ABSTRACT Background: The evolving landscapes influencing health professions education curricula highlight the need for a stronger General Education (GE) foundation fostering critical thinking, cultural competency, and ethical reasoning. In the Philippines, the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act and various Joint Administrative Orders require the integration of primary care competencies into higher education; however, no GE framework tailored for health science programs exists. Objectives: The study developed an outcome-based GE framework for health science undergraduate students in a private sectarian school in Cavite, Philippines. The required primary care competencies are integrated and mapped with the domains of general education for health science degree programs. Methods and materials: This is a research and development (R&D) design. The research phase included review of relevant administrative and legal foundations of GE curriculum, including the required competencies for health sciences students harmonized with the UHC. The development phase used the Delphi Technique. Faculty members-course designers and program administrators who met the selection criteria served as experts to superimpose the basic GE competencies against the primary care competencies, and then mapped them according to the current GE course. Two rounds of Delphi Technique were administered to validate the GE domains and courses integrated with primary care competencies. Consensus statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Fifteen competencies reached consensus, with professionalism, self-direct learning, cultural competency, application of theory in practice, and communication obtaining the highest ranking. Accountability, resiliency, advocacy, and collaboration did not meet the cut-off score but were retained as they are vital indicators of social accountability. These competencies could be introduced and practiced across existing GE courses. Conclusion: The study provides a structured GE framework that incorporates UHC and primary care competencies into undergraduate health science education. Strengthening competencies integration to GE is important for preparing adaptable, competent, socially responsive and sensitive health professionals.
Sales et al. (Fri,) studied this question.