Designing and Implementing a Medical Student Procedures Curriculum

Recent medical school graduates are expected to have procedure skills that were mastered during undergraduate training. Many new physicians report inadequate preparation for procedures and are uncomfortable performing them unsupervised. A framework for teaching procedures has been described; however, a formal curriculum based on this framework has not yet been presented. Based on 8 years of curriculum development and experience with over 900 students, we present the design and implementation of a successful clinical procedures curriculum, highlighting a series of important issues for educators to consider when implementing such a clinical training program. Student participation and outcomes data are presented within the framework of this longitudinal curriculum implemented at our institution.