Reforming Medical Curriculum While Ignoring Examinations

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabyasachi Sircar

Successive national initiatives in India to improve the medical curriculum are plagued by the lack of objective data that can help grade the existing quality of medical education. Without such quantitative data, which can be conveniently obtained through national exit exams, it is infructuous to embark upon curricular reforms. The results of the national exit exams must serve as a starting point for all subsequent reforms.

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 238212051988684
Author(s):  
Anthonio Adefuye ◽  
Matthew Benedict ◽  
Johan Bezuidenhout ◽  
Jamiu O Busari

Background: The adoption of community-based medical education (CoBME) into the undergraduate medical curriculum is in line with the SPICE model for medical curriculum proposed by Harden and colleagues. Students are the consumers of medical education and are, thus, the ideal evaluators of the efficacy of their own course and learning environment. To evaluate the quality of the CoBME programme in Botshabelo District Hospital (BDH), this study investigated student’s perceptions of their experience during their CoBME training at BDH. In addition, suggestions on how to enrich students’ experience during the CoBME posting were obtained from the participants. Methods: This research was designed as a qualitative (ethnographic) study that used a structured questionnaire, to obtain written statements from 120 fourth-year undergraduate medical students describing their experience during their CoBME training at BDH. The structured questionnaire in the form of an evaluation form was self-administered, consisted of only open-ended questions grouped into 4 main sections and was distributed manually (hard copy) to the participants. Results: Of the 120 questionnaires distributed, 84 were returned, giving a response rate of 70.0%. When asked to indicate what they liked or disliked about their CoBME training, ‘Good educators/staff’ and the ‘Poor attitude of some doctors’ were the themes that scored highly (25.1% and 19.4%) in the ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ category, respectively. Some of the major challenges faced during the CoBME training at BDH included: exposure to new learning environment (14.2%), clinical practice context (12.6%), and language barrier (7.2%). Participants stated that they gained knowledge of how to perform certain clinical procedures and acquired core clinical skills in the areas of formulating management and managing some medical emergencies during their training at BDH. Increasing the duration of training (25.6% coverage) was suggested as a major way to enrich students’ experience during the training at BDH. Conclusion: Findings by this study reveal that CoBME is a valuable pedagogical tool to enhance learning in undergraduate medical education and that more work is required to improve the quality of CoBME training in BDH. We believe that the findings by this study will inform future planning of CoBME training programmes in BDH.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Li ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Shenjun Liu ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Rong-gen Shi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: As the number of Asian and African students studying medicine in China increases, it is imperative to evaluate the educational experiences of these international medical students (IMSs). This study was intended to investigate opinions of China-educated IMSs towards the medical curriculum and the impact of Chinese language capability on their clinical studies.Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was circulated to the final-year IMSs during the graduation time from May 2019 to July 2019 in 4 universities in China. The questionnaire asked IMSs to assess the quality of medical education and provide a self-evaluation of their Chinese language capability. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether IMSs’ Chinese language capability was associated with their clinical experiences and clinical competence.Results: Overall, we received 209 valid responses, of which 76.1% were satisfied with the quality of medical education. Genetics, physics, and mathematics were perceived as the least relevant basic courses for medical practice, and 21.5% of student reported that community-oriented medicine was a neglected subject. Notably, 58.9% of students had positive views about discussions on ethical topics during their clerkships, and 71.3% believed they had acquired sufficient clinical skills to begin a residency program. Chinese speaking skills and communication initiatives were found to be critical factors in influencing students’ clinical experiences and competence. Conclusion: This study presents the perceptions of China-educated IMSs towards medical curriculum from various aspects. Results show that language influences the education experiences of IMSs. Collectively, these results indicate that the curriculum for IMSs in China should be more problem-based and community-engaged to improve IMSs’ learning experiences and preparation for community deployment. Furthermore, training curriculum for the oral Chinese should be improved to equip IMSs with sufficient language competence to enable them to efficiently carry out clinical clerkship and rotations. Our findings provide evidence for benchmarking medical curricular codifications tailored for Asian and African students.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen Ottenhoff- de Jonge ◽  
Iris van der Hoeven ◽  
Neil Gesundheit ◽  
Roeland van der Rijst ◽  
Anneke Kramer

