Developing an Inclusive Scholarship Curriculum for Medical Students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Curriculum Development
• Scholarship Skills

Background:

• Washington University School of Medicine initiated a curriculum renewal in 2020.
• The goal was to create an integrated curriculum, the Inquiry Curriculum, for medical students.
• This curriculum aimed to facilitate exploration of four academic career pathways and engagement in scholarship activities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the process of developing learning objectives for the Inquiry Curriculum.
• To share lessons learned from the initial implementation of the curriculum.
• To focus on foundational scholarship skills applicable across all academic pathways.

Main Methods:

• A modified Delphi process surveyed 24 faculty experts across the four pathways.
• Faculty reviewed and refined 48 initial objectives based on Glassick's scholarship criteria.
• Oversight committee review and session lead revisions resulted in 77 unique objectives for 23 sessions.

Main Results:

• Twenty-eight objectives met consensus after two rounds of the Delphi process.
• The Inquiry Curriculum launched in spring 2021 with 77 objectives.
• Student feedback highlighted opportunities for diverse problem-solving approaches, targeted objective levels, and useful structure from Glassick's criteria.

Conclusions:

• The curriculum framework provides exposure to various health care problem-solving methods.
• Glassick's criteria offered a valuable structure for understanding curriculum content.
• The curriculum demonstrated natural overlap with other essential topics like evidence-based medicine and health equity.