MedSIN-KMSA SCOME Manual

MedSIN-KMSA

SCOME Manual

MedSIN-Sudan KMSA

MedSIN-KMSA Publication

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela

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Navigate

through the Manual

Navigate through the manual Page 2

SCOME Policy Statements Page 19

MedSIN-Sudan SCOME Page 20

Resources

Messages Page 3

History Page 8

Introduction to SCOME Page 15

General Introduction Page 11

SCOME Opportunities Page 23

SCOME Structure Page 27

Interviews with SCOMEdians Page 45

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SCOME Success Stories Page 40

Messages

From SWG members

r i s s a Y awi Albad

A famous Actor said once: " When I was 15 years old, someone important to me came to me and said, Who is your hero?

I answered him that I did not know and that I would think about it, give me a few weeks ... and after several weeks he came back and said who is your hero?

I answered that I am after 10 years, and when I was 25 years old the same person came to me and said: have you become the hero?

So I said, I didn't even come close! No, no, my hero is 35 year old me. Every day, every week, every month, every year in my life, my hero is ten years older, I will not be my hero, I will not achieve it, and I am fine with this, because it keeps me attached to someone whose footsteps I follow, whatever things and whatever I am looking forward to. So, I say amen, and then I say well, well, well" Firstly and lastly: You are the hero of yourself.

"You don't have to be great at something to start, but you have to start to be great at something."

-Zig Ziglar

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r a h a S med Ah

Messages

From SWG members "The ability to recognize opportunities and move in new – and sometimes unexpected – directions will benefit you no matter your interests or aspirations" Drew Gilpin Faust

g e e h a R wi Bada

"If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

-Milton Berle

Abrar Abdelmohaimin

"The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change".

Rua i r a h z A

-Bill Clinton

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Messages

From SWG members I usually use such spaces to crack a joke, or tell a funny anecdote, but this time I will be serious. What medical Education and SCOME represents is a legacy of thousands of students who made efforts to enhance their education. You, manual's reader, are also entrusted with that legacy, so preserve it.

- Master Mohammed SeifOogwai Chin Sorry had to ... ual Designer

Mohammed Seifuldin - Man

Sometimes later becomes NEVER, So do it now.

Abrar IsmaT -SWG Vice Coordinator

"We can choose courage, or we can choose comfort, but we can't have both. Not at the same time.”—Brené Brown

Shima AbdelfaTah MedSIN-KMSA LOME 2020-2021 -SWG Coordinator -Manual Reviewer and Editor

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Preface

Dear Members, The Standing Committee On Medical Education is among the oldest of IFMSA’s Standing Committees since its foundation in 1951. It is evident that there isn’t a uniform source KMSA Members can refer to when seeking a further look or an orientation regarding the standing committee on medical education and hence, comes the need for such a document.

In this document, you’ll be able to navigate through the history of not only The Standing Committee but also of medical education as a whole with a glance at the different focus areas, projects, and programs on a local, national and international level. You’ll discover the opportunities this Standing Committee offers with insights from passionate SCOMEdians who took pride in serving this Standing Committee.

We hope you enjoy the read!

Warm regards, Yassir, Sahar, Raheeg, Abrar, Mohammed, Ruaa, Abrar and Shima

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Medical Education According to the book (E-Learning and Augmented Reality (AR) for Chronic Wound Assessment: Promoting Learning and Quality of Care), Medical Education can be defined as “the provision of instruction and information in the sciences basic to medicine and in clinical practice, ideally in such a manner as to inculcate in the student the desire to continue the process, spontaneously, throughout life.”

Kitchener Medical School

Medical Education Continuum

Medical Education is a continuous process of learning throughout the life of a physician, comprised of three distinct phases: Basic medical education- the first phase of the continuum, which focuses on equipping medical students with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes, readying them for an array of occupational choices.

Hippocratis

Postgraduate medical education- the second phase of medical education continuum, focuses on offering physicians the skills needed to practice medicine in a specific specialty.

Continuing professional development- any endeavor taken to sustain, improve or expand the knowledge, skills and performance of a physician for the purpose of provision of optimal healthcare services for the patients and the community.

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History of

Medical Education

As we illustrate medical education through the years, we might need to dive deep into the history of medicine itself and its evolution.

In ancient times, many cultures believed that diseases were a curse from God and that healing was a gift, and thus they used a combination of rituals, magic, and herbal remedies to treat patients.

Back to ancient Egyptians, there is evidence that treatments were attempted for common conditions only, which was later conveyed to other generations. In 2600 BC, the Egyptian Imhotep described the diagnosis and treatment of 200 diseases, which is now considered the earliest document on medical education.

On the other hand, by the 5th century BC, Greeks and Romans began pinning down the physical, non-spiritual causes for diseases rather than superstitious causes. Hippocrates (5th to 4th century BC) is widely known as the father of modern medicine. The Hippocratic texts deal with all aspects of medical topics including diagnosis, treatment and general advice for doctors.

Ancient Egyptian Medicine

By the twelfth century, in Europe, men trained at Salerno began to find schools elsewhere-in France,

Later on, Middle Eastern medicine emerged as the most advanced in the world, integrating concepts of ancient Greek, Roman,and Persian medicine as well as the ancient Indian tradition of Ayurveda, while making numerous advances and innovations. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) known as the father of early modern medicine wrote The Canon of Medicine, which became a standard medical text in universities until the 18th century.

