Development of medical knowledge content for problem-solving competencies through dialogue with the undergraduate medical education community in Japan

Background: Discrepancies existed between the medical knowledge sections of the Model Core Curriculum for Medical Education (MCC) and the Guidelines for the National Examination for Medical Practitioners (GNEMP) in Japan. These discrepancies have been one of the underlying factors hindering the development of learner-centered medical education in the country. The project team responsible for the 'Problem-Solving' section of the MCC aimed to address discrepancies between the disease lists in the MCC and the GNEMP.

Method: We refined the disease list for the 2022 revision of the MCC using a three-phase process: (a) procedure development, (b) selection, and (c) adjudication. First, we developed a scoring system for sifting and prioritizing diseases in the GNEMP, selecting those that met our scoring criteria. An expert adjudication panel then finalized the list of diseases through discussion.

Results: Among the 1,456 diseases identified in the GNEMP, 781 met the selection criteria. The adjudication panel selected 56 of these diseases to be newly added to the 2022 MCC, resulting in a total of 691 diseases.

Conclusions: The list of diseases defined as required medical knowledge in the MCC was finalized through dialogue among medical education stakeholders, effectively minimizing discrepancies between the MCC and GNEMP.