comprehensive review is conducted to learn from medical education programs in other countries. We also compared PUMC’s curriculum to that of the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS). Furthermore, we surveyed the faculty members about their opinion of curriculum change, and then, combining educational theories and feedbacks from the faculty, we re-designed the curriculum framework for reforming the8-year program.The main research contents of this study include:1. Curriculum theory, including:The definition of medical education curriculum; The factors that affect the design of medical curriculum; The objectives and steps of curriculum design.2. The current situation and development of international medical education programs, including medical education in the U.S, U.K and Japan.3. The research on China’s8-year medical education program. We compare the curriculum of8leading medical schools including curriculum framework, admission, the specifics of pre-medical education, pre-clinical education and clinical clerkship.4. The comparison of PUMC’s and UMMS’s curriculum. We assess the curriculum from the following perspectives:curriculum organization, teaching methodologies, the contents of curriculum and feedback mechanism. We also analyze the reasons behind the observed differences.5. The re-design of8-year medical education program curriculum in China.The main results include:1. From the comparison of different countries’medical education, it is found that medical educators from different countries hold the same ideal that medical education is the professional education. That is why many medical schools only admit graduate students. Often structured interviews are used to screen and select the candidates that are best suited to become a medical professional. The learning and teaching methods used encourage self-directed, independent learning. Accreditation and medical education quality control systems have been developed in different countries in order to standardize medical education. These experiences are useful for China’s medical educational reforms.2. From the comparison of the8-year medical education curriculum of8leading medical schools, we can see when the other7medical schools set8-year medical education program; they all referenced the curriculum of PUMC. So we can choose PUMC’s program as the representative of China’s8-year medical education. As to the curriculum design, the curricula of8medical schools are difference. The reason is that there is no consensus on the goal and standard of curriculum of8-year medical education program.3. From the comparison of curriculum of PUMC and UMMS, we can see the difference of values held by the faculty and administrators at the2schools. At UMMS, medical education is considered as professional education, so the framework of curriculum is4-year pre-medical education, followed by4years medical education. The candidate of medical education is university graduate; student-centered teaching methods are used widely. Professionalism education is highlighted throughout4years. Family medicine is a very important part of internship training. The drawback of the medical education program at UMMS might be that fact that the duration of clinical training is not enough. In order to fill this gap, there is a1-year residency-training program followed by the medical school education.4. The results of the survey of faculty’s opinion on curriculum reforms are the following:The majority (62.5%) of the surveyed persons thought that the organization should be interdisciplinary and organ-system-based or disease-based. The majority believed that active learning methods should be implemented.5. The suggested reforms of the curriculum of8-year medical education program include:(1) The8-year medical education program should be clearly defined as professional education.(2) Goal:The goals of the8-year medical education program should include educating individuals, who would become future leaders in clinical medicine, medical sciences and medical education. These goals will be attained when students have demonstrated that9requirements are satisfied.(3) High-level learning outcome:according to Bloom Taxonomy, high-level learning outcome is described as Knowledge, skill and professionalism, including20knowledge requirements,13skill requirements and11professionalism requirements. (4) It is time to implement4+4frameworks in China now with the development of higher education. The obstacle is that there are no national medical colleges admission test and PGY-1training. Before the related policies are issued and4+4framework is implemented, we can consider the framework that includes3years pre-med education,2years pre-clinical education and3years clinical training. The last year clinical training should be similar to the PGY-1training. In order to ensure medical education quality, we also designed the medical education quality control system.(5) The teaching should adopt students-centered learning methods. When we choose the teaching resources, more community institutes should be chosen, reflecting the diverse medical practice sites in China beyond hospitals. When students are being trained in hospital, more standardized patients, more simulation training, and more virtual cases should be used to cultivate students’skills and professionalism.(6) In order to achieve the curriculum goal, different assessment methods should be considered.It is recommended that the Ministry of Education and guild of medical education should develop the standard of8-year medical education program as soon as possible; this will be helpful for assuring quality of the8-year programs.