As illustrated above, medicine has always been based more on experience rather than on book learning. Practical training was generally being acquired from a physician-father. The first school of medicine was established in the ninth century, in the town of Salerno, Italy. Its curriculum constituted 3 preclinical years, followed by 5 clinical years. Tradition has it that the school was founded by representatives of the four cultural forces which had persisted through the Middle Ages-a Greek, a Latin, a Jew, and an Arab.

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History of

Medical Education

in Sudan

The history of medical education in Sudan dates back to 1924, the year Kitchener Medical School, the first medical school in Sudan and the second in Africa was established. In 1951, it was administratively linked to the University of Khartoum, (known as Khartoum University College at the time). After Sudan's independence in 1956, Khartoum University College became known as the University of Khartoum and Kitchener Medical School as the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum.

It took more than 50 years for the establishment of other medical universities, Juba University in 1977, and Gezira University in 1978. It was planned that those two schools would follow the curriculum of the Faculty of Medicine, Khartoum University but they opted to adopt other innovative programs. Particularly the Faculty of Medicine, Gezira university was one of the first founding members of the international movement towards community-based medical education.

The SMC

SMC The 1990s are considered to be the explosion period for medical schools as a result of the Higher Education Revolution in Sudan, twenty-five new schools were established.

Their curriculum ranged from the traditional to the community oriented to a mix of both.

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History of

Medical Education

in Sudan

The 1990s are considered to be the explosion period for medical schools. As a result of the Higher Education Revolution in Sudan twenty-five new schools were established. Their curriculum ranged from the traditional to the community oriented to a mix of both.

Formal efforts pursued to improve the quality of medical education in Sudan date back to the year 2000 when Sudan Medical Council (SMC) assigned the Licensing Exam as a procedure needed to verify the quality and standard of graduates before permanent registration in the council. Since that time, many efforts have been put to regulate medical education and ensure its quality. Examples of these efforts are: development of “The Model College'' document in 2003, formation of the National Accreditation Committee, which administers the National Accreditation Program. The National Accreditation Program ran its first round in 2010 – 2012. The Sudan Medical Council was recognized as an accrediting body in 2018 by the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME). This is considered a very positive development for Sudanese medical education.

Moreover, Sudan Medical Council is one of the first ten agencies in the world to obtain this recognition.

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General Introduction - The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations was one of the numerous international student organizations set up directly after the end of the Second World War, making it one of the world’s oldest and largest.

The first meeting that saw the establishment of the Federation was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in May 1951.

- The IFMSA envisions a world in which all medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the resources, skills, and knowledge to take on health leadership roles locally and globally, so that they can shape a healthy and sustainable future. It achieves this by bringing them together from all over the world, to work on improving their environment, bringing about sustainable change in healthcare and empowering one another IFMSA connects more than 1.3 million medical students from around the world and functions through its six standing committees that are concerned with different areas of work:

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Training and capacity building play a large role in the Federation’s work. Numerous projects, campaigns, conferences, and workshops are organized across member countries in the fields of public health, sexual and reproductive health, medical education, and human rights and peace. The Federation also runs preclinical, clinical, and research exchanges annually for students to explore innovations in medicine and healthcare systems and delivery in other settings. The IFMSA also provides medical students with an optimal platform to actively engage in advocacy, policymaking, and external representation to influence decisions taken on all levels.

Executive Board 7 Officials The President Vice president for External Affairs VPE Vice president for Internal Affairs VPI Vice President for Members VPM VPCB Vice President forCapacity Building Vice president for Finance VPF VPRC Vice President Public relations and communication

Team of Officials 17 Officials Standing Commitee Directors (6)

IFMSA Structure

Coordinate the internal affairs of the Standing Committees in addition to supporting development of Standing Committees within NMOs.

Supervising Council

Regional Directors (5) for the five IFMSA regions (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe and the Americas)- Regional Directors coordinate the work within the regions both internal and external in coordination with the Liaison officers.

Supervises the work of the federation by providing advice to the EB and TOs and overseeing their actions and decisions. Consists of 37 members at any given time during a term

Liaison Officers (6)

Together with VPE are in charge of the official relations of the IFMSA with other organizations. They work on establishing and maintaining contact with IFMSA partners and other relevant organizations.

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MedSIN-Sudan KMSA In 1954 Prof. Morgan (the dean of Kitchener’s Medical School, now known as Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum) asked Prof. Haddad Karoom to form the Students’ Society. Later, in the year 1956, Students’ Society formed Sudan Medical Students’ Association (SMSA). Prof. Sir-Elkhatim Hashim presented SMSA’s candidature at the IFMSA General Assembly in 1967 and SMSA became a national member organization (NMO)*. SMSA’s name was later changed to Medical Students’ International Network- Sudan (MedSIN-Sudan) in 2003. There are more than 30 medical associations that have membership under MedSIN Sudan.

MedSIN-Sudan Khartoum Medical Students’ Association or “MedSIN-KMSA" is the oldest Local Member Organization** of MedSIN-Sudan. [*Medical students' associations from different countries, from which are formed members of IFMSA are called National Member Organizations. **A local member organization is the students-led organization under each individual university's medical faculty] KMSA envisions a healthier nation created through the contribution of united generations of medical students, who are inspired and empowered to take on leadership roles and make a significant impact on society, whilst being equipped with the proficiency to become doctors who can integrate into any community and positively representing the student body of the University of Khartoum’s Faculty of Medicine at all times.

