The use of multidisciplinary consensus groups in the planning phase of an integrated problem-based curriculum

In response to the General Medical Council's initiative to reform UK medical undergraduate education only a minority of medical schools have developed entirely novel curricula. Although the experiences gained by these schools in curriculum design and planning have not been recorded in the literature they are likely to be of interest to other medical schools still contemplating course revision. The medical school at the University of Liverpool recently launched an integrated problem-based course differing radically from its predecessor. The General Medical Council considered integration of contributing disciplines one of the most important aims of reform, yet courses that integrate independent component disciplines may be perceived by staff as threatening due to the loss of structure and disciplinary autonomy. Strategies for early course development must take account of these concerns as well as dealing with the identification of course content. A multidisciplinary consensus group process, designed to combat some of these problems, was employed to identify the learning objectives and core content for the new course. The purpose of this paper is to describe, first, the processes employed to identify the core palliative care component for a new PBL curriculum and secondly, how these objectives were integrated horizontally and vertically throughout all course elements.