Curriculum Enrichment Across the Medical Education Continuum Using e-Delphi and the Community Priority Index

To describe the use of the e-Delphi combined with the Community Priority Index (CPI) to support medical curriculum enrichment.

This mixed-methods study was conducted from December 2017 to May 2018 at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. First, a nominal group identified a topical list. Second, to refine the curriculum content and achieve consensus, an e-Delphi was implemented with healthcare experts regarding the following target cohorts (N = 40): transformed postbaccalaureate premedical scholar students, medical students, clinical fellows, and junior faculty. Third, the CPI incorporated multicriteria decision making and calculation of standardized prioritization scores (range 0-1) with bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Among transformed postbaccalaureate premedical scholar students, medical students, and clinical fellows, the e-Delphi-CPI system's highest ranked topic was in the domain of leadership skills and competence for transformed postbaccalaureate premedical scholar students (CPI 0.87, 95% CI 0.58-0.94), medical students (CPI 0.85, 95% CI 0.36-0.91), and clinical fellows (CPI 0.86, 95% CI 0.32-0.92), respectively. For junior faculty, the highest ranked topic was introductory research methods (CPI 0.90, 95% CI 0.65-1.00). In each cohort, the top three ranked topics also contained leadership skills and competence and introductory research methods. The system ranked practical issues in health disparity as the third most valued domain among transformed postbaccalaureate premedical scholar students.

The integrated e-Delphi-CPI system identified the highest ranked options across all of the domains and established comparability across cohorts. We recommend the e-Delphi-CPI system to advance medical curriculum enrichment processes.