The program brought together faculty from 14 countries.

HMI and Karolinska bring together strategies for curriculum design

The Karolinska Institute played host in May to a new HMI program on curriculum design. Forty-two educators from 14 countries gathered in Stockholm, Sweden for five days of collaborative inquiry into the development of new models to support innovative curricula. The program provided a forum where an international panel of thinkers and innovators could examine in detail significant issues in the field of academic medicine today.

The program, entitled “International Design Strategies for Medical Curricula Across the Continuum,” drew in part from learning modules developed at the Harvard Macy Institute. It was directed by Elizabeth Armstrong, PhD, HMI director of education programs; Tom Aretz, MD, HMI vice president of global programs; and Vivi-Anne Sundquist, PhD, dean of education at Karolinska.

“Our major goal was for the group to investigate current and newly developed curricular models, analyze the processes through which curricula are derived, and derive new approaches to leading and managing change in medical education,” said Armstrong. “We hoped that through case studies of recent curriculum design initiatives, and by examining emerging trends in health care and education, we could stress the interdependence between the training and education of health care professionals and the anticipated demands of health care systems.”

Armstrong cited a litany of factors influencing curriculum design and challenging institutions to look closely at their academic offerings, among them advances in technology, limited resources, new patient demands, and regulatory input from governments and health care assocations, and increased access to information for patients and providers, which is making health care outcomes far more transparent.  “Course scholars examined these trends and planned new educational experiments in their institutions that should help to address some of them,” said Armstrong.

The program’s scope moved beyond the undergraduate years to capture the whole continuum of medical education.

The program incorporated a variety of interactive teaching and learning formats, including case studies with small and large group discussion, presentations, journal clubs, and consultative action planning groups. Participants were challenged to take the concepts being discussed and consider their practical application. For instance, the presentation of an innovative new model prompted discussion about how to create an organizational structure to support such a model. Likewise, a discussion of competencies for students led to the question of how to create measurable outcomes to evaluate those competencies.

The faculty also utilized scenario planning, a method for learning about the future by understanding the nature and impact of the most important and uncertain forces driving it. The participants examined their own institutional projects in light of the major trends in medical education and health care. “We wanted to encourage these faculty to look forward, at how emerging trends have the potential to shape medical education, rather than to react to changes that have already occurred,” said Aretz.

Bob Kamei, MD, vice dean of education in the Graduate Medical School in Singapore, said that the scenario planning helped him think about how this strategy could be useful in engaging learners and teachers at his school in a planning process that promotes an innovative curriculum. The school, a collaboration of the Duke University School of Medicine and the National University of Singapore, will welcome its first class of students next year. “We are very busy setting up the curriculum, recruiting students, and selecting faculty members, so having the opportunity to hear from the faculty about the issues facing international medical schools and learn about new approaches to those issues was exactly what I needed,” said Kamei.

HMI and Karolinska are already planning to offer the program next year. Check back here to find out about how to participate.

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