Overall, they appear enthusiastic about the changes that have been undertaken and are sensitive to the cumulative nature of the change process from which each class will incrementally benefit. In any renewal undertaking, the learning methods of a new curriculum can over time drift away from the overall philosophy of learning and learning principles upon which the curriculum is based. The organ system approach is useful in organizing information into relevant but different chunks within each system, but important relationships among systems can become lost if integrative aspects of systems are not included. The use of modules help define learning into manageable units of instruction, but like the organ system structure, it requires increased planned communication between module faculty so that module learning can become more seamless and progressive. Phase 1 and 2 material also may require increased planned communication to ensure the proper balance of curriculum load and emphasis.
Module quality is highly variable.
This can be expected in a new curriculum, but support for faculty who still struggle with these new formats requires attention. I and II is not always obvious to the students. A great deal of attention has been paid to reforming the curriculum in the first two years, but curricular improvement in the third year should be a major focus in coming years. To achieve this goal, it will be critical to gather more specific data about clerkship quality across different sites. As a part of the regular reexamination process for the Program in Medicine curriculum, a review of the individual components should be undertaken to ensure they remain consistent with the principles of learning upon which the renewal was based.