Evaluation of existing curriculum (2002) of undergraduate medical education in Bangladesh.

This study was conducted for evaluation of existing MBBS curriculum (2002) of undergraduate medical education in Bangladesh. The specific objectives of this study were: i) to assess the subject wise course content coverage in the new MBBS curriculum, ii) to assess different examination system for evaluation of MBBS students, iii) to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning activities under the curriculum, iv) to explore students opinions regarding improvement of new curriculum. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study was conducted among the students of Dhaka medical colleges of Bangladesh in 2008. Data was collected by self administered structured questioner adopting convenient sampling method. About ninety percent students opined that the coverage of course content of subjects in the curriculum in Phase I was enough. In case of the subjects in phase II except community medicine more than four fifth of the students expressed their opinion about coverage of course content in the curriculum as enough. In case of phase III it was mentioned by most of the students that coverage of course content was enough. Study revealed that teaching methods were perceived suitable by about three fourth of the respondents, to achieve learning objectives. Most of the students expressed their positive views regarding practice of block posting teaching. More than three fourth of the students perceived that formative assessment was encouraging for students to become time bound learner and Structured Oral Examination (SOE) was fair on an average. Only 31(8.6%) of the respondents had opinion that Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE)/Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was not well organized. About half of the students opined that 20% marks in written test should be allocated for Multiple Choice Question (MCQ). Students' suggestions regarding teaching were: there should be smaller group sessions; more interactive sessions; more clinical and practical sessions; more problem oriented sessions; more sessions with senior and experienced teachers; teachers should follow the curriculum properly; and should be well prepared for class. Regarding assessment suggestions were: written script of the formative examination should be returned to students with feedback; teachers should not be biased. Study recommended that training of the teachers on teaching methodology and assessment system is needed; teachers should provide feedback to the students according to the performance of the formative assessment at the individual level; to maintain the standards of assessment proper planning, designing, conduction and evaluation of assessment should be taken into consideration; subject wise review and updating is essential to make the curriculum more need based, user friendly and applicable considering context of Bangladesh.