Overview
Curriculum Development for Medical Education is designed for use by curriculum developers and others who are responsible for the educational experiences of medical students, residents, fellows, and clinical practitioners.
Short, practical, and general in its approach, the book begins with a broad overview of the subject. Each succeeding chapter covers one of the six steps: problem identification and general needs assessment, targeted needs assessment, goals and objectives, educational strategies, implementation, and evaluation. Additional chapters address curriculum maintenance, enhancement, and dissemination.
The six-step approach outlined here has evolved over the past twenty years, during which time the authors have taught curriculum development and evaluation skills to faculty and fellows in the Johns Hopkins University Faculty Development Program for Clinician-Educators. Program participants have used the techniques described to develop curricula on such diverse topics as preclerkship skills building, clinical reasoning and shared decision making, outpatient internal medicine, musculoskeletal disorders, office gynecology for the generalist, chronic illness and disability, geriatrics for nongeriatric faculty, surgical skills assessment, laparoscopic surgical skills, cross-cultural competence, and medical ethics.
This thoroughly revised edition includes a broad discussion of competencies mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and other bodies, current information on education technology, increased emphasis on scholarships related to curriculum development, and advice on obtaining institutional review board approval. Updated examples throughout the book illustrate major points. The expanded appendixes include samples of complete curricula and information on funding, faculty development, and curricular resources.
The book contains black-and-white illustrations.
Editorials
Bill Weaver
This book provides a description of an educationally sound six-step procedure for curriculum development, with curriculum defined as planned educational experiences ranging from one session in a specific course to an entire training program. The authors' attempt throughout is to present the procedure with applicability to the medical education environment. Although not stated explicitly, this book is targeted primarily to faculty who are responsible for leading curricular reform but who are not trained in educational methodology. Particular features of the book that will make it valuable to a large audience are: examples of poorly-written and well-written objectives; information on cognitive functions; examples of objectives and instructional methodologies to achieve the various levels; description of various evaluation designs and strategies; the uses, strengths, and limitations of various evaluation methods; and questions that help to identify the most appropriate evaluation method(s). An important component of the book, so often ignored in actual practice, is attention to the many facets that are essential in maintaining the curriculum, even after issues have been addressed at implementation. This book is based on several years of experience and offers curriculum development workshops. It is buttressed with current but selected literature. While it provides little that would be new to professional educators, it is a valuable contribution to the educational understanding of the medical faculty for whom it is intended. Sound rationale is provided for each step in the process, and reasonable conditions are outlined under which a step may be by-passed with impunity. In short, theauthors have included much that is valuable and have left no glaring omissions. Moreover, this book is timely in this era of heightened interest in curriculum review.Booknews
Provides a practical approach to developing, implementing, evaluating, and continually improving educational experiences in medicine. The authors present six steps to curriculum development: problem identification and general needs assessment; needs assessment of targeted learners; goals and objectives; educational strategies; implementation; and evaluation and feedback. The text is designed primarily for program directors. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.From The Critics
Reviewer: Susan Lenoch, MA(University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine)Description: This guide to curriculum development provides a practical overview of instructional design applied to medical education. This is an update of the 1998 edition.
Purpose: This book achieves its purpose of providing practical, theoretically sound advice on curriculum design in medical education. While there are other books on curriculum design, this one is unique in its application to medical education, specifically discussing the issues and educational methodology pertinent to this field.
Audience: It is intended for anyone involved in curriculum development in medical education, but it is suitable for a wider audience in health sciences. The authors have years of experience teaching curriculum development.
Features: All phases of curriculum design, from needs assessment to evaluation, are covered. Needs assessment is approached in two phases: characterizing a particular healthcare problem, then targeted learners. The chapter on goals and objectives explains differences between learning objectives and other types of program objectives, a distinction that is important in curriculum design and one that often confuses faculty. The chapters on educational strategies and evaluation provide guidance in aligning methods with objectives, a key principle of curriculum design. The book continues with practical advice that is often neglected: implementation and curriculum maintenance. The chapter on dissemination encourages planning for sharing and promoting innovations. The appendixes provide example curricula and an extensive list of resources in addition to the general references in each chapter.
Assessment: I am not aware of another book devoted to curriculum design in medical education. This one provides broad practical guidance and updated content reflecting developments in education since the 1998 edition. Some chapters are less effective than others. Approaching needs assessment through analysis of a healthcare problem is useful when one has an agenda to target a particular healthcare concern. Indeed, the scope of the book makes it particularly well suited for designing a campaign to tackle a public health problem involving many types of targeted learners with different needs. It is more difficult to apply this approach to the design of a broader professional education program (e.g., a whole course). The authors provide a useful primer on an objectives-based, experimental/quasi-experimental approach to evaluation, but do not begin to address other evaluation questions. Surprisingly, there is virtually no discussion about the logic model approach; some guidance on this current thinking would be desirable even if beyond the scope of the book. (Logic Modeling Methods in Program Evaluation, Frechtling, John Wiley & Sons, 2007.)
Family Medicine
This excellent educational guide is a concrete step-by-step approach to creating a rotation or curriculum in medical education.Teaching and Learning in Medicine
Thoughtful, to the point, and an excellent primer for faculty members who find a curriculum development project in their duties and responsibilities.4 Stars! from Doody