How to Design and Implement a Structured Curriculum in Health Professions Education: A Nine-Step Framework Building on Kern's Approach

Abstract

Structured approaches to curriculum development help improve coherence between learning objectives, teaching strategies and assessment in health professions education [1, 2]. Kern's six-step model is widely used to guide curriculum design and implementation [3]. However, implementation, sustainability, faculty engagement and dissemination are not always explicitly addressed in curricular projects [4, 5]. Building on Kern's framework allowed integration of these complementary dimensions while maintaining a familiar structure for educators. This article proposes a practical nine-step framework informed by the medical education literature, including perspectives related to educational scholarship and dissemination [6].

The integration of theoretical grounding may support greater coherence between learning objectives, educational strategies, implementation planning and evaluation processes. Similarly, explicit consideration of sustainability and dissemination may facilitate longer-term integration of curricular projects within institutional environments and contribute to scholarly dissemination and shared curricular knowledge [17].

The framework also emphasizes the importance of iterative evaluation and adaptation during implementation. This perspective is consistent with contemporary approaches in implementation science and quality improvement, which highlight the value of continuous feedback and contextual responsiveness in curriculum implementation [18, 19].

Several limitations should be acknowledged. The framework was informed by a narrative rather than a systematic review and has not yet been formally evaluated across different health professions education contexts. In addition, its transferability across different educational contexts remains hypothetical and requires further empirical exploration.

Future research should examine the usability, perceived utility and applicability of the framework across diverse curricular and institutional contexts, as well as its potential impact on learner and programme outcomes [20].

This nine-step framework builds on Kern's model to provide a practical and structured approach to the design, implementation, evaluation and long-term integration of curricular projects in health professions education.

Émile Escourrou: conceptualization, investigation, writing – original draft, methodology, formal analysis, writing – review and editing, validation, resources. Stéphane Oustric: visualization, supervision.

The authors have nothing to report.

Ethical approval was not required for this methodological article, as it does not involve human participants or identifiable data.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.