Objectives for an internship internal medicine: from the Dutch Blueprint (Raamplan 1994) to implementation into a practical logbook

Background: The Dutch Blueprint 1994 (Raamplan 1994) describes the objectiv es of undergraduate medical education. The Blueprint, developed in order to improve medical education in the Netherlands, is accepted by all Dutch med ical schools and has been legislated Aim: Translation of global objectives of the Blueprint into specific requirements of a Logbook (guideline and eva luation tool) far the internship Internal Medicine. Description: The Bluepr int as such is impracticable as a guideline during the Internal Medicine in ternship. The content covers the objectives for the entire field of medicin e, and the volume dedicated to Internal Medicine is too large to fit in wit h a twelve week internship. The practicability of the Blueprint leaves much to be desired because it is complex, and not easily accessible. So, the Bl ueprint was adapted on three points: (1) selecting those objectives out of the whole content, which are specifically relevant to Internal Medicine; (2 ) decreasing the volume Internal Medicine by clustering and defining the re quirements; (3) making the Logbook usable as a guideline and evaluation ins trument. Conclusion: The Logbook is a good starting-point to evaluate wheth er students meet the objectives of the Blueprint related to the discipline internal Medicine. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.