Introduction

Purpose of the Model Medical Curriculum

The primary purpose of Model Curriculum is to provide health professional students with essential knowledge and skills to prevent torture and ill-treatment through effective investigation and documentation of these practises using Istanbul Protocol standards. The Curriculum was developed specifically for health professional students. Practicing clinicians interested in training other clinicians on the effective investigation and documentation of torture and ill-treatment should consider additional educational material developed through the PtD Project (see generic and country-specific Training of Trainers and Training of Users materials available at: http://www.irct.org/Purpose—principles-2715.aspx [2] [1]). Health professional students should seek to complement this curriculum with other educational materials that address the broader context of health and human rights, in an effort to promote health and human dignity through the protection and promotion of human rights.

Who Are These Educational Resources For?

Medical evaluations of physical and psychological evidence of torture and ill-treatment require students to have some basic scientific knowledge and clinical experience. The Model Curriculum is most appropriate for health professional students who have already learned anatomy, physiology, pathology, physical examination techniques, and have had some exposure to clinical medicine and psychiatry or clinical psychology.

The Model Curriculum was designed to be used by instructors who wish to teach a 10 to 20 hour course and by individual students or student groups. The Modules may be applied to a number of teaching formats including, seminars, lectures, and self-study. Instructors should contact the IRCT to access materials for instructor use only.

As mentioned above, clinicians and legal experts who are already in practise and have some familiarity with the investigation and documentation of torture and wish to implement Istanbul Protocol standards using a multiple-day symposium format should access PtD materials available at: http://www.irct.org/Purpose—principles-2715.aspx [2] [1].

The overall objective of the PtD Project is to make a substantial and tangible contribution to the prevention of torture and ill-treatment worldwide by conveying knowledge and skills to health and legal professionals about systematised and high quality investigation and documentation of these unlawful acts. The PtD training format includes national adaptation of generic, international material for the training of trainers and subsequent training of clinicians and legal experts. The PtD educational materials also may be helpful to train health professional instructors who intend to teach the Model Curriculum on the Effective Medical Documentation of Torture and Ill-treatment.