Extending community involvement in the medical curriculum: lessons from a case study

Objectives Recent reports have stressed the importance of developing medica l students' understanding of primary and community care and their ability t o work in health-care teams. Design An innovative 3-year project aimed to achieve this understanding by broadening the range of healthcare professionals and community organization s contributing to the medical curriculum. Setting King's College School of Medicine, London. Subjects Undergraduate medical students. Results Through partnerships with three local community health care trusts, non-medical health care disciplines in the teaching hospital and a range o f voluntary and statutory services, students have been introduced to a broa der spectrum of care. This has taken place both within the core curriculum and through the development of special study modules. Conclusions Involving teachers and organizations which have not traditional ly contributed to medical education raises philosophical issues around the aims and rationale of their involvement and practical issues such as gainin g curriculum time, recruiting suitable teachers and gaining credibility for the courses. We analyse the benefits and difficulties inherent in broadeni ng the curriculum in this way and assess the lessons our experience provide s for the future expansion of such learning, both locally and nationally.