Outcome-based national profile of Mexico's medical graduates

Introduction: In countries such as Mexico, outcome-based education has flourished only in a few schools. The Mexican Association of Medical Schools committed to defining a set of national outcomes and standards for all Mexican medical graduates. Methods: During the XLVIII ordinary national meeting of this association, 120 faculty members and deans of medical schools worked collaboratively and identified, by consensus, the preliminary version of the national outcomes and minimum essential requirements, as a means of defining the national outcome-based profile for Mexican medical graduates. Results: The nine outcomes are: (1) clinical skills; (2) communication skills; (3) public health and health systems; (4) scientific bases of medicine; (5) information management; (6) critical thinking and research; (7) teaching skills; (8) administrative and legal aspects of medical practice; and (9) values, attitudes, professionalism, and ethics. Conclusion: The deans and faculty members of the Mexican medical schools are well aware of the diversity in the quality of medical education offered by different schools. The preliminary version of a national set of outcomes has been defined, and a final version will be created during the next national meetings of the Association. The greatest challenge however, will be its implementation into a new educational model in each school.