Vision Statement: KMSA envisions a healthier nation created through the contribution of united generations of medical students, who are inspired and empowered to take on leadership roles and make a significant impact on society, whilst being equipped with the proficiency to become doctors who can integrate into any community and positively representing the student body of the University of Khartoum’s Faculty of Medicine at all times.

Mission Statement: KMSA unites the University of Khartoum’s medical students under one roof to positively impact the community and lead it towards a healthier future.

KMSA shapes better healthcare providers by building its members' capacity through different capacitybuilding methods and empowering them with opportunities so they can reach their true potential. KMSA also tackles IFMSA’s standing committees’ focus areas and Sudan’s national health issues through its various activities.

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Executive Board 4 Officials The President VPI Vice president for Internal Affairs Vice president for External Affairs VPE Secretary General Sec Gen Treasurer Vice president for Finance

Advisory Board

3-5 members

MedSINIFMSA Structure Sudan

Structure

Team of Officials 9 Officials

National Officer of Commitee Medical Standing Education (NOME) 6 Directors Coordinate the internal affairs(NEOof the National Exchange Officer-In Standing Committees in addition In) & National Exchange Officer-Outto supporting (NEO-Out)development of Standing Committees within NMOs.

Nation Officer of Research Regional Directors Exchange (NORE)

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for the five IFMSA regions (Africa, AsiaNational Public health Officer (NPO) Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe and the Americas)- Regional Directors coordinate National of Reproductive the work withinOfficer the regions both internal and health HIV/AIDS (NORA) external in including coordination with the Liaison officers.

Archiving Committee

National Officer of human Rights Liasion Officers 6 and Peace (NORP)

Not more than 5 members

Together with VPE are in charge of the officialSupport relationsDivision of the IFMSA with Project Director other organizations.

They work on (PSDD) establishing and maintaining contact with IFMSA and partners and other Publication New Technology relevant organizations.

Support Division Director (PNTSDD)

- Should Include Secretary General, Head of National Board and 3 General Members

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Training Support Division Director (TSDD)

Introduction to SCOME MedSIN-Sudan SCOME

The Standing Committee On Medical Education was one of IFMSAs first standing committees. It represents a framework in which all medical students with an interest in medical education can share and exchange their knowledge and experiences on various aspects of medical education issues. Through this knowledge, they are empowered to advocate in becoming a part of the decisionmaking chain as important stakeholders in their medical education systems.

MedSIN-Sudan SCOME is the body that represents SCOME nationally. SCOME on a national level is under the supervision of the national team consisting of the National Officer on Medical Education (NOME) and NOME's assistants. The team ensures the development of the standing committee at the level of each Local Member Organization (LMO) through capacity building of the LOMEs and SCOME members, and overseeing the work of the standing committee on a local level. In the term 2020/21, efforts have been made to produce - National focus areas - National SCOME regulations - National SCOME capacity building regulations - SCOME National strategy which was drafted in the term 2019/2020 was finalized. All of the aforementioned documents were adopted in the SCOME Plenary of the September National General Assembly 2021.

Vision Medical students attain optimal professional and personal development to reach their full potential as future doctors for better healthcare worldwide.

Mission

To be the frame in which medical students worldwide contribute to the development of medical education.

Students convene in SCOME to share and learn about medical education in order to improve it as well as benefit the most from it on a personal and professional basis.

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SCOME on a local level is run by the SCOME local team and mainly works on capacity building of KMSA members on different medical education issues and focus areas. This is done through various events such as interactive sessions, trainings, workshops, small working groups, conferences, and others.

In the past terms, efforts have been made to transition the office from being only activities-based to being projects-based as well.

Areas of Work IFMSA SCOME Programs

IFMSA Global Priorities The global priorities are a group of focus areas and overarching concepts in which the internal and external work in IFMSA Standing Committees will be focused on.

Each year, a consultation process is held prior to creating the proposal in all Standing Committees to determine which Global Priorities shall be proposed for the upcoming term, and IFMSA members, Officials, and even partners participate in this consultation process.

Global Priorities for the term 2021-2022 Post-pandemic recovery Health equity Women and adolescent Health

A wide spectrum of topics are addressed in SCOME. In IFMSA, for the sake of uniting efforts and measuring the impact made by the NMOs, any activity conducted with relevance to a specific program is enrolled under it.

IFMSA Programs are a centralized series of activities, which are organized by IFMSA National Member Organizations (NMOs) and IFMSA internationally. IFMSA Programs address problems within a specific field that we as medical students and global health advocates stand up for while connecting local, national and international activities and opportunities that contribute to the final outcome.

So why should NMOs/LMOs enroll their activities under an IFMSA Program?

- Receiving support from Project Coordinators and relevant Standing Committees Directors.

- Opportunity to cooperate with other NMOs that work on the same area of interest.

- Using the Program Impact Report as a means to fundraise.

- Using the Program Impact Report as a means to increase the visibility of NMOs. - Permission to use IFMSA’s logo in promotional materials - A boost of motivation to members and OCs.

