A Medical Student’s Guide to Improving Reproductive Health Curricula – V. What Next?

Goal: Maintain and strengthen curriculum improvements.

Actions:

• Keep in touch with your core group. Make sure group members and other allies are kept abreast of progress and challenges.
• Maintain contact with ARHP and MSFC so they can continue to provide assistance and support your work.
• Make sure that students are providing feedback on the changes with course or seminar evaluations. Use the information from the evaluations to further improve the curriculum and to reinforce the improvements you have made.
• Give encouragement and support to any faculty member or administrator who has implemented improvements in an existing course. Write letters of support and notes of thanks. Emphasizing your appreciation for their commitment to include reproductive health information in their courses will maintain good rapport.
• Continually recruit new students to “carry the torch” in pushing for future improvements. Identify and involve those who will be motivated and effective leaders.
• Document the history of your curriculum improvement efforts. Make it available to future students via campus organizations and archives, and please send copies to ARHP and MSFC as well. Include the following information to help others: What steps would make it easier for future students to upgrade or change the curriculum as needed? What barriers might future students encounter? Who are the key players to work with?
• Communicate to key decision makers the popularity and continued need for the lecture or course by sending evaluations, updates on the number of students educated, etc.
• Let decision makers know that it will reflect positively on the school to continue and expand teaching of women’s health topics.
• Keep working toward increasing levels of curriculum improvement.