
To adapt to new developments in medical education, the following global standards have been considered to reform our curriculum:
- The curriculum needs to be firmly focused on the student’s preparation for clinical practice.
- The curriculum must encourage independent students learning.
- The students must learn in an integrated fashion.
- There must be alignment between the learning objectives, instructional methods, and the assessment process.
- The curriculum should take into account the students’ different learning styles.
General features of the Reformed Curriculum:
- The mission of this curriculum is to prepare physicians who will be able to meet and respond to the changing healthcare needs and expectations of the Saudi community.
- It prepares students to be lifelong learners by adopting a gradual students centered approach.
- It adopts new and internationally approved methods in medical education.
- It is run by a multidisciplinary team of expert educators and clinicians.
- It is responsive to the needs and expectations of the Saudi Arabian society.
- Its delivery is in a horizontally and vertically integrated multidisciplinary fashion.
- It uses small group and problem-based learning, which makes teaching and learning more students-centered.
- It introduces very early exposure to clinical practice where students will have hands on learning with simulated and real patients.
- It is responsive to students’ personal and academic needs.
- It utilizes an effective staff development program has been introduced.
- The curriculum will be under continuous review and improvement.
Specific new features of the curriculum:
- Years one and two have been formulated in a block system in which each block covers one functional system of the body. These blocks are designed and taught by both basic scientists and clinicians of various specialties related to the system covered.
- Each week contains two small groups, case/problem-based, and students centered sessions.
- Each week contains two self-directed independent learning sessions.
- Three new longitudinal courses have been introduced; “learning methods” in year one, “professionalism” in year two, and “ medical informatics” in year three.
- Two elective courses (student designed) have been added in the in the 4th and 5th years.
- An effective stimulated and standardized patients program has been developed and students will be exposed to it for year one.
- Well designed skill lab. Modules with clear learning objectives are integrated in the curriculum.
- An efficient e-learning system has been developed.
- Student assessment is centralized and outcome driven.
- All teaching staff participating in new methods of teaching have been and will be continuously trained by local and international experts.
Simulated and Standardized Patients Bank:
A standardized patient (SP) is a healthy person who has been carefully trained to portray the historical, physical and emotional features of an actual patient. They provide an exceptional resources for teaching, training and assessment. The training is provided by the staff of the skill lab. A bank has been established for the simulated standardized patients with their contact addresses and numbers to re-contact them whenever needed for the teaching, training and assessment sessions.
Developing policies and procedures for integrated block system examination:
The department of Medical Education has designed assessment polices and procedures for the integrated block system curriculum. The documents have been prepared in light of the best available evidence to reach a high standard for our student assessment system.
Upgrading and enhancement of skill lab center:
- Medical students in different specialties need training in different clinical skills starting from first year up to graduation.
- Skill lab is one of the simulation methods for training of medical students. Skill lab staff consists of four full time consultants, one registrar, one resident, and a researcher that participate in training of pre- and postgraduate medical students.
- The skill lab was upgraded with many new models (simulation equipment and well structured domains), which are presented and taught to students from different medical specialties like Surgery, Internal Medicine, Anesthesia and others.
Electronic resources and e-learning:
- A fully integrated learning information management system (Blackboard) has been implemented. It has teaching, collaboration, assessment, and society tools that provide the students and the tutors with a huge set of features to improve and fasten the learning process along with the relations between them. It also helps to provide a detailed outline action steps in order to analyze the needs of students and the design and development of educational material and training and then measure the effectiveness of the learning experience.
- The college has also established an e-library which contains all recommended textbooks, scientific journals, and other teaching and learning resources available online 24 hours for students and staff.