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SCOME Programs

Program Program 1. Teaching Medical skills program

Overview Different medical practical skills are frequently not covered in depth in medical curricula or are taught using outmoded approaches, according to students. Many are fearful of real-life situations because of their lack of regular clinical practice, and they believe they are not good enough for independent work following graduation. Medical schools usually assume that students would acquire those skills automatically during the medical education journey and work thereafter, which is not always the case.

Aim To improve the competencies of the future doctors by improving their practical skills, so they can address the needs of their societies and provide efficient healthcare to their patients.

Overview

2. Medical Education System

Medical students, who are the most important stakeholders in medical education, are frequently disenfranchised from or soon grow unmotivated to participate in their educational institutions. Examining the root of the problem, students lack knowledge and comprehension of how a medical system is run, and faculties neglect them in the processes of curriculum development, monitoring and evaluation of the system. Most importantly, students are uninformed of their rights and obligations, resulting in their lack of participation in student representation and decision-making in medical schools.

Aim Aim

To capacitate medical students about the medical education systems and encourage them to become advocates of their meaningful participation in their medical education systems, empowering them with the skills needed to take such actions.

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SCOME Related Programs

Program

1. Health systems program

Overview Many health systems around the world fail to satisfy the needs of their populations, and this failure can be caused by a variety of circumstances. Medical students, on the other hand, lack information and understanding of problems that impede them from acting as future leaders and providers of health care in their communities and nations. They should be aware of the local, national, and international issues that impact health systems, comprehend them, and participate in the solution linked to the third Sustainable Development Goal, in order to obtain universal health coverage.

Aim Healthcare systems that ensure that everyone has access to inexpensive, high-quality, and safe health care, as well as a widespread network of health facilities. It is crucial that medical students must be involved in the development and implementation of solutions. Collaboration with external partners must be promoted in order to attain this goal.

Overview 2. Ethics and Human Rights in Health

For medical professionals, medical ethics and human rights are guiding values. Together, they ensure a patient-centered approach in which the patients' interests and rights are prioritized. Future health-care workers must be knowledgeable about the medical ethics that govern their work and comprehend how international frameworks like the Declaration of Human Rights are designed to protect our unalienable human rights.

Aim For every circumstance, medical students as future physicians can evaluate their professional conduct and decision-making and respond using ethical and human rights concepts. They can carry out proper interprofessional cooperation by comprehending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, and ethical codes.

SCOME

Policy Statements

These are statements representing IFMSA-SCOME beliefs regarding a particular issue related to medical education-composed of a statement and a policy paper-and are used to support IFMSA's advocacy efforts. The belief is kept within IFMSA’s and SCOME's mission and objectives and bound by their Constitution and Bylaws Policy statements are approved during the IFMSA General Assembly March Meeting and August Meeting and are valid for a period of three years and/or until their renewal. The following are examples of SCOME policy statements: Global Health Workforce (March 2018) Social Accountability In Medical Schools (March 2018) Ethical Medical Placements Abroad (March 2018) Accreditation and Quality Assurance (August 2018 Access to Research & Research Education (March 2019) Transparency and Integrity in Medical Education (August 2019) Global Health Education (August 2019) IPE and Collaborative Practice (March 2020) Health Literacy (March 2020) Cultural Competence in Healthcare Rural Health (March 2020)

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MedSIN-Sudan SCOME

On the national level, the term Projects refers to series of activities in a specific field of interest of medical students within MedSIN-Sudan principles and aims . This includes events, workshops, surveys, networks and campaigns. MedSIN-Sudan has three categories for projects: 1. MedSIN-Sudan Endorsed Projects 2. MedSIN-Sudan National Projects 3. MedSIN-Sudan Initiatives Currently, there are no MedSIN-Sudan SCOME projects running. However, on an annual basis, a call is opened by the national Project Support Division for project submissions for all standing committees to be reviewed by the project proposal reviewing committee (PPRC) and a decision is made whether to adopt the project or not in the September National General Assembly (SNGA).

National SCOME Focus Areas 2021-2024: Efforts have been made by the SCOME national team to specify national focus areas so that we as an NMO move forward with greater clarity.

1. Accreditation and Quality Assurance Recent developments such as globalization in medicine, as well as the rapid expansion of medical education providers, necessitates the use of quality assurance practices as well as formalized accreditation processes. Institutions such as the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Medical Association (WMA) have recognized the need for formal accreditation. Standardization, adaptive improvement through time, and, eventually, high-quality doctors delivering appropriate treatment for the community are all advantages of these procedures. SCOME assists and encourages medical students in becoming advocates for the improvement of their Medical Education for integration of global Medical Education guidelines in the medical curricula. It also aims to be the platform where we-as medical students- can communicate with Medical Education Organizations.

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National SCOME Focus Areas

2. Social Accountability According to the WHO, Social Accountability is defined as “the obligation [of medical schools] to direct their education, research and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community, region, and/or nation they have a mandate to serve.” The priority health concerns are to be identified jointly by governments, health care organizations, health professionals and the public.

Medical students are the cornerstones in the development of socially accountable schools. Being aware of this concept allows them to identify the priority health needs of their communities, and along with the stakeholders they will address their actions towards those needs.

