A Stakeholders Approach for Curriculum Development of Master’s Degree in Molecular Diagnostics

BACKGROUND: Curriculum development is a multi-processing activity that involves many academic and professional stakeholders. In order to detect the curriculum components, it is very helpful to determine the needs and expectations of the stakeholders concerning the graduate’s competencies. The main objective of this work is to develop a curriculum for a master’s degree in molecular diagnostics based on a survey of key stakeholders and according to the requirements of accreditation and certification, while maintaining its relevance with the rapidly advancing diverse techniques. METHODS: Experts and supervisors including professors of molecular diagnostics at the various universities and consultants and supervisors at health-care centers performing molecular testing were surveyed to assess their expected cognitive and psychomotor molecular skills from a master’s degree graduate. A validated questionnaire that included demographic information, current practiced molecular techniques, the level of expected expertise, and the educational requirements for each. RESULTS: Thirty-six respondents, mostly with a doctorate degree and more than 10 years’ experience, have successfully completed the questionnaire. More than 60% of the participating laboratories are commonly used or planned to be used within the next five years. About 57.4% required expert and familiar with skills and concepts. In general, the overall score of skills expectations was 2.8±5 0.out of four. The practice level for molecular techniques was in favor of a master’s degree (53.8%). The level of skills expectation is very high for the specific managerial and quality activities with an overall value of 3.7±0.3 out of four. CONCLUSION: We gathered information on the standard requirements of the professional practice and on its anticipated future directions through surveys and interviews with the professional practitioners and educators to develop a curriculum for a master’s degree in molecular diagnostics. The two major messages from the stakeholders are that both cognitive and psychomotor skills of the mentioned molecular techniques are required for the program and there is a need to include extensive laboratory training during the courses.