Medical education worldwide is shifting towards a competency-based approach. Medical curricula need to be revised to ensure that learners acquire the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes by the end of their studies. In Switzerland, competency-based learning outcomes are defined in the Profiles document. While these outcomes are standardized across Switzerland, individual medical schools have the flexibility to design their own curricula.

This PhD project explores different components of curriculum design: Developing a taxonomy of teaching methods, designing a coaching curriculum for large medical schools, evaluating the effectiveness of a longitudinal Clinical Reasoning curriculum, and medical students’ preparedness for clinical work at the end of undergraduate education.

Overall research question: How can medical curricula be designed to effectively teach relevant competencies?

• Study I: Development of a taxonomy of teaching methods based on existing teaching methods reported in the literature, and gaining insight how they can be applied to health profession education.
• Study II: Development of a coaching program for medical students and investigating its feasibility for large medical schools.
• Study III: Investigating the learning outcomes of a newly introduced clinical reasoning curriculum, grounded in a case-based learning approach.
• Study IV: Investigating how well students feel prepared for clinical work towards the end of undergraduate education.

Medical Faculty, University of Zürich

Medical Faculty, University of Zürich

Prof. Dr. med. Dominik Schaer, Vizedekan Lehre Klinik und Leitender Arzt, Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin, USZ, Universität Zürich

Dr. Sharon Mitchell, Dr. Felix Schmitz, Prof. Dr. Dr. Sören Huwendiek, Dr. Daniel Stricker

PhD candidate: Lucia Weber (Master of Science in Psychologie), IML University of Bern and Medical faculty, University of Zurich
Thesis Advisor: Prof. Dr. phil. Sissel Guttormsen, IML University of Bern
Co-Thesis Advisor: Prof. Dr. med. Dominik Schär, USZ, University of Zurich
Co-Referee: Prof. Dr. Anders Sondén, Senior Lecturer, Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm

External project partners:
Dr. med. Christian Schirlo, Leiter Studiendekanat, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften und Medizin, Universität Luzern

Dr. med. Dr. sc. Stefan Gysin, Studiengangsleiter Joint Medical Master, Fakultät für Gesundheits-wissenschaften und Medizin, Universität Luzern

Dr. med. Jonas Florin, Leiter klinische und praktische Ausbildung Joint Medical Master, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften und Medizin, Universität Luzern