A Critical Narrative Review of Medical School Curricula: Teaching Methods, Assessment Strategies, and Technological...

Medical education is a continuously evolving discipline that requires ongoing curriculum reform to align with the changing healthcare landscape. The increasing complexity of patient care, advancements in medical technology, and the need for physicians to possess both clinical acumen and humanistic qualities necessitate a re-evaluation of traditional medical training approaches. This narrative review critically examines the structure of medical school curricula, including teaching methods, assessment strategies, and technological integration. It explores evidence-based strategies and emerging trends to identify critical gaps and provide recommendations and areas for further research. Various teaching methods are compared and contrasted, including integrated and traditional curricula, problem-based and team-based learning, early and late clinical exposure, and interdisciplinary education. Assessment strategies examined include written exams and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), along with formative and summative assessments. The integration of technology, particularly virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), is also discussed.  For the review, we utilized SciSpace (PubGenius Inc.; https://scispace.com), a search engine that provides access to a vast collection of peer-reviewed research papers from various databases. We assessed for bias and quality, including all papers from this century that contained the relevant keywords and key phrases. A narrative critical review style was chosen for its flexibility to provide insight into the current body of literature on this topic, in contrast to an empirical systematic review that is more comprehensive.  Our findings indicate that institutions are transitioning from a traditional to an integrated curriculum. Incorporating both problem-based and team-based learning proves more effective in curriculum design. The costs and benefits of OSCEs should be weighed individually by each school to guide efficient implementation. Furthermore, both formative and summative assessments are vital. AI and VR are essential as medical education evolves and require continuous monitoring. Additionally, early clinical exposure is more beneficial for students, and interdisciplinary education fosters better patient outcomes.