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Several recent developments affecting graduate medical education (GME) have kindled an interest in curriculum. For the most part, however, GME curriculum is being conceived in terms of behavioral learning objectives. The authors find this approach to curriculum ill-suited for the reality and complexity of housestaff training. Several other approaches are considered but none, they conclude, fits well with the mission of GME. Instead, they propose a more comprehensive experiential conception of curriculum for GME. This approach stems from an experiential learning paradigm and a commitment to curriculum as an expression of valued activities rather than of predetermined objectives. Taking as an example a curriculum for an ambulatory care block rotation, the authors show how an experiential curriculum can be developed and how it can be used to frame the residents' rotation, including patient care and didactic program.

This book is too good to hurry. I was at first disappointed as I had misunderstood that it would address itself more exclusively to postgraduate issues, my chief domain. Its 36 chapters pertain to the education of the so termed “beginning practitioner”, defined as “the level of competence and stage of preparation the graduate has achieved on entry to their profession”. However, as the sections were unveiled, it was apparent from the scope of the book that it had intended to address comprehensively …