Perceptions Of Medical Teachers About Integrated Curriculum: A Qualitative Study

Curriculum is a plan of educational experiences and activities offered to a learner. Curricular reform is a dynamic process. To make a curricular change impactful the curriculum needs to be accepted and followed by all stakeholders otherwise it will be unsuccessful. Change is not readily accepted as evidence suggests that there have been frequent curricular reforms but with little change in medical education. Evidence suggests that teachers agree for upgrading themselves towards recent trends in the field of medical education. In light of these facts perceptions of medical teachers of AJK Medical College were evaluated for the purpose of identification of issues and continuation of this process.

Qualitative study design was used. Study setting was AJK Medical College; duration of study was six months from February 1 to July 31 2014. The interviews conducted with the help of a semi structured guide were recorded, and all the recordings were then fully transcribed. Transcripts were read several times by investigators separately to select units of significance and identifying themes..

Four themes namely curricular design, integrated curricular implementation, teacher's issues and student's issues were identified. Regarding integrated curriculum teachers think that it should be continued in the institution. Teachers believe that proper training is mandatory for the integrated curriculum to be successfully implemented.

It is concluded that teachers should be aware of universal practices in medical education, and the curriculum of their university. Teacher's training is mandatory for implementation and continuation of this curricular reform.