AMEE guide No. 14: Outcome-based education: Part 2-Planning, implementing and evaluating a competency-based curriculum

Abstract

In September, 1996, Brown University School of Medicine inaugurated a new competency-based curriculum, known as MD2000, which defines a comprehensive set of competency requirements that all graduates are expected to attain. The medical students entering in 1996 and thereafter are required to demonstrate mastery in nine abilities as well as a comprehensive knowledge base as a requirement for graduation. Faculty use performance-based methods to determine if students have attained competence. We describe in this article the reasons why we developed the new curriculum, how we planned and structured it, and the significance we anticipate the curricular innovation will have on medical education.