Background: The revision of the curriculum of the German Network for Evidence-based Medicine aimed at an inter-professional curriculum to enhance competences in evidence-based decision making (EBDM) in both healthcare professionals and lay people to facilitate informed shared decision making in healthcare.

Objectives: To develop a theory-based core curriculum in ebdm for healthcare professionals and lay people.

Methods: We developed the curriculum based on Kern’s Six-Step Approach for curriculum development: (i) Problem identification and general needs assessment involved the conduct of a scoping review on existing curricula. (ii) Targeted needs assessment involved the exploration of experiences with ebdm, learning objectives, topics of interest, preferred course formats, and barriers of the target groups using questionnaires with open-ended questions. We involved students from the fields of medicine, dentistry, nursing, physiotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy. (iii) Goals and objectives were consented and defined by experts through workshops and online conferences.

Results: 19 systematic reviews were included in our scoping review. However, no satisfactorily evaluated curriculum could be identified. 284 students from various fields were surveyed. Student-defined objectives extended our pool of objectives. For consensus-building, 2 workshops and 2 online conferences involving 29 experts were conducted. The experts represented all targeted health professions. The curriculum comprises 6 core modules: 1. Introduction to EBDM 2. literature searching, 3. diagnostic studies, 4. interventional studies, 5. systematic reviews and guidelines, and 6. shared decision making. Consensus on goals and objectives was reached by discussion.

Conclusions: This is the first time such an innovative, multi-professional approach has been undertaken. The curriculum will now be pilot tested.