A predoctoral curriculum in family medicine

Development of a new discipline, such as family medicine, requires careful definition of scope and purpose. This must be followed by delineation of specific education objectives. The teaching program is often carried out by people experienced as clinicans but not as teachers and requires selection of methods most natural to this kind of faculty. This article describes the current stage of curricular development at the institution with the longest experience in predoctoral family medicine in the United States. Based on seven years' experimentation, this paper provides an overview of the philosophy behind this particular curriculum and describes, in brief, four educational methods which have proven useful. These methods will be discussed in greater detail in subsequent articles focusing on specific educational objectives, illustrative examples, and evaluative methods.