Abstract
The authors discuss the development and proceedings of a highly structured conference at which 17 representatives from diverse non-medical groups and 14 medical educators from one medical school identified objectives needing greater emphasis in the medical curriculum. The conference emulated industry’s use of consumer advisory panels. Using the nominal group technique, a group process used in business, the non-medical group developed independently a priority list of areas in which physicians might be better educated to serve society. The medical educators then joined the non-medical group to discuss and clarify the concerns given highest priority. The authors describe subsequent initiatives by the medical school to address aspects of the general concerns raised by the non-medical group. The conference represents an approach to seeking input from non-traditional sources in the development of the medical curriculum.
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Received from the University of Pennsylvania Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Turner, B.J., Burg, F.D. A consumer/medical educator conference. J Gen Intern Med 1, 323–327 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02596213
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02596213