Improving the quality of medical education through curriculum renewal is a continuous process. Medicine must always be responsive to "evolving societal needs, practice patterns, and scientific developments." As circumstances change, medical educators must understand the meaning that these changes have for medical practice and medical education, and must renew the medical student education program accordingly.

The statement of necessary attributes presented in this report and the learning objectives derived from them provide medical school deans and faculties with a frame of reference for reviewing their school's curriculum. The Association is confident that if the design, content, and conduct of a school's curriculum are guided by the set of learning objectives presented in this report, the school's graduates will be well prepared to assume the limited patient care responsibilities expected of new resident physicians and also will have begun to achieve the attributes that fully trained physicians should possess to practice contemporary medicine.

The Association recognizes that medical schools are having to respond to unprecedented changes in the ways that medical care is organized, financed, and delivered. Over time these changes could undermine the integrity, financial stability, and traditional roles of these institutions and, thereby, impede the efforts of deans and faculties to improve their education programs. We hope, therefore, that medical schools will respond to the intent of this report with some sense of urgency. Schools should consider establishing a formal process for developing their own objectives and for using those objectives to guide a review of their curricula. If curriculum changes are indicated, schools should consider whether their administrative structures and budgeting policies will support substantive curriculum renewal and, if necessary, make changes designed to serve that purpose.

The Association also recognizes that the learning objectives of an educational program are most valuable when the desired outcomes can be measured. That is, can one actually determine whether a student has achieved the objectives? At present, universally agreed upon outcome measures do not exist for all of the objectives set forth in this report. Although greater attention is now being paid to developing and implementing appropriate assessment methods, the paucity of suitable outcome measures presents a major challenge to the medical education community. Of particular importance, desired outcomes related to attitudes and values are difficult to measure. The Association hopes that the MSOP report will stimulate faculties to undertake efforts to develop assessment methods for each of the objectives set forth in this report. The AAMC will assist deans and faculties in this effort.