Simple surgical audit: an aid to undergraduate curriculum development.

This study investigates the usefulness of a simple surgical audit in designing the undergraduate surgical curriculum in the newly established medical school of the United Arab Emirates. The audit system was designed for use by people previously unaccustomed to this activity. The pattern of disease is found to be biased towards a young male expatriate population. It has been possible to predict the likelihood of a particular disease being available for teaching purposes and has drawn attention to the relative absence of some conditions which are commonly found elsewhere. Allowances need to be made for this and teaching strategies other than those which require direct patient contact should be considered. This method of curriculum design may find use in other places where health care patterns are changing.