The challenge of reform: 10 years of curricula change in Italian medical schools

Abstract

Italy has a long history of versatility in medical training in which the tension between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ is a recurrent theme dating from the origins of the first European medical faculties in Bologna in the eleventh century. Italian medical schools are currently undergoing widespread reforms building on two decades of concerted efforts by medical educators to move from traditional teacher and subject-centred degree programmes to integrated student-centred curricula. European higher education policies have helped drive this process. A challenge in these developments is that the adoption of integrated and outcomes-based curricula in medicine requires a discursive shift in teaching practices. While investment in teacher training is essential, it is also important for educational leaders in medicine to communicate a compelling vision of the type of health professional medical schools are aiming to produce. Systematic educational research should accompany this transition to evaluate the process and gauge sustainability. Investigation should also examine how external influences and pressures are calibrated and adapted to the national context and epistemology. The adoption of a common international vocabulary to describe educational processes means Italy will be able to participate more fully in the European medical education debate in future.

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Notes on contributors

Huon Snelgrove

HUON SNELGROVE, Educational Consultant, I Faculty of Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome.

Giuseppe Familiari

GIUSEPPE FAMILIARI, Head of Medical Degree Course, II Faculty of Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome; Regional Coordinator (Latium) of the Italian Society of Medical Education (SIPeM).

Pietro Gallo

PIETRO GALLO, Head of Medical Degree Course ‘C’, I Faculty of Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome; President of the Italian Society of Medical Education (SIPeM).

Eugenio Gaudio

EUGENIO GAUDIO, Head of the Medical Degree Course ‘A’, I Faculty of Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome

Andrea Lenzi

ANDREA LENZI, Head of Medical Degree Course ‘D’, I Faculty of Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome; President of the National Committee of Medical Degree Course Heads; President of the National University Council.

Vincenzo Ziparo

VINCENZO ZIPARO, Dean of the II Faculty of Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome.

Luigi Frati

LUIGI FRATI, Dean of the I Faculty of Medicine, President of the National Committee of Medical Degree Course Deans and Vice Chancellor of Sapienza University of Rome.