Challenges in the implementation of competencies in the preclinical years of medicine: Academic factors

Abstract

Alicia Cea Bonilla, Patricia Herrera Saint-Leu, María Teresa CortésGutiérrez, Mónica B Aburto Arciniega, Aurora Farfán Márquez,Ileana Petra Micu

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the challenges presented in the attempt to change from a traditional teaching of medicine to one that introduced the competencies in basic sciences. Methods: For this purpose our interdisciplinary group of teachers designed some strategies and materials that were utilized by professors of five basic disciplines and were evaluated by strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis methodology. Moreover, were presented here as challenges, solutions and what we learned. Results: Among the challenges identified we found the predominance of traditional teaching; complexity and duration of the strategies employed; students’ opposition to participate in extracurricular activities, and the need to design appropriate instruments to assess competencies in large groups of students. Conclusions: To answer this situation we proposed workshops for teachers in competencies, supervised by experts to achieve a new model of teaching based on competencies.