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. 2016 Oct 11:3:JMECD.S18920.
doi: 10.4137/JMECD.S18920. eCollection 2016 Jan-Dec.

Integrated Medical Curriculum: Advantages and Disadvantages

Gustavo A Quintero  1 , John Vergel  2 , Martha Arredondo  3 , María-Cristina Ariza  3 , Paula Gómez  3 , Ana-Maria Pinzon-Barrios  3
Affiliations

Integrated Medical Curriculum: Advantages and Disadvantages

Gustavo A Quintero et al. J Med Educ Curric Dev. .

Abstract

Most curricula for medical education have been integrated horizontally and vertically--vertically between basic and clinical sciences. The Flexnerian curriculum has disappeared to permit integration between basic sciences and clinical sciences, which are taught throughout the curriculum. We have proposed a different form of integration where the horizontal axis represents the defined learning outcomes and the vertical axis represents the teaching of the sciences throughout the courses. We believe that a mere integration of basic and clinical sciences is not enough because it is necessary to emphasize the importance of humanism as well as health population sciences in medicine. It is necessary to integrate basic and clinical sciences, humanism, and health population in the vertical axis, not only in the early years but also throughout the curriculum, presupposing the use of active teaching methods based on problems or cases in small groups.

Keywords: curricular architecture and development; integrated curriculum types; sciences integration.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests:Authors disclose no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Integrated curriculum architecture.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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