Abstract BackgroundThe educational beliefs of medical educators influence their teaching practices. Insight into these beliefs is important for medical schools to improve the quality of education they provide students and to guide faculty development.Several studies in the field of higher education have explored the educational beliefs of educators, resulting in classifications that provide a structural basis for diverse beliefs. However, few classification studies have been conducted in the field of medical education. We propose a framework that describes faculty beliefs about teaching, learning, and knowledge which is specifically adapted to the medical education context. The proposed framework describes a matrix in which educational beliefs are organised two dimensionally into belief orientations and belief dimensions. The belief orientations range from teaching-centred to learning-centred; the belief dimensions represent qualitatively distinct aspects of beliefs, such as ‘desired learning outcomes’ and ‘students’ motivation’.MethodsWe conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 26 faculty members, all of whom were deeply involved in teaching, from two prominent medical schools. We used the original framework of Samuelowicz and Bain as a starting point for context-specific adaptation. The qualitative analysis consisted of relating relevant interview fragments to the Samuelowicz and Bain framework, while remaining open to potentially new beliefs identified during the interviews. A range of strategies were employed to ensure the quality of the results.ResultsWe identified a new belief dimension and adapted or refined other dimensions to apply in the context of medical education. The belief orientations that have counterparts in the original Samuelowicz and Bain framework are described more precisely in the new framework. The new framework sharpens the boundary between teaching-centred and learning-centred belief orientations. ConclusionsOur findings confirm the relevance of the structure of the original Samuelowicz and Bain beliefs framework. However, multiple adaptations and refinements were necessary to align the framework to the context of medical education. The refined belief dimensions and belief orientations enable a comprehensive description of the educational beliefs of medical educators. With these adaptations, the new framework provides a contemporary instrument to improve medical education and potentially assist in faculty development of medical educators.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Li ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Shenjun Liu ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Rong-gen Shi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: As the number of Asian and African students studying medicine in China increases, it is imperative to evaluate the educational experiences of these international medical students (IMSs). This study was intended to investigate opinions of China-educated IMSs towards the medical curriculum and the impact of Chinese language capability on their clinical studies.Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was circulated to the final-year IMSs during the graduation time from May 2019 to July 2019 in 4 universities in China. The questionnaire asked IMSs to assess the quality of medical education and provide a self-evaluation of their Chinese language capability. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether IMSs’ Chinese language capability was associated with their clinical experiences and clinical competence.Results: Overall, we received 209 valid responses, of which 76.1% were satisfied with the quality of medical education. Genetics, physics, and mathematics were perceived as the least relevant basic courses for medical practice, and 21.5% of student reported that community-oriented medicine was a neglected subject. Notably, 58.9% of students had positive views about discussions on ethical topics during their clerkships, and 71.3% believed they had acquired sufficient clinical skills to begin a residency program. Chinese speaking skills and communication initiatives were found to be critical factors in influencing students’ clinical experiences and competence. Conclusion: This study presents the perceptions of China-educated IMSs towards medical curriculum from various aspects. Results show that language influences the education experiences of IMSs. Collectively, these results indicate that the curriculum for IMSs in China should be more problem-based and community-engaged to improve IMSs’ learning experiences and preparation for community deployment. Furthermore, training curriculum for the oral Chinese should be improved to equip IMSs with sufficient language competence to enable them to efficiently carry out clinical clerkship and rotations. Our findings provide evidence for benchmarking medical curricular codifications tailored for Asian and African students.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTHONIO O Oladele ADEFUYE ◽  
Matthew Abiodun Benedict ◽  
Johan Bezuidenhout ◽  
Jamiu Busari

Abstract Backgrounds: The adoption of community-based medical education (CBME) into the undergraduate medical curriculum is in line with the SPICE model for medical curriculum proposed by Harden and colleagues. Students are the consumers of medical education and are, thus, the ideal evaluators of the efficacy of their own course and learning environment. To evaluate the quality of the CBME programme in Botshabelo District Hospital (BDH), this study investigated student’s perceptions of their experience during their CBME training at BDH. In addition, suggestions on how to enrich students’ experience during the CBME posting was obtained from the participants. Methods: This research was designed as a qualitative (Ethnographic) study that used a questionnaire survey to qualitatively explore the perceptions of fourth-year undergraduate medical student at BDH. Results: Of the 120 questionnaires distributed, 84 were returned, giving a response rate of 70.0%. When asked to indicate what they liked or disliked about their CBME training, “Good educators/staff” and the “Attitude of some doctors” were the themes that scored highly (25.1% and 19.4%) in the “likes” and “dislikes” category respectively. Some of the major challenges faced during the CBME training at BDH included; Exposure to new learning environment (14.2%); Clinical practice context (12.6%) and; Language barrier (7.2%). Participants stated that they gained knowledge of how to perform certain clinical procedures and acquired core clinical skills in the areas of formulating management and managing some medical emergencies during their training at BDH. Increasing the duration of training (25.6% coverage) was suggested as a major way to enrich students’’ experience during the training at BDH. Conclusions: Findings from this study reveal that CBME is a valuable pedagogical tool to enhance learning in undergraduate medical education and that more work is required to improve the quality of CBME training in BDH. We believe that the findings from this study will inform future planning of CBME training programmes in BDH.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 922-927
Author(s):  
Nikoleta Leventi ◽  
Antoniya Yanakieva

