SYLLABUS STRUCTURE BASED ON CLINICAL REASONING AS THE KEY COMPETENCIE

Diana Patricia Montemayor-Flores* and Nancy E. Fernández-Garza. Medicine School, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey Nuevo León, MEXICO.

PURPOSE: The design of courses based on competencies is at present increasingly frequent. But when we look for the structure of a syllabus based on competencies, what we find is a mixture of objectives and competencies. Because of this we decided to develop a structure for a syllabus based on competencies.

METHODS: In our school the CLINICAL REASONING is the key feature of the curriculum. Every one of the subjects has a clinical orientation, even those in the preclinical years. We focus our efforts in the design of a syllabus based on CLINICAL REASONING as the key competencie. We also looked for a clearly orientation of the course content to the competencies of the physicians every day activities, what is the reach of a diagnosis, the determination of treatment, prevention, prognosis and rehabilitation.

RESULTS: The structure of the syllabus based on CLINICAL REASONING as a key competencie includes: 1.- Final competencie. It is the competencie that must be reached at the end of the course. 2- Midterm competencies. These are the competencies that are reached at the end of every course unit. 3- Performance criterio. These represents the course content that must be learned to reach the competencies in every unit. 4- Portafolios. Here are the learning evidencies from every student.

CONCLUSION: This syllabus structure is very useful for the design of a course based on competencies, avoid the use of objectives and the confusion that this generates.