How to review a medical curriculum

A curriculum is an important component of a medical program because it is the source of information that learners, teachers and external stakeholders use to understand what learners will experience on their journey to recognition as a medical graduate. While many focus on and debate the content of a medical curriculum, with some suggestions that there should be national curricula for each jurisdiction or even a global curriculum for all medical programs, the curriculum content is only one factor to consider when designing, revising or accrediting a curriculum. Just as important are the alignment with the program’s mission and health workforce needs, the presence of agreed graduate outcomes, the theoretical bases of the curriculum, the prior learning of commencing students, the curriculum implementation models, the assessment of student progress and program evaluation processes. This paper presents a framework for this more holistic approach to reviewing a curriculum, proposing triangulation of information from several sources – documents, websites, learners, teachers and employers – and considering several accreditation standards that impact on curriculum design and delivery.