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The Sydney University Medical Program: highlights and lessons

Kerry J Goulston and R Kim Oates
Med J Aust 2012; 196 (2): . || doi: 10.5694/mja11.10329
Published online: 6 February 2012

The formula for reform works, but is the next review already overdue?

In 2008, we reported our review of the Sydney University graduate medical program.1,2 When the program was introduced 11 years previously, it was innovative, with emphasis on helping students to solve problems and to think critically about what they were learning rather than to memorise lists of facts. In 2005, the Australian Medical Council (AMC) reviewed the program and awarded the maximum 10-year accreditation. However, the AMC also suggested a number of actions, including reviewing the role of problem-based learning (PBL) in the final 2 years of the course, reviewing some areas of assessment, providing a renewal process that allowed for flexibility and innovation within the defined outcomes, and reviewing the complex system of committee structures.


  • Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.



Acknowledgements: 

We thank Bruce Robinson, Dean, Sydney Medical School, Tessa Ho, Associate Dean, University of Sydney Medical Program, and the team appointed to implement the recommendations — Michael Frommer, John Mitrofanis, Chris Dennis, Leo Davies and Karen Scott.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. Goulston K, Oates K. Review of the University of Sydney Medical Program. Sydney: University of Sydney, 2007.
  • 2. Goulston KJ, Oates RK. Changes to the University of Sydney medical curriculum. Med J Aust 2008; 188: 461-463. <MJA full text>
  • 3. Ramsey-Stewart G, Burgess AW, Hill DA. Back to the future: teaching anatomy by whole-body dissection. Med J Aust 2010; 193: 668-671. <MJA full text>
  • 4. Medélez Ortega E, Burgun A, Le Duff F, Le Beux P. Collaborative environment for clinical reasoning and distance learning sessions. Int J Med Inform 2003; 70: 345-351.
  • 5. Davis MH, Harden RM. Planning and implementing an undergraduate medical curriculum: the lessons learned. Med Teach 2003; 25: 596-608.

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