Health Profession Curriculum and Public Engagement

Health profession curriculum development and implementation is a dynamic process that requires balancing of many factors. Foremost is the need to ensure students master the requisite competencies to satisfy accreditation agencies and registration bodies regarding quality and safety to practice. In addition, there is a need to ensure that academic standards are maintained so as to satisfy the requirements of relevant qualifications. There is also the need to ensure adequate supervision for students placed in health service work environments. Finally, and very importantly, there is a need to ensure that curriculum content, delivery, and learning outcomes meet the health needs and aspirations of the general community as well as the various health professions.

In this chapter, we review contemporary understandings of public engagement in health professional curriculum, including the various roles that members of the public can and do play in assisting students to navigate the challenge of moving from theory into practice. Consideration is given to the extent to which different models of public engagement empower members of the public to influence curriculum decision.

In the final section, we contemplate ways in which the emerging digital age may change the landscape with a resulting rethink of public engagement in health profession curriculum. Increasingly the general public will have high levels of digital literacy and come to health care professionals not for knowledge and content, but for advice about managing this data.