Developing and Implementing Curricular Objectives for Sexual Health in Undergraduate Medical Education: A Practical...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Curriculum Development
• Sexual Health

Background:

• Medical students identified significant gaps in the existing sexual health curriculum at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine (FIU HWCOM) in 2014.
• A review and update of the curriculum were initiated using Kern's model for curriculum development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop longitudinal sexual health curricular objectives for undergraduate medical education (UME).
• To align developed objectives with newly published UME sexual health competencies.
• To identify curricular gaps and redundancies within the FIU HWCOM medical school curriculum.

Main Methods:

• Reviewed existing specialty- and organization-specific sexual health objectives.
• Utilized an iterative process with clear criteria and stakeholder feedback to develop feasible objectives.
• Mapped institutional course activities and assessments to the developed sexual health objectives.

Main Results:

• Developed 12 adaptable sexual health curricular objectives for undergraduate medical education.
• Identified specific gaps and assessment weaknesses within the FIU HWCOM curriculum.
• Initiated content modification with stakeholder support to address identified gaps.

Conclusions:

• The developed sexual health objectives are adaptable for other institutions.
• New assessments, particularly within the clinical curriculum, are necessary to evaluate these objectives.
• Future improvements will be guided by learning outcome data and the potential development of sexual health-related entrustable professional activities (EPAs).