Teaching science throughout the six-year medical curriculum: Two-year experience from the University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia

Abstract

Objective. e aim of this article is to present the introduction of a mandatory, vertically integrated course in research methodology into medical curriculum. At the School of Medicine in Split (Croatia) we organized this course in 2010, with the total of 270 hours in the 6-year curriculum. In the rst year (50 hours) students learned basic principles of scienti c method, structure of scienti c article, basic statistical concepts, data analysis, interpretation and presentation. In the second year (25 hours) students applied the knowledge from the rst year in real examples of research data to answer a research hypothesis and present the results and conclusions. Students were guided through the process of making a hypothesis, analyzing data, interpreting them, constructing tables and gures, and writing a short research report. At the end of the course they formally presented the results to other students and course teachers, using PowerPoint slides. e third year (25 hours) was devoted to mastering concepts and basic skills of evidencebased medicine (EBM). e course in the fourth year (25 hours) was integrated with the clinical courses (internal medicine, neurology, and psychiatry) and structured as a "journal club". In the h year (25 hours), the teaching was devoted to developing a research plan for the graduation thesis that the students had to conduct during the sixth year. e sixth year (120 hours) was devoted to the execution of research planned in the h year, including data collection, data analysis, interpretation, and thesis writing and defense. Conclusion. e new course succeeded in increasing students' knowledge and skills for critical thinking and EBM, and prepared them for life-long learning in medicine.

Teaching scientific principles in undergraduate medical education – a scoping review on international examples

“…Presenting scientific results (N = 10) and student research projects (N = 10) were also part of publications identified in this review. Teaching interventions varied lengthwise, from three hours of workshop (24) to full-grown vertically integrated study programs (25)(26)(27)(28).…”

Cochrane and its prospects in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Relying on Cochrane Croatia

“…The requests for curricular changes issued by the European Commission were answered by shaping the Split curricula into an original blend of traditional pre-clinical and clinical subjects with several vertically integrated subjects focusing on mastering clinical skills, professional attitudes, information management and critical, as well as evidence-based reasoning and decision making (17). Marušić et al have found that the new course succeeded in increasing students' knowledge and skills for critical thinking and EBM, and prepared them for life-long learning in medicine (18).…”

Ways to address the challenges of a modern medical curriculum: Living academic medicine at the University of Split, School of Medicine

“…Medical education at the tertiary level has been in existence since 1979 in Split, initially as a branch of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine and since 1997, as an independent School of Medicine within the University of Split (1). Establishing and developing new medical school is a long, laborious and expensive process, requiring not only infrastructural prerequisites, but also highly motivated and educated human resources.…”