Moving a mountain: Practical insights into mastering a major curriculum reform at a large European medical university

<p><b>Aim:</b> Undergraduate medical education is currently in a fundamental transition towards competency-based programs around the globe. A major curriculum reform implies a dual challenge: the change of the curriculum and the delivering organization. Both are closely interwoven. In this article, we provide practical insights into our approach of managing such a fundamental reform of the large undergraduate medical program at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> Members of the project management team summarized the key features of the process with reference to the literature.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Starting point was a traditional, discipline-based curriculum that was reformed into a fully integrated, competency-based program. This change process went through three phases: initiation, curriculum development and implementation, and sustainability. We describe from a change management perspective, their main characteristics, and the approaches that were employed to manage them successfully.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Our report is intended to provide practical insights and guidance for those institutions which are yet considering or have already started to undergo a major reform of their undergraduate programs towards competency medical education.</p

Additional file 4: of The chronically inflamed central nervous system provides niches for long-lived plasma cells

Supplementary methods. (PDF 133 kb

Additional file 5: Figure S4. of The chronically inflamed central nervous system provides niches for long-lived plasma cells

BAFF-positive B cells and plasma cells in the inflamed CNS. Mice were immunized and boosted (day 28) with rhMOG. Analysis of spinal cord was performed during peak after boost. The fluorescence signal of DAPI (blue), BAFF (red), kappa/lambda (κ/λ, upper panel green) and B220 (lower panel green) is shown. A plasma cell is indicated with an arrow. Three mice of two independent experiments were analyzed. Scale bars represent 50 μm. (TIFF 20356 kb

Additional file 1: Figure S1. of The chronically inflamed central nervous system provides niches for long-lived plasma cells

Non-proliferating CD138+ cells in the brain of patients with other inflammatory neurological diseases (OND). DAPI (blue), CD138 (green) and Ki67 (red) were stained in the CNS of patient biopsies with other neurological diseases (OND, n = 4) as indicated on the left. Representative images are shown. White arrows indicate Ki67+ CD138+ cells. Scale bars represent 50 μm. (TIFF 14779 kb