3. Medical Education System Development Curriculum comprises all planned learning experiences of a school or educational institution; it should be in a form that can be communicated to those associated with the learning institution -open to critique-able to be readily transformed into practice. Curriculum has always been subject-centered curriculum, which tends to focus on subjects rather than students. The general approach was “this has to be thought”, not “this is what the student must be able to do''. In SCOME we believe that medical students have the right to have a curriculum which genuinely fulfills their needs and the needs of their community.

Medical students should be engaged in the provision of the school’s education programme. SCOME emphasizes direct student involvement with the design and delivery of teaching and assessment through awareness campaigns, advocacy, research and discussions.

4. Research in Medical Education Medical education research attempts to improve medical students' learning, competencies, and professionalism by analyzing and assessing the learning systems. These ecosystems include policies related to admissions and curriculum, instructors and mentors, and educational materials. Evaluating the educational system of a medical school is a crucial step in its continuous development.

Medical education research is carried out in order to address current medical education challenges and questions and to promote curricular innovations.

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5. Teaching Medical Skills Despite the fact that curricula feature a variety of training programs designed to equip each aspiring physician with the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes, there is frequently a gap in clinical skills education, making the learning process insufficient for our future needs. When medical students' clinical skills are enhanced, the result is competent doctors who can better serve and satisfy the needs of their communities.

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SCOME Opportunities

IFMSA General Assemblies These are 7-day meetings held biannually, in March and August, hence they are called the March Meeting and the August Meeting. Through these meetings, IFMSA members get the chance to meet in person and share their backgrounds and experiences, getting a closer look at IFMSA’s different aspects of work. Each meeting welcomes over 900 delegates and over 20 externals and partner organisations. Meetings have a fun and varied agenda made up of sessions, training, activity fairs, plenaries, and social events.

Delegates of the GA attend standing committee, NMO management or presidents’ sessions focusing on IFMSA’s global priorities, while social events enhance the intercultural learning experience of the GA and usually include an NFDP (National Food and Drinks Party) and cultural night.

What are the main SCOME-related happenings in the General Assemblies?

Pre-Meeting Workshopsbefore each general assembly meeting, capacity building event with many workshops such as the TMET or AMET and other parallel standing committees workshops and soft skills workshops.

SCOME Sessionswhere medical students worldwide gather to discuss the most important SCOME topics, share their experiences, learning more about medical education and are inspired to achieve more How can I be involved?

You can apply as part of the Session Team, a Support Person, as part of the Plenary Team, or as part of MedSIN-Sudan Delegation.

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SCOME Opportunities African Regional Meeting Annual regional meetings for IFMSA members are held in each of the organization's five regions. The African Regional Meeting (ARM) is held every December, and it is composed of sessions and workshops that address regional concerns. It is a fantastic opportunity to meet medical students from countries dealing with challenges comparable to Sudan's, and there's usually less competition when applying to be a delegate of an ARM than there is when trying to be a delegate of an international GA.

National General Assemblies NGAs National GAs are held biannually in April and September and are hosted by one of MedSIN-Sudan’s LMOs, similar to the international GAs. Each one of MedSINSudan’s LMOs brings its own delegation. National GAs last five days and five nights with an agenda that includes adopting reports, electing a new team of officials and advisory board, introducing new partners and sponsors, enacting constitutional amendments, and developing capacity. National GAs are also notable for their theme events and social programming

Local General Assemblies LGAs Local GAs may be held yearly in MedSIN-KMSA for the sole participation of the LMO's members, however, externals may be invited to apply and participate in select circumstances. Local GAs, unlike National GAs, have no defined time limit and do not have to contain plenaries because their primary goal is to offer delegates capacity-building activities (sessions and trainings) that are relevant to their chosen standing committee. Other agendas, such as social events or member meetings, may be included, but come secondary to capacity building.

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SCOME

Workshops International

National

TMET -Training Medical Education Trainers workshop

Training Medical Educators (TMEE)

Education

A peer-education experience directed towards encouraging interest in Medical Education and student engagement among medical students. It is focused on developing members’ competence about Medical Education, while also empowering them with the facilitation skills and peer teaching skills to share and promote these competencies with medical students from their local contexts. Through attending this workshop, you become an international Medical Education Trainer.

Adopted in the SNGA 2021, this newly established workshop aims to comprehensively capacitate its participants on focus areas such as: • Accreditation in medical schools • Curriculum design

development

and

• Teaching and learning theories • Advocacy in ME • Social accountability in Medical schools • Patients involvement in ME It is composed of two volumes and is governed by MedSIN-Sudan SCOME Capacity Building Regulations.

AMET - Advocacy in Medical Education Training AMET covers topics for those keen on medical education and at the same time gives them the opportunity to further explore and understand student advocacy on a deeper level as decision-makers and part of the medical education chain, which is the core of the Standing Committee on Medical Education. By attending AMET, participants should expect to be able to implement their own Medical Education plans on the local, national and international level as well as IFMSA’s adopted policy documents with the support of the SCOME International Team and Program Coordinators.

As a member, you can attend these workshops in the following IFMSA events: -IFMSA General Assembly Meetings -IFMSA Regional Meetings -Sub-Regional Trainings

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SCOME

SCOME

Webinars

Policies SWG An IFMSA policy is a document that represents medical students’ opinions about certain global health issues. The medical education policies are drafted by the Liaison Officer of MEdical Education as a head, and a policy small working group. The policies are reviewed by a policy commission and adopted in the IFMSA general assemblies. The call for participants of this small working group is shared on IFMSA SCOME’s Facebook page.

