The New University of Colorado Medical School Curriculum: A Pediatric Perspective

The University of Colorado School of Medicine has developed an innovative 4-year undergraduate curriculum. As a strong advocate for education and curriculum reform, Dr M. Douglas Jones Jr. created an environment for pediatrics to flourish in this new curriculum. Pediatric content has increased in all years of the curriculum, and pediatric faculty have had greater opportunities to teach and seek career development in medical education. In this report, we review the process that led to curriculum reform, provide an overview of the new curriculum design, and highlight examples of the positive impact this process has had on education in pediatrics. We hope that sharing our experience, may benefit others in medical education.

CBD, Clerkship block director, CITF, Curriculum Improvement Task Force, FOD, Foundations of Doctoring, ICC, Integrated Clinician Course, MSA, Mentored scholarly activity, OSCE, Observed structured clinical examination, PBL, Problem-based learning