Global versus local: A regional core embryology syllabus for medical students

"Core syllabus" in this work refers to knowledge topics that an instructor should necessarily and indispensably address during a discipline. This study describes the process of developing a regional human embryology core syllabus for undergraduate medical courses in Brazil, using a two-round modified Delphi method as a tool for reaching consensus. A list of 679 human embryology topics was generated based on three textbooks. The Delphi panel consisted of specialists (n = 51) with at least 2 years' medical experience in activities related to the contents of embryology or health sciences professionals with at least 5 years' experience in undergraduate medical education of embryology and other cognate disciplines. The panel rated the relevance of each topic on a Likert scale. Following consensus analysis, a list of 69 "core" topics was obtained. Then, in a second Delphi round, the panel was asked to "accept," "accept with modifications," or "reject" the new list. The research team performed a final revision/screening process and generated a core human embryology syllabus comprised of 63 topics. Comparing this regional syllabus with two international core syllabuses also built Delphi panels, 60.3% of the topics overlap with both syllabuses, and 39.7% of its content is unique. This study can be a valuable tool for decision-making in the embryology curriculum for health courses and reinforces the importance of local evaluation of international curricula of human embryology before implementing them, since the incidences of congenital anomalies vary in different regions of the world.