Tuning research competences for Bologna three cycles in medicine: report of a MEDINE2 European consensus survey

Medical curricula, like healthcare systems and medical practice, have a strong cultural component and vary considerably between countries. Increasing mobility of medical graduates, and increasing pressure to ensure they are all fit for practice, have highlighted an urgent need to establish common ground in learning outcomes at all stages of training. A research-based approach, developed by the Tuning project, was used previously by the MEDINE Thematic Network to gain consensus on core learning outcomes/competences for primary medical degrees (www.tuning-medicine.com), but no consensus was reached for learning outcomes relating to research. As part of MEDINE2, a focussed Tuning project was undertaken to explore opinions on more detailed core learning outcomes in research for all three Bologna cycles (Bachelor, Master, and Doctor). Responses from 417 stakeholders, representing 29 European and 13 non-European countries, revealed a relatively high degree of consensus. The findings strongly suggest that these stakeholders think that learning outcomes related both to ‘using research’ and ‘doing research’ should be core components of medical curricula in Europe. The challenge now, however, is to promote further local and international discussion on these issues, and to find ways of achieving these competences within the context of already crowded medical curricula.