Objective: The aim was to explore students' and teachers' attitudes towards horizontal and vertical integration and other components of the curriculum, and to compare these results with data from a study at our medical school published in 2002.
Methods: A questionnaire with 17 questions regarding different components of our curriculum was sent to students and staff at our medical school. They were asked to rate the importance of different components on a Likert scale from 1-6. We compared the answers between the two groups, and also compared them with the results from 2002.
Results: Horizontal and vertical integration were rated as very important components (Teachers (n=283) median 5 and 5, Students (n=596) 6 and 5 respectively). Students valued lectures and clinical rotations more highly than teachers. Teachers considered laboratory training, training in searching scientific literature, scientific projects, basic education in ethics, reading and discussion of fictional literature, interprofessional components and examinations as significantly more important than the students did.
Conclusions: Attitudes have remained positive towards horizontal and vertical integration despite major changes in the curriculum. The majority of the components of our curriculum were well appreciated, indicating that our curriculum is robust, but some components warrant inspection and possible revision.