Developing an "evidence-based medicine and use of the biomedical literature" component as a longitudinal theme of an outcomes-based medical school curriculum: Year 1

This paper describes the new outcomes-based curriculum at the University of Miami School of Medicine, a model curriculum for the first decade of the twenty-first century. The new curriculum has a strong emphasis on evidence-based medicine (EBM), implemented throughout its four years as a component of one of its longitudinal themes. The "EBM and Use of the Biomedical Literature" component, which begins at orientation, was developed and is implemented by the Louis Calder Memorial Library, the center of EBM focus and activity for the curriculum and other initiatives at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. The authors are unaware of any published reports of library-centric EBM initiatives as part of a longitudinal theme of a four-year outcomes-based curriculum. Other innovations of the EBM component in the new curriculum to date include use of Blackboard™ and CATmaker™ software programs for self-paced, interactive educational opportunities.