Assessing undergraduate medical education through a generalist lens

Medical schools aim to integrate the values of generalism into their undergraduate programs. However, currently no program has been described to measure the degree to which formal curricular materials represent generalist principles.

To quantify the generalism principles present in undergraduate medical education learning materials and to provide recommendations to enhance generalism content.

A review of the literature and accreditation documents was conducted to identify key elements of medical generalism. An evidence-informed tool, the Toronto Generalism Assessment Tool, was developed and applied to the new preclerkship undergraduate cases at the University of Toronto in Ontario. The findings regarding the presence of generalism principles and recommendations to enhance generalism content were provided to case developers. The recommendations were valued and were incorporated into subsequent iterations of the cases.

This is the first report of a successful evidence-informed program to assess the degree of generalism reflected in undergraduate medical education curricular documents. This program can be used by other institutions wishing to review their curricula through a generalist lens.