An approach for developing integrated undergraduate medical curriculum

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Medical schools are to develop integrated medical curricula because the term ‘integrated curriculum’ has grown up and flourished globally and it has become mandatory to align the medical education with the global concept in Pakistan. This paper aims to present a guideline to design an undergraduate integrated medical curriculum.

Methods: Various themes are used to develop integrated curriculum which are basic medical science, simulation skills, clinical science, personality development, research, entrepreneurship and pre specialization. Each theme is subdivided, termed a module and its contents primarily focus on particular aspect.

Results: Knowledge, skill and attitude, embodied in themes or modules, are planted in specific way that they have horizontal as well as vertical integration. There is no boundary of various traditional disciplines in template of five year curriculum. For example, diagnosis is a theme which carries contents from medicine, surgery, orthopedics etc.

Conclusion: The blueprint introduced in this paper would help medical educators to draft integrated medical curricula for those institutions which intend to switch their medical programs from traditional to integrated one.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.344.14565

How to cite this:Akram A, Rizwan F, Sattar K, S Hadi JI, Meo SA . An approach for developing integrated undergraduate medical curriculum. Pak J Med Sci. 2018;34(4):804-810.   doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.344.14565

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.