Clinical Laboratory programs in medical universities of Latin America

• Main Authors: Jenny de la Caridad Hernández Betancourt, Adolfo Luis Rojas Tur, Vilma Monteagudo-Zamora
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Las Tunas 2016-07-01
• Series: Revista Electrónica Dr. Zoilo E. Marinello Vidaurreta
• Subjects: clinical laboratory; undergraduate education; teaching-learning process; contents; abilities; competencies
• Online Access: http://revzoilomarinello.sld.cu/index.php/zmv/article/view/834

<p><strong>Background</strong>: clinical laboratory is a component of the clinical method and it is included in undergraduate education of medical studies and other university specialties.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Objective</strong>: to characterize some aspects of the curricular design of this subject in Latin American universities.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Methods</strong>: 47 study plans were perused, particularizing in 14 of the analytical programs of Clinical Laboratory as a subject. The variables used were: subject synonymy, objectives, contents, teaching organization approaches, theory and practice relationship, skills and competences declaration, and proposed evaluation techniques.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Results</strong>: contents varied and the laboratories of biochemistry, immunology and microbiology were the most frequently included in the same discipline or subject, with 100,0 %, 92,8 % and 78,6 %, respectively. The objectives “to indicate” and “to interpret” the lab tests were mentioned in all the programs, while “updating” in the new diagnostic methods appeared only in 33,3 %. The abilities were declared in 71,4 % of the programs and the general competencies in 92,8 %. There was no uniformity in the teaching organization approaches: lab practices appeared in 100,0 % of the programs, meanwhile lectures and seminars were included in 46,7 %.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: a wide curricular heterogeneity was found, revealing the need of more uniform plans, beyond the particularities of each medical university, the social context and the model of the professional the society demands.</p>