Objective To explore the differences of
curricula setting of
medical students in
China and the
United States ,and the enlightenment for
medical education in
China .
Methods The
curriculum of the 8-year
students in Grade 2010 of
Peking University was compared with the
schedule of
medical students in the same grade at the Pittsburgh
University ,specifically for the number of
courses ,the distribution of
courses ,the
training of innovative
abilities ,and the doctor-
patient communication courses .All the data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0,and t test and
chi-square test were used for
statistical analysis .Results The total number of
courses in the two
medical schools was
similar .The number of study weeks per year for
Peking University was (41.6 ± 8.7) weeks while that of Pittsburgh
University was (39.6 ± 8.5)weeks,without statistically significant difference (t =1.414,P=0.200).
Courses of both
universities were distributed from comprehensive
courses to medical
courses and from basic
courses to clinical
courses ,and the professional
courses were
similar .Innovative
ability training and doctor-
patient communication education were reflected in the
curriculum of both
universities ,but the
training courses of the
University of Pittsburgh began earlier and the form was more flexible.Among them,there was a total of 47
learning hours of the doctor-
patient communication lecture in
Peking University while the number of Pittsburgh
University was 140
learning hours,including
lectures and
communication with standard
patients and real
patients .The difference was statistically significant (~=67.45,P=0.000).Conclusion After more than 20 years of
medical education reform,the
curricula of
medical students in
China have basically reached the level of
developed countries .Professional
courses are
similar to those of
medical schools in
developed countries .However,it is still necessary to strengthen the cultivation of innovative
ability and medical
humanities education .