Design, assembly and validation of a low-cost, high-fidelity simulator for heart exploration.

Introduction: Heart exploration is an essential clinical competence that requires continuous training and exposure. Low availability and accessibility to patients with heart disease constitutes a barrier to acquiring this competence. Inadequate cardiac auscultation skills in medical students, residents, and graduate physicians have been documented.

[Diagnostic assessment of knowledge and competencies in medical students at the end of the second year of medical school: the challenge of building an airplane while it's flying].

Introduction: In Latin America there is almost no published information about knowledge retention and formative assessment of competencies in medical students, during medical school training and curricular changes.

Objective: To assess knowledge level and clinical competencies in medical students at the end of the second year in a new curriculum.

Methods: Observational, cross-sectional study in UNAM Faculty of Medicine students.

[Clinical competence evaluation using the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in medical internship at UNAM].

Introduction: The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a widely used measurement tool to assess clinical competence in the health sciences. There is little published evidence of its use in Mexican medical schools.

Objective: To assess clinical competence in medical students with an OSCE, before and after the Medical Internship.

[The 2010 curriculum of the faculty of medicine at the National University of Mexico].

The 2010 undergraduate medical degree curriculum at the faculty of medicine of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) constitutes an important curricular reform of medical education in our country. It is the result of an institutional reflective process and academic dialog, which culminated in its approval by UNAM’s Academic Council for the Biology, Chemistry, and Health Sciences areas on February 2nd, 2010. Some distinguishing characteristics of the new academic curriculum are: organization by courses with a focus on outcome competencies; three curricular axes that link three knowledge areas; four educational phases with achievement profiles; new courses (biomedical informatics, basic-clinical and clinical-basic integration, among others); and core curriculum.

[Academic guidelines for the creation of a medical school curricula in Mexico].

Medical training curricula is a constantly evolving field. The objective of the present study is to analyze the changes the field has undergone. Our sources of information include demographic and health surveys, surveys carried out with students and faculty members and medical school guidelines from prestigious teaching centers.