IFMSA represents a network of over 1.3 million medical students.

In order to ensure a wider impact, webinars are an informative method, often featuring members of the international team, experts from SCOME partners, and other medical education professionals.

Webinars on a wide range of medical education topics are usually shared on IFMSA SCOME’s Facebook page.

External

Opportunities

AMEE Students Task Workforce The Association for Medical Education in Europe is an international organization with members from over 90 countries. AMEE promotes international excellence in education in the healthcare professions across the continuum of undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing education. Together with other organizations and institutions, AMEE works on curriculum design and development, teaching and learning methods, and assessment techniques in response to the advancement of medical sciences.

The AMEE Conference is the leading annual event in the field of medical education and gathers medical education professionals from all backgrounds. It offers workshops, sessions, courses, symposia, and a chance to show your own work. It is also a great opportunity to network with other students and professionals with the same interest.

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SCOME Structure As mentioned earlier, SCOME is managed by international, national and local teams. In this section, the structure of each of these teams will be detailed, with a simple explanation of the job description for each one.

Internationally: 1. SCOME Director (SCOME D): The Director of the Standing Committee on Medical Education is elected at the August General Assembly, by full member National Members Organizations for a term of one year. The Director needs to work together with the LME and the rest of the SCOME international team to integrate work

Task Description Be responsible for the development of the Standing Committee through activities that are in line with the SCOME and IFMSA Strategy.

Develop the Medical Education relevant internal goals under the IFMSA Global Priorities.

Support the National Member Organizations in establishing their activities in SCOME, namely through the coordination with the Regional Assistants.

Overview and assure the quality of SCOME Capacity Building opportunities to members, namely its approved workshops.

Provide SCOME members with relevant manuals, toolkits, and doccuments for all SCOME activities and events, when possible.

Ensure consistent and constant communication with SCOME members.

Collaborate with the Liaison Officer for Medical Education Issues on the external representation of SCOME. Be responsible for setting the agenda and organizing SCOME Sessions in both IFMSA General Assemblies and oversee the preparations of the SCOME Sessions in Regional Meetings, providing any type of support the Regional Assistants may need.

Coordinate and follow-up on the work of the International Team.

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2. Liasion Officer on Medical Education Issues Mainly works on the external representation of SCOME and works on appointing the International Team in collaboration with the SCOME Director

Task Description Sustain and develop relationships with existing partner organizations and seek strategic new collaborations. In the case of regional organizations, they shall collaborate with the relevant Regional Director.

Provide IFMSA members with information about the partner organizations through the external meetings calendar, ifmsa.org, externals database, MoUs and social media.

Encourage the NMOs to report on collaborations with external organizations on a national level and facilitate contacts between IFMSA members and partner organizations when requested and needed.

Develop the Medical Education relevant external goals under the IFMSA Global Priorities.

Supervise the process of Medical Education related policy proposals, drafting and submissions.

Disseminate policy documents to IFMSA related external partners and promote them within IFMSA. Directly collaborate with the SCOME International Team by being an active participant in the implementation of the Annual Working Plan and support the IT members’ activities.

3. SCOME Capacity Building Development Assistant The SCOME Capacity Building Development Assistant focuses on the backbone of our Federation, from SCOME perspective - Capacity Building. This position has the responsibility in assuring the quality of SCOME Capacity Building efforts worldwide, while also developing new opportunities, which are accessible and sustainable for all SCOMEdians, everywhere.

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Task Description Sustain and develop relationships with existing partner organizations and seek strategic new collaborations. In the case of regional organizations, they shall collaborate with the relevant Regional Director.

Provide IFMSA members with information about the partner organizations through the external meetings calendar, ifmsa.org, externals database, MoUs and social media.

Encourage the NMOs to report on collaborations with external organizations on a national level and facilitate contacts between IFMSA members and partner organizations when requested and needed.

Develop the Medical Education relevant external goals under the IFMSA Global Priorities.

Supervise the process of Medical Education related policy proposals, drafting and submissions.

Disseminate policy documents to IFMSA related external partners and promote them within IFMSA. Directly collaborate with the SCOME International Team by being an active participant in the implementation of the Annual Working Plan and support the IT members’ activities.

4. SCOME External Affairs Development Assistant This position is being introduced for the first time this term, and its main task is to support the Liaison Officer for Medical Education Issues and the other members of the SCOME International Team in the tasks relevant to Medical Education External Affairs, as well as being a full-fledged member of the SCOME International Team and the SCOME Core Team.

Task Description Assist the SCOME Director and the Liaison Officer in Medical Education Issues with the implementation of the Global Priorities in terms of external goals.

Assist the Liaison Officer in Medical Education Issues with External Meetings preparations and delegation management.

Assist the Liaison Officer in Medical Education Issues with Policy Document proposals, Small Working Group selection and management.

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Support Liaison Officer in Medical Education Issues and SCOME Regional

Task Description

Support Liaison Officer in Medical Education Issues and SCOME Regional Assistants during webinars, sessions and other opportunities involving externals Coordinate the creation of abstracts and other submissions in collaboration with the Liaison Officer in Medical Education Issues to submit them to journals, conferences, and other external opportunities.

