Charles E. Engel

Medical Education with a Difference

Abstract This paper discusses the new five‐year undergraduate medical course at the University of Newcastle in Australia. Extensive examples are included to illustrate the analytical approach which has led from the specification of programme objectives to the design of a course with complete integration of the basic and clinical sciences from the beginning to the end of the course. Lectures are replaced by individual and small group learning centred around a carefully designed sequence of medical problems. Projects in the community are designed to lead to the attainment of specified competences in relation to problems of groups in the population. In addition, educational experiences in interviewing, physical examination, special investigation and therapeutic intervention techniques, as well as competence in design‐measurement‐analysis‐reporting in medical practice and research are integrated with problem‐based learning. Students see patients in hospitals and in the community from the beginning of the cour...

Ratings of performance of graduates from traditional and non-traditional medical schools

We compared clinical supervisors’ ratings of intern competence in Newcastle University graduates (whose medical school emphasizes community relevance and interpersonal skills) and in medical graduates of the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales, which have more traditional curricula. A 12‐item anchored supervisor rating scale was used to assess the professional competence of 428 interns on five occasions throughout the intern year. Data analysis was performed using two factors of clinical competence and personal characteristics, as well as an average annual total score, linear regression analysis was employed to estimate the adjusted effects of age, sex, and graduating university on the three scores. All three scores were higher for interns who graduated at younger than 25 years, irrespective of university of graduation or sex. Women scored higher on average than men, and Newcastle graduates were rated significantly better on average than Sydney University graduates for the personal characteristics ...

ASSESSMENT OF MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A NEW CURRICULUM

ABSTRACT Special care has been taken to promote the educational merit of assessment for students in the new undergraduate medical curriculum at Newcastle University. The main challenge to academic staff has been to develop methods of assessment which are reliable and valid indices of competence within the constraints of the educational programme objectives. Among other things, considerable attention has been given to the assessment of sciences basic to medicine through assessment instruments developed from clinical problems ‐ by no means an easy task.

Assessment — Help or Hurdle?

Abstract Assessment of student progress and achievement may support or weaken the educational goals of an institution. This paper describes the assessment methods developed so far to support the undergraduate education programme in the Faculty of Medicine at Newcastle, New South Wales. Formative assessment designed for frequent, informal diagnostic feedback to the student is an integral part of the various learning experiences. It requires further development to be a useful guide to the required depth of study. It aims to assist students to integrate and apply their studies. Summative assessment is required for certification and as a formal indicator of cumulative learning. A great deal of effort has been devoted to relate it to higher level intellectual competence, to keep it open to student criticism, to take account of individual rates of learning and to use it diagnostically.

Assessment of Independent Learning

In this series, we print evaluation instruments, questionnaires, rating scales and similar resource materials useful to teachers, evaluators and planners. You may wish to adapt such instruments for your own purposes. The feature in this issue has been prepared by Grahame I. Feletti, Nicholas A. Saunders, Anthony J. Smith and Charles E. Engel. Further information is available from Charles E. Engel.

THE EVOLUTION AND IMPACT OF PROGRAMME EVALUATION IN A NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL

ABSTRACT While the purpose, theory and method of evaluation of educational programmes are well‐documented, there is little published evidence on the actual evaluation of higher professional educational programmes and their outcomes. This paper outlines the background and development of programme evaluation in a new institution of higher professional education. It outlines current programme monitoring activities and their effects, and identifies the urgent and feasible tasks to be undertaken in the methodologically difficult and politically sensitive area of outcome evaluation.

Clinical Supervisor's Report

In this series, we print evaluation instruments, questionnaires, rating scales and similar resource materials useful to teachers, evaluators and planners. You may wish to adapt such instruments for your own purposes. The feature in this issue has been prepared by Nicholas A. Saunders, Charles E. Engel, and Grahame I. Feletti from whom further information is available.