Curriculum MappingCurriculum MappingA View from the GMCA View from the GMC

Professor Peter McCrorieHead of the Centre for Medical and Healthcare Education

St George’s, University of London

GMC Visitor (HYMS, Liverpool, UCL, Leicester, Cambridge)

The purpose of the GMC The purpose of the GMC visits to Medical Schoolsvisits to Medical Schools

• visit institutions to ensure that undergraduate teaching is appropriate

• inspect examinations to make sure that the standards expected at qualifying examinations are maintained and improved

Aims of the QA ProcessAims of the QA Process

• ensure that the outcomes in Tomorrow's Doctors are met

• identify examples of innovation and good practice

• identify, discuss and resolve issues of concern• identify changes that need to be made and a

timetable for their introduction• promote equality and diversity in medical

education

Objectives of the ProcessObjectives of the Process

• monitor changes to curricula, assessments, staffing• formally approve new courses• identify, discuss and resolve issues of common

concern in UME• produce evidence-based reports on whether schools

meet the requirements in Tomorrow's Doctors• identify examples of good practice• recommend to the Privy Council the addition or

removal of an institution which is allowed to award a primary UK medical qualification

What does the GMC What does the GMC understand by the term understand by the term “Curriculum Map”?“Curriculum Map”?

• The term wasn’t around when the QABME process began

• The first visits were pilots for the subsequent “live” visits

• The GMC continually updates the QA process, in response to feedback

• The term “curriculum map” has gradually crept into usage during the last 2 years

The GMC slant on The GMC slant on curriculum mappingcurriculum mapping

• It has come to mean several different things

• Different Visiting Teams may well be using the term in different ways

• The latest institutions being visited have been asked specifically for a curriculum map in their QABME submission

• The earlier institutions were not

• Hence there is much confusion!

1. an overall diagram of the whole course

• a broad timetable of the 4/5/6 year programme

• a course outline, laid out in years and blocks of teaching, in nice, pretty colours, to make it easy for the visitors to get a broad view of the whole course

Year 1   Year 2   Year 3

Introductory course   Specialty Placement 2:   SSC contd.  

      29 - 35 students per group*   Senior GP, Palliative Care

      GP* /Community/SDL*      

Cambridge Medicine   29-35 students per group      

1 day GP     Life 5: Major Adult Diseases   75 students per group*

      Major Adult Diseases:     OSPE (sum.)

1 day GP     Cardiothoracic   Senior Medicine

38 students per group*   Infection/GU        

Clinical Method 1   Oncology essentials      

Regional Medicine            

1 day GP              

      Specialty Placement 3:      

1 day GP     29 - 35 students per group*      

38 students per group*   Life 6: Psychiatry   50 students per group*

Holiday     Holiday     Holiday  

               

Regional Surgery   Elderly, Neurosciences,   Preparing for Practice 10

1 day GP     Rheumatology, Orthopaedics   Senior Surgery

      (ENRO)        

1 day GP              

38 students per group*   Specialty Placement 4:      

Clinical Method 2   29 - 35 students per group*      

Cambridge Surgery   GP* /Community/SDL*      

1 day GP     29-35 students per group      

      Life 7: Paeds & Women's Health      

1 day GP     Psychiatry     50 students per group*

38 students per group*         Holiday  

Clinical Method 3         Acute Care  

MCQ/OSCE (formative)   Holiday        

Holiday              

               

Stage 1 SSC     Specialty Placement 5:      

      29 - 35 students per group*      

      GP* /Community/SDL*      

      29-35 students per group      

      Life 8: Paeds & Women's Health   50 students per group*

Womens' Health   Self-directed Study     Self-directed Study

      Final MB I Path, Clin Paed, O&G   Final MB Part II

      Holiday      

            F1 (PRHO) Shadowing

Specialty Placement 1:         Graduation  

29 - 35 students per group*   Final Year SSC   Holiday  

GP* /Community/SDL*   Elective        

29-35 students per group            

Life 4: ENRO              

Holiday              

            F1 (PRHO) Post

               

Growth / Development   Preparing for Practice 9      

Childhood illness   Cambridge Specials SSC      

               

      75 students per group*      

2. A Search Tool2. A Search Tool

• A VLE resource which the Visitors can access so that they can find where specific curriculum components occur in the curriculum

…….. and what might they .. and what might they search for?search for?

• Disciplines such as anatomy, psychology, medical ethics, public health

• Topics which are likely to appear throughout the curriculum such as cancer, infection, hormones

• Specific topics such as eye movement, immunosuppression, breaking bad news, penis envy

HullYorkMedicalSchool

3. Checking out the 3. Checking out the spiral curriculumspiral curriculum

• A key educational principle is that learning is enhanced if it is re-iterated and revisited several times

• It is also enhanced if it is extended and taken to a higher level each time it is visited

• Hence the importance of a spiral curriculum

Examples?Examples?

• A curriculum map showing how students build up their learning in a sequence such as DNA → genes → oncogenes → cancer → staging → clinical features → treatment → oncology → palliative care → dying

And another …And another …

• Epithelial cells → skin → eczema → atopy/allergy → infections → airway damage → wheeze → asthma → history-taking and examination → respiratory function tests → treatment → use of inhalers → compliance → living with a chronic disease → social effects → status asthmaticus → emergency treatment

University of East Anglia

Check if a topic is taught, Check if a topic is taught, missing or is being missing or is being taught unnecessarilytaught unnecessarily

• The GMC has stipulated the inclusion of certain topics

• They also talk about factual overload

• A curriculum map would help to check out the balance between inclusion and exclusion

Brighton Sussex Medical School

Check against Check against Tomorrow’s DoctorsTomorrow’s Doctors

• Another use of a curriculum map is to match an institution’s curriculum outcomes with Tomorrow’s Doctor outcomes

• There is a specific section in the QABME submission on this

• Ditto for GMP

PeninsulaMedicalSchool

SummarySummary

• The GMC uses a curriculum map for a range of purposes

• This includes:– a course outline– a search tool– check spiralling of the curriculum– check omissions and excesses– check institution adhering to

Tomorrow’s Doctors