Conduct initial stakeholder mapping together with SCOME Regional Assistants and Liaison Officer in Medical Education Issues and assess previous, existing and potential global and regional partnerships.

Develop and coordinate the different SCOME Campaigns planned during the term.

5. SCOME General Assistant The SCOME General Assistant is the center piece that connects all members of the SCOME International Team together in order for them to optimally perform their tasks. On another note, the important task of SCOME members’ engagement falls under the umbrella of SCOME General Assistant.

Task Description Ensure communication and accountability of the International Team, by scheduling and following-up on online meetings and conducting the monthly reports.

Devise and implement a communication strategy with members that encourages interaction and involvement.

Create opportunities for members to be able to share and discuss experience and good practices relevant to Medical Education, especially to topics related to IFMSA Global Priorities.

Review, update and organize the resources and information shared with members.

Coordinate the interregional collaboration and develop strategies to activate and enhance the involvement of NMOs in SCOME. Assist the SCOME Director in the preparations and follow-up for the General Assemblies’ SCOME Sessions and in the overview of the preparations and follow up for the Regional Meetings.

Contribute to the execution of the International Team’s Annual Working Plan

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6. SCOME Regional Assistants SCOME Regional Assistants’ main value is accessibility. They represent the bridge between the “global” and “local” in the IFMSA motto: “Think globally, act locally.” As such, they support the National Officers on Medical Education within their Region in all SCOME related issues.

Task Description Task Description Establish regular and active communication between NMOs in the Region and SCOME. Assess the regional needs and collaborate with the International Team to establish Regional Priorities with internal and external goals.

Be responsible for the SCOME Sessions at the Regional Meetings, as well as SCOME Regional Sessions at General Assemblies.

Encourage interregional collaboration between fellow Regional Assistants.

Share relevant information on Medical Education opportunities and resources for the Region.

Contribute to the execution of the International Team’s Annual Working Plan

7. Program Coordinators

Programs are led by Program Coordinators and supervised by the Executive Board to ensure the quality of implementation, consistency and sustainability of the programs. Program coordinators follow up the enrolling and reporting of activities under their respective program, and are also centre staged to empower NMOs and build internal collaborations. They work with activity coordinators to carry out impact assessments and promote activities, ensuring emphasis on evaluation in IFMSA’s work.

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Task Description Actively participate in the handover process with your predecessor as well as provide the handover for your successor Review all documents about IFMSA Programs and the respective program you’re applying for, and assist in updating them Actively help with the enrollment of Activities into the Program Assess and approve affiliation of activities with the respective IFMSA Program Review the activities based on the activity management criteria and resources; Help Activity Coordinators with evaluation and impact assessment Properly follow up on reporting of the Activities Based on all enrolled and reported activities (before 15th June) produce an Annual Program Impact Report, to be submitted to the IFMSA General Secretariat and presented at the AM 2022.

Assist Officials in their work related to your Programs topic, a. This task might include conducting sessions on Programs topic, campaigns, help out to prepare sessions if not present at GAs etc; b. Have an active involvement (for some SCs mandatory), in the work and planning of activities and projects of SCs and ITs. Assist Officials in use of Programs data in external affairs events; 108 Program Coordinators Work on the promotion of Programs and activities Support NMOs’ involvement Take part in the Competency Module at the beginning of the term and develop the Annual Working Plan accordingly.

Availability for online meetings with the program team Availability for online meetings with the Standing Committees and International Teams Availability to work and support activity fairs within regional and international activities and meetings (Within sessions of permanent committees, etc.)

The SCOME Director may change the structure of the International 1.Note SCOMETeam to accommodate their vision and plan for the Standing Director Committee.

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SCOME Structure The National Team: 1.National officer on Medical Education (NOME): The National Officer of Medical Education is responsible for SCOME within their NMO, in a similar way that the SCOME Director is responsible for SCOME internationally is elected in September GA. The role of the NOME usually includes coordinating SCOME activities, implementing capacity building events, and keeping in touch with the SCOME international team through the relevant Regional Assistant. A NOME also act as a representative for their country during international events.

Task Description Coordinate all SCOME activities on the national level Hold SCOME sessions during relevant National Meetings, including National General Assemblies Establish partnerships with external bodies so as to garner support for SCOME on a national level Assist, support and keep in contact with SCOME Local Officers Encourage members within the NMO to attend IFMSA Meetings, namely SCOME Sessions and Workshops, or international events related to Medical Education; Attend IFMSA Regional Meetings and General Assembly meetings to network with other National Officers, exchange ideas, and attain new knowledge and motivation to share with Local and National Committees.

In case NOMEs are unable to attend any of these events, the NOME supports the delegate representing the NMO Maintain active communication with the SCOME International Team, namely the relevant Regional Assistant In the event, a NOME is absent or cannot fulfill the aforementioned tasks within their respective term, the elected member by the executive board will be the Acting NOME and should follow the aforementioned jobs.

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2. National Officer on Medical Education General Assistant (NOME GA)

Task Description Act as Acting NOME in case the NOME isn't present Responsible for enrollment of the office activities Conduct and arrange for the national meetings with the NOME and write the meeting minutes.

Share monthly reports with the SCOME members via Medsin-Sudan server and SCOME platforms.

Help the NOME in arranging the SCOME Plenary.

