Lessons Learned in Curriculum Development: A New Perspective

Abstract

Curriculum development is traditionally a faculty responsibility. However, students and residents can also conceptualize, implement, and evaluate curriculum. This issue of Dilemmas in Palliative Care Education highlights a studentinitiated second-year elective entitled the “Preceptorship on End of Life Care” at Louisiana State University School of Medicine. Rather than describe in detail the structure and methods of this course (as course materials have been accepted by the End of Life Physician Education Resource Center: kwww.eperc.mcw.edul), the authors were asked to reflect on their three years of experiences with this elective and write about the critical issues that they faced in the process of curriculum development, implementation, and sustaining change as student leaders graduate. In order to insure that the authors’ energy, vision, and passion for end-of-life education were retained in their writing, only limited editorial changes were requested. As you read the article by Taylor et al., I hope that you, like I, will breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there is a group of “soon-to-be MDs” who are ready and able to advance the quality of end-of-life care through education. I encourage you to share the Taylor et al. article with your students and residents to show them that curriculum change can be effected through student–faculty collaboration.