Acquisition of learning outcomes by students from the Medical School of the University of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain): a student survey.
BACKGROUND
In 2001, in order to improve the curriculum, the medical school of the University of Barcelona began discussions aimed at defining specific learning outcomes for its medical graduates and, subsequently, evaluating the acquisition of these competencies.


OBJECTIVE
To report the views of our medical students regarding the extent to which they have acquired the learning outcomes previously defined by the faculty.


METHODS
A questionnaire was administered to seventy final year students, who had finished all the course clerkships and they were asked to indicate on a Likert scale their perceived level of acquisition of each learning outcome.


RESULTS
Overall, the students report an adequate level of competency and consider themselves able to meet skills targets under supervision in eight of the eleven domains investigated. In three of the domains (patient management, medical information search skills, and decision-making skills and clinical reasoning and judgment) students regarded themselves as only partially competent. These results agree with the global course score of the students, according to the medical school assessment system.


CONCLUSIONS
The results will allow us to make curricular and methodological changes in order to implement a new outcome-based curriculum.
Palés
Jorge
J
University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. jpales@ub.edu
Gual
Arcadi
A
Gomar
Carmen
C
Estrach
M Teresa
MT
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003625:Data Collection; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013030:Spain; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*