PROFESSIONALISM

HOW TO MATCH THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS IN UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL CURRICULUM?

Abstract

Objectives: This paper describes a practical and valid technique for curriculum
audit of professionalism theme of an MBChB programme in a UK medical school. The objective
was to match the learning outcomes of professionalism covered in an MBChB course, with the
guidelines laid by the GMC in Tomorrows Doctors 2003. The benefit being to determine the
issues that needs to be addressed in response to the GMC Tomorrows Doctors 2009. Study
Design: A qualitative study design. Period: 2011. Setting: University of Glasgow. Methods: To
analyse the learning outcomes set out in the curriculum documents. All the statements from
the explicit curriculum, and the GMC recommendations in Tomorrow’s Doctors (2nd and 3rd
Editions) were noted and the individual statements were entered into the NVivo software. A
purposive sampling procedure was undertaken to identify “professionalism” in the Year 1 and 2
MBChB curricula and the Tomorrows Doctors, and a comparative content analysis completed.
Results: The coverage of learning outcomes related to professionalism was between 10-20%,
scattered throughout the course in different domains of the MBChB, giving a balanced weight
to each outcome. Conclusion: The professionalism theme of the MBChB course has covered
all the learning outcomes of the Tomorrows Doctors in almost exactly the same frequency as
suggested by the GMC according to the course requirements of Year 1 & 2. However, the
MBChB course needs to be slightly modified to align it with the new guidelines by the GMC.