title: Deliberative curriculum inquiry for integration in an MD curriculum: Dalhousie University's curriculum renewal process.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dalhousie University's MD Programme faced a one-year timeline for renewal of its undergraduate curriculum.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Key goals were renewed faculty engagement for ongoing quality improvement and increased collaboration across disciplines for an integrated curriculum, with the goal of preparing physicians for practice in the twenty-first century.
  
  
  METHODS
  We engaged approximately 600 faculty members, students, staff and stakeholders external to the faculty of medicine in a process described by Harris (1993) as 'deliberative curriculum inquiry'. Temporally overlapping and networked intraprofessional and interprofessional teams developed programme outcomes, completed environment scans of emerging content and best practices, and designed curricular units.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The resulting curriculum is the product of new collaborations among faculty and exemplifies distinct forms of integration. Innovations include content and cases shared by concurrent units, foundations courses at the beginning of each year and integrative experiences at the end, and an interprofessional community health mentors programme.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of deliberative inquiry for pre-med curriculum renewal on a one-year time frame is feasible, in part through the use of technology. Ongoing structures for integration remain challenging. Although faculty collaboration fosters integration, a learner-centred lens must guide its design.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioethics, Dalhousie University, PO Box 15000, Halifax NS B3H 4R2, Canada. Lynette.Reid@dal.ca
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Macleod
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Byers
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Delva
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fedak
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marrie
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Merritt
authors.forename: Christy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D006126:Group Processes; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D009674:Nova Scotia; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D016730:Program Development