INTRODUCTION: Many medical schools all over the world have incorporated evidence-based medicine (EBM) training into their curriculum. According to their results, teaching EBM helps health professionals both to update their knowledge and also to provide better care to their patients in their daily practice while improving the quality of the healthcare system. OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of this paper is to present the necessity of the integration of EBM training into the medical curriculum in order to improve the quality of education. The introduction of EBM in medical professionals’ education in Bulgaria is explored with a pilot study together with the respective opportunities and challenges.METHODS: About one hundred practicing medical professionals (physicians, dentists, nurses, midwives, and physiotherapists) were included in this pilot study. A paper questionnaire, including three parts (demographic characteristics, attitude towards EBM, application of EBM in everyday clinical practice), was used for collecting data.RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were received from 84 medical professionals. From the respondents 55 were familiar with the term EBM. The majority (59) of the participants agreed that EBM training would help them in their daily practice. According to 59 of the respondents EBM improves the quality of the provided health and care services to the patients. From the data collected, 65 participants support the necessity of incorporating EBM in their medical education, 9 do not support, and 10 cannot evaluate. Most of the respondents (69) speak and understand a foreign language good enough to read and understand scientific literature without difficulty, as well as the majority (81) of the participants reported computer skills at a good level.CONCLUSIONS: Data from this pilot study demonstrated a positive attitude from medical professionals toward EBM. The majority confirmed the need to integrate EBM training as a discipline into the medical education curriculum. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Li ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Shenjun Liu ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Rong-gen Shi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background As the number of Asian and African students studying medicine in China increases, it is imperative to evaluate the educational experiences of these international medical students (IMSs). This study was intended to investigate opinions of China-educated IMSs towards the medical curriculum and the impact of Chinese language capability on their clinical studies. Methods A self-administered questionnaire was circulated to the final-year IMSs during the graduation time from May 2019 to July 2019 in 4 universities in China. The questionnaire asked IMSs to assess the quality of medical education and provide a self-evaluation of their Chinese language capability. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether IMSs’ Chinese language capability was associated with their clinical experiences and clinical competence. Results Overall, we received 209 valid responses, of which 76.1% were satisfied with the quality of medical education. Genetics, physics, and mathematics were perceived as the least relevant basic courses for medical practice, and 21.5% of student reported that community-oriented medicine was a neglected subject. Notably, 58.9% of students had positive views about discussions on ethical topics during their clerkships, and 71.3% believed they had acquired sufficient clinical skills to begin a residency program. Chinese speaking skills and communication initiatives were found to be critical factors in influencing students’ clinical experiences and competence. Conclusion This study presents the perceptions of China-educated IMSs towards medical curriculum from various aspects. Results show that language influences the education experiences of IMSs. Collectively, these results indicate that the curriculum for IMSs in China should be more problem-based and community-engaged to improve IMSs’ learning experiences and preparation for community deployment. Furthermore, training curriculum for the oral Chinese should be improved to equip IMSs with sufficient language competence to enable them to efficiently carry out clinical clerkship and rotations. Our findings provide evidence for benchmarking medical curricular codifications tailored for Asian and African students.


1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 361-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleftheria Papachristou ◽  
Costas T. Lafazanis

A great number of cheese dairies and dairy industries in Greece are disposing their wastes, mainly cheese whey, either on land or in surface receivers, in large quantities creating a major environmental problem. A typical agricultural and pastoral provincial town of 70,000 inhabitants, Trikala, became the starting point of this research. A co-treatment of the urban sewage and the dairy wastes in the municipal treatment plant was recommended. The successful application of the above statement is based primarily on the pretreatment of the cheese dairies wastes. So far for cheese whey the recovery of the lactose serum in the contemporary central unit applying membrane technology has been suggested. As far as the wastewaters of the washing and refrigeration are concerned a pretreatment is required for the defatting in a grease trap, the grating, the adjustment of pH and the equalisation in an appropriate tank. Finally, this research has also focussed on the importance of membrane technology in improving the quality of milk and cheese production.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takumi Kawashita ◽  
Sara Shu ◽  
Teevit Dunnsiri ◽  
Andrew Fung ◽  
Brian Bui ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND YouTube is a popular American video-sharing platform that has been accessible to the public since 2005. Previous studies have shown that YouTube is potentially beneficial to medical education, but the quality of videos still need to be determined. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study is to understand the quality of the YouTube videos by evaluating the characteristics of physicians and the total number of views on videos regarding fibromyalgia. METHODS The term “fibromyalgia” was searched on the YouTube search engine by relevance, the default setting. Information from the first 100 videos were analyzed. A search was performed on Scopus to determine the h-index and fibromyalgia-related publication for any physician who was featured in the videos. RESULTS Of the top 100 videos, there were 64 academic videos, 18 vlogs, 5 interview videos, and 13 miscellaneous videos. Out of the 64 academic videos, 30 physicians, 7 Doctors of Philosophy (Ph.D.), 5 physical therapists, and 5 chiropractors were identified. The majority physicians have an adequate academic affiliation such as h-index and academic publications. CONCLUSIONS Residents and medical students will encounter a large number of academic videos on fibromyalgia on YouTube. This study suggests that many videos were posted for academic purposes and that the quality of the videos can be ensured to some degree. However, developing a better systemic evaluation of the quality of YouTube content is still necessary.


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