Needs assessment and evaluation are vital components in curriculum design

Sir,

I congratulate Bhatnagar[1] for helping in arranging the workshop on medical education in transfusion medicine and for writing the same. Transfusion medicine is an important specialty, and therefore any action that enhances the quantity and quality of trained specialists in it will be worthwhile. While the description of the workshop describes many important processes in the development of medical education, some of them have been missed out, which are worthy of our focus.

First, the primary step in any medical education program must be need assessment. Need assessment must be wide-ranging; it must contain subjective and objective measures and must be both quantitative and qualitative. Need assessment must look at the needs of the population, the trainee, and the institution with respect to transfusion medicine. If a need assessment is done thoroughly and properly, it will serve as a sound foundation on which transfusion curriculum can be built.

Second, although the author described how the curriculum would be developed, there was no mention of how the curriculum would be evaluated. If need assessment is the first step in medical education provision, then evaluation is the final step; however, it is none the less very important. The curriculum needs to be evaluated to ensure that the training was delivered, that competent specialists were produced, and that curricular goals were met. The evaluation then feeds into the development of the next iteration of the curriculum.

Medical education initiatives of the type described have the potential to transform healthcare, and when the initiatives are carried out to the highest standards, their outcomes will undoubtedly be most effective and efficient.