Revision of “Introduction to General Medicine” Based on the Six-Step Curriculum Development Process

Abstract

Objective: Based on the six-step curriculum development process proposed by Professor Schneiderhan et al., the course needs, the cognition, and course summative assessment results, combined with the career preferences and work value orientation of clinical medical students undertaking the course “Introduction to General Medicine” were surveyed. Methods: A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect information on the course cognition, course summative evaluation, and professional inclination of 233 junior medical students majoring in clinical medicine undertaking the course “Introduction to General Practice.” An analysis was conducted to provide a basis for curriculum revision in accordance with the structured composition of the curriculum development process. Results: (i) In terms of course cognition, before the course, 67.0% of students were unaware of general medicine and general practitioners, 73.0% of students had never participated in practical activities (including volunteer work), and 53.6% of students expressed interest in the course; there were significant differences in the growth environment, the frequency of participation in club activities, the cognition of general medicine/general practitioners before the course, participation in practical activities (including volunteer work), attentiveness to the current situation of medical treatment, and the interest toward the course (P < 0.05); multi-factor logistics analysis showed that the factors influencing the interest toward the course include growth environment, frequency of participation in club activities, course cognition, participation in practical activities, and attentiveness to the current status of development of medical treatment. (ii) The course summative assessment results showed that 91.8% of students felt that it is necessary to learn this course, 33.9% of students felt that the most important thing in the course is to learn the theoretical knowledge of general medicine and related diagnosis and treatment skills, 53.2% of students felt that the most unfavorable factor affecting the learning of this course is the lack of interest in general medicine, and 64.4% of students hoped for more clinical practice to understand and participate in the work of general practitioners; paired t-test revealed differences in career preferences before and after the course (P < 0.05); after the course, more students thought that general practitioner is an ideal career option. (iii) The results showed that 58.8% of students had considered their future specialty but did not have specific goals or plans, while 21.9% had considered their future specialty and had clear goals; there was a significant difference in professional inclination between genders as well as those who were attentive to the current state and development of medical treatment in our country and those who were not (P < 0.05); with regard to the scores of importance in terms of the influencing factors of professional inclination, interest and possibility of professional development scored 3.92, ranking first, followed by income, which scored 3.91, and career prestige, which scored the lowest (3.62). Conclusion: Based on the needs assessment of clinical medical students, it is important to focus on improving students’ interest in general medicine, especially their cognition and professional understanding of the course before the course itself, in addition to the development of relevant practical activities, and their attentiveness to the current state and development of medical treatment. The summative assessment results suggest that the implementation of this course has a positive influence on the career preferences of clinical medical students to a certain extent. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the course content with the development of general medicine, so as to stimulate students’ interest in self-driven learning and in general medicine. This will attract more students whose work value orientation is influenced by interest and possibility of professional development to choose general practitioner as their future professional inclination.