Computerization of undergraduate medical curriculum content

Abstract

A method is reported for the computerized storage and retrieval of informative summaries of the didactic portion of the first 3 years of the medical undergraduate curriculum utilizing the MICOM word processor and SORT 200 program with disc storage. Each lecture, small group session, laboratory or clinical experience summary is assigned a page of computer memory and is coded in the header line for various indices describing the session format, location, audiovisual usage, teacher and other demographics. The second line contains the lecture title and its situation within the teaching block. A summary of the teaching session follows. This was compiled and distilled from summaries prepared by the individual teachers, lecture handouts and the personal notes of the two medical students who divided the lectures equally between themselves and prepared individual summaries which were then exchanged. The resulting composite summary was returned to the teacher for comment and/or modification before entry onto the MICOM word processor. The SORT 2000 program permits search, selection and retrieval of the content of each teaching session from the data contained in the header line or any word, word segment or phase occurring in the summary. Reproduction of the data discs facilitates multiple access and allows each department or teaching block to review the complete curriculum quickly, identify redundancies and more fully integrate new or existing material.