** Poster Award Nominee

MSSM’s Curriculum Content Review Taskforce (CCRT): A Peer-Review Process to Promote curricular Integration

Nancy Kheck, Ph.D.,* Lisa Bensinger, M.D., Laurie Brown, MA, Faye Logothetis and Erica Friedman, M.D., Department of Medical Education, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10029 U.S.A.

Purpose
In compliance with the LCME mandate for periodic update of medical school curricula, we developed a peer-review mechanism to assess our curriculum across four years. The goals are to: 1) assure appropriate level of content depth and detail, 2) demonstrate that the curriculum adequately facilitates self-directed learning, 3) provide meaningful feedback to educators and oversight committees 4) create a plan for enhancing identified deficiencies, and 5) to evaluate whether the assessments mirror course learning objectives.

Method

Clinical advisory committees comprised of an educator, a clinician, and a specialist/ content expert are assigned to each course. They review the goals/ objectives, hours, formats, assessments, and focus on content areas using standardized templates to identify strengths & weaknesses in each domain. Committee recommendations are reviewed with critical feedback from course leaders and implemented by consensus of the executive curriculum committee (ECC). In ECC specific attention is focused on how core basic science knowledge, clinical reasoning skills and competencies are integrated and reinforced to prepare students for the transition to clerkship training (patient care).

Results & Conclusions

Having reviewed all pre-clerkship courses, we’ve established that this process is a vital tool for the systematic refinement of course content and strategic curricular planning. In exit surveys, course leaders reported the review was impartial (94%), thorough (88%), and provided excellent quality of feedback (71%). In narratives, they reported a sense of validation and positive outcomes from the detailed critical feedback of their advisory committees.

Future Plan:  Survey reviewers, conduct focus groups, continue clerkship reviews.