• Home
• Executive summary
• Background
• Definitions - learning objectives, outcomes and competences
• The Tuning Project (Medicine)

• The Tuning Learning Outcomes/ Competences for Primary Medical Degrees in Europe

  Level 1 Level 2

• Comment
• Using the Tuning (Medicine) learning outcomes
• References
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C
• Acknowledgements

Comment

During the Tuning workshops the outcomes were extensively discussed and debated, latterly informed by the results of the opinion survey. This process of discussion and agreement was at the heart of the Tuning (medicine) project. For example, “Ability to provide evidence to a court of law“ was rated very low by respondents as a core outcome and so was removed as a Level 2 outcome. “Ability to provide care of the dying and their families” and “Ability to manage chronic illness”, originating in the analysis of free text response, were added.
Particular mention should be made of research and research skills. The original draft included the following Level 2 outcomes:

• Ability to design research experiments
• Ability to carry out practical laboratory research procedures
• Ability to analyse and disseminate experimental results

These were rated very low by respondents in terms of importance for all graduates as core outcomes of the primary medical degree. This gave rise to vigorous debate in the workshops and the MEDINE network. The conclusion was that under the Level 1 outcome 'Ability to apply scientific principles, method and knowledge to medical practice and research', no specific Level 2 outcomes should be included. Similarly, “Research skills”, with no further specification, is included as an outcome under Medical professionalism. This leaves it open to individual countries, schools or students to decide how to prioritise practical research experience, in keeping with their profile, educational philosophy or career intentions.
The final output of the Tuning (Medicine) Project is a set of learning outcomes/competences which draws on previous work on learning outcomes in medicine, has been generated through an iterative process of expert review and refinement, has been the subject of a Europe-wide internet-based opinion survey and subsequent analysis, and which has been approved by the MEDINE Network and an Expert Panel.