Moving from policy to practice in curriculum change at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, and SUNY-Buffalo School of Medicine.

Abstract

A set of formative evaluation studies from the medical schools of the University of Virginia (UVA), East Carolina University (ECU), and the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY-Buffalo) portrays, in qualitative and quantitative terms, evidence of achievements and obstacles to the curricular reform supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Generalist Physician Initiative (GPI). In this paper, innovations in the under-graduate curriculum, a specific course, and instructional strategies are examined. Individual interviews of faculty and focus groups with students assessed opinions about curricular change at the University of Virginia. Questionnaires and focus groups provided information about the impact of course changes at East Carolina University. Questionnaires completed by students provided information of the effect of modifying the instructional strategies at SUNY-Buffalo. The obstacles to implementing change at the three schools included breakdowns in the faculty's understanding and support of change, lack of skills required to implement change, and weakness in coordinating and assessing planned change. Although the GPI catalyzed changes in the content and conduct of generalist education at the three schools, many lessons were learned that are applicable to other medical schools.