Curricular development and modification involve first identifying a problem and then performing a needs assessment, which can guide the design of curricular components. Pedagogical changes, coupled with reductions in curricular time for gross anatomy, pose challenges and impose restrictions within medical school curricula. In order to make anatomy…

Preparing medical graduates who are competent to work in a global environment requires broad integration of international and intercultural perspectives throughout the medical curriculum. Employing Leask and Bridge's "conceptual framework of internationalisation of the curriculum," this article first highlights the emphasis placed on…

The need for medical school leadership in continuing medical education is discussed and a program at the University of California at Los Angeles is described. Designed to provide community primary care physicians with a dependable source of high quality courses, the program provides a total review of medicine if regularly attended over a…

Some 35 years ago, Gerard K. O'Neill used the large context of space travel with his undergraduate physics students. A Canadian physics teacher, Art Stinner, independently arrived at a similar notion in a more limited but, therefore, more generally useful sense, which he referred to as the "large context problem" approach. At a slightly earlier…

A survey of American medical school preventive medicine curricula found more emphasis on teaching and evaluation of students in areas of clinical preventive services and quantitative methods and less emphasis on community services and health services organization and delivery. Written tests and unstructured observation were the most common methods…

Discussion of faculty development and integration of prevention into medical school curriculum considers sound educational models, role of the institution, faculty development activities (including program components, processes, needed expertise, and barriers to participation), and faculty rewards and recognition. (DB)

With new schools, expanded enrollments and changing curricula, the character of medical education is rapidly changing. (Editor/JR)

Discusses the importance of teaching preventive medicine and presents a set of core competencies in preventive medicine for undergraduate medical education recommended by a 1997 task force of medical educators. Also reviews the Medical School Objectives Project, which describes in broad terms the knowledge, attitudes and skills students must…

A survey of 142 U.S. and Canadian medical schools compared medical school curricula since 1991, especially in schools moving to the new interdisciplinary format. Thirty- five schools had retained preventive medicine teaching as a separate course; 25 schools integrated preventive medicine concepts into many courses; and 10 schools appeared to have…

Several medical schools have sponsored courses on medical aspects of nuclear war, and faculties of medical schools conducting or considering such courses have many questions about the organization of their teaching. A survey of U.S. schools of medicine presentations of nuclear war-related subject matter is discussed. (MLW)

Recent work has emphasised the relevance of evolutionary processes to medical thinking and practice. However, medical curricular revisions, in reducing basic science content, have often excluded evolution. This study establishes the extent of inclusion of evolution in UK medical courses, reports on the level of medical student rejection of…

Testimonies and articles, letters, and statements from a congressional hearing of the U.S. Senate concerning nutrition education in medical schools are presented. The hearing was held to ascertain the present status of nutrition instruction in U.S. medical schools, to determine the need for such instruction, and to identify problems with…

The Interdisciplinary Generalist Curriculum Project was developed to encourage schools of medicine and colleges of osteopathic medicine to implement interdisciplinary generalist curricula in the preclinical years. Five sites were competitively established as demonstration projects, and rigorous attention to creating and maintaining an…

A method to assist in curriculum planning and its application at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine is presented. Content elements appropriate for inclusion in a family medicine curriculum for medical students are identified. Priorities were assigned to content elements. (Author/MLW)

Ten articles on teaching the history of medicine at a medical center and commentaries on the articles are presented. Articles and authors include the following: Introduction (Jerome J. Bylebyl); "The History of Health and Disease for Health Professionals: The Case Study Approach" (Gert H. Brieger); "Medical History and Medical Humanities: Some New…