Breaking barriers: a competency-based framework for promoting the integration of the pediatrician's education.

OBJECTIVE To describe the process of integration and revision of a pediatric program curriculum which resulted in the creation of a competency-based framework recommended in the Brazilian National Curricular Guidelines. METHODS Quali-quantitative analysis of an intervention evaluating the students and professors' perception of the pediatric program curriculum (focus groups and semi-structured interviews). Results were discussed during teaching development workshops. A competency-based framework was suggested for the pediatric program from the 3rd to the 6th year. The new curriculum was approved, implemented, and reevaluated six months later. RESULTS Twelve students (12%) from the 3rd to the 6th year participated in the focus groups, and 11 professors (78.5%) answered the questionnaire. Most participants reported lack of integration among the courses, lack of knowledge about the learning goals of the internships, few opportunities of practice, and predominance of theoretical evaluation. In the training workshops, a competency-based curriculum was created after pediatrics and collective health professors reached an agreement. The new curriculum was focused on general competency, learning goals, opportunities available to learn these goals, and evaluation system. After six months, 93% (104/112) of students and 79% (11/14) of professors reported greater integration of the program and highlighted the inclusion of the clinical performance evaluation. CONCLUSION The collective creation of a competency-based curriculum promoted higher satisfaction of students and professors. After being implemented, the new curriculum was considered to integrate the teaching practices and contents, improving the quality of the clinical performance evaluation.