Follow up on execution of SCOME regulations and assist the NOME in writing reports to the Secretary-General.

Follow up with the SCOME national projects.

Search for potential partners and manage the financial matters of the office.

Any other tasks delegated by the NOME .

3. National Officer on Medical Education Internal Development Assistant

Task Description Evaluate the situation of each LMO. Execute the LOMEs development plan of the term.

Conduct regular follow up and coaching meetings with the LOMEs Regularly updates the LOMEs database and development sheet.

Responsible for Executing SCOME Capacity Building regulations Responsible for guiding and following up with the newly added or candidate LMOs. -Follow up on execution of the Strategy.

-Any other tasks delegated by the NOME. 1. SCOME Director

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4. National Officer on Medical Education Development Assistant for members.

Task Description Responsible for the development and follow-up with the trainers/facilitators.

Assist the NOME in organizing the process of requesting trainers/ facilitators and document their work.

Responsible for evaluation of the activities and the office work.

Write down activities reports and proposals.

Coordinate relevant SWGs in collaboration with the internal DA. Coordinate the office activities that target the members.

Assist the acting NOME in the process of updating the strategy and trainings reform documents.

Ensure alignment of SCOME activities with the focus areas Any other tasks delegated by the NOME.

5. National Officer on Medical Education Publication Assistant

Task Description Design and write posts for activities in SCOME platforms as well as the manuals/ toolkits.

Manage SCOME social media platforms and prepare a clear promotional plan.

Responsible for the online Capacity building of the members in different SCOME social media platforms.

Responsible for the local officers’ portfolio. Documentation of the relevant SCOME activities and meetings.

Share different SCOME regional and international opportunities with the LOs. Any other tasks delegated by the acting NOME or the PNTSDD. 1. SCOME Director

Note

The NOME may change the structure of the National Team to accommodate their vision and plan for the Standing Committee

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SCOME Structure The Local Team:

1. The Local Officer on Medical Education (LOME) is in charge of the SCOME activities in their local committee. They are the medium of communication between their local committee and the NOME. LOMEs can also contact the international team if need be.

Task Description 1. Equipping the committee members with the Medical Education knowledge and skills they need through organizing different Medical Education related activities/publications...etc.

2. Organize at least one advocacy-based activity throughout the term.

3. Providing a suitable environment for the committee members to work and share their opinions and ideas throughout the term.

4. Engaging SCOME members in the standing committee’s related activities/meetings on local, national, and international levels.

5. Representing KMSA SCOME in external events/meetings.

6. Promoting for the committee’s local, national and international work.

7. Responsible for following up with SCOME local projects coordinators.

8. Responsible for increasing the visibility of the committee to the members.

9. Ensuring the sustainability of the committee and preparing the next generation of the committee.

10. Responsible for assessing and evaluating the local committee’s different activities in order to provide high-quality activities.

11. Responsible for the following-up with the SCOME local team.

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Note

The LOME as well as all other local team officials are also required to: • Abide at all times by the bylaws of the local team.

• Abide to the outputs of the local team meetings and to the decisions made by the executive board members.

• Act in accordance with KMSA’s strategy that is consistent with MedSIN Sudan’s strategic plan.

• Attend all local team meetings and attend all national meetings for their correspondent national teams without exception. In special circumstances the executive board can grant permits to individual local team officials for not attending a meeting, but however, a representative from that particular office/division must replace the local officer/support division director in question.

• Submit a monthly report delivered to the secretary general’s official email. • Submit a monthly report via email to their correspondent national team if required and cc the SecGen when sending reports.

• Provide information upon request by any local team official concerning their activities.

• Maintain regular communications with the local team and with KMSA members through the respective official channels of communication. i.e. Share the local, national and international MedSINSudan’s calls that concern their office/support division to their members through MedSIN-KMSA’s members groups.

• Prepare a special call for inputs and share it with only their members at least once during the term.

• Assist the president in establishing and maintaining external collaborations through their activities with local officers and support divisions directors from other LMOs and partners.

• Provide explicit selection criteria for their activities as part of application calls. Local officers and support divisions directors must directly provide their candidates with feedback, if requested within four weeks of being informed of the outcome of their applications, with reference to the selection criteria

2. Local Officer on Medical Education General Assistants The LOME’s General Assistants are responsible for following up the internal and external work of the standing committee locally, as well as engaging with members and assisting the LOME as and when needed.

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Task Description First General assistant 1. Works as an acting LOME whenever needed, assists the LOME in SCOME local meetings’ preparations.

2. Responsible for writing and uploading SCOME local meetings’ minutes in MedSINKMSA SCOME Drive as well as a meetings outcome document in the members’ group.

3. Assists the LOME in writing monthly reports and future plans for the national team.

4. Sets a clear plan for the capacity building done by SCOME local team for the members.

5. Assists the LOME in following up with SCOME SWGs. 6. Performs any other task delegated by the LOME. Second General assistant 1. Acting as LOME representative in the absence of LOME and 1st GA. Responsible for the financial affairs and financial reporting of the committee.

2. Responsible for establishing and strengthening cooperation with other universities.

3. Responsible for approaching and dealing with external partners under LOME supervision.

4. Responsible for following up with the project coordinator (s) and chairing meetings with the project coordinator (s).

5. Responsible for writing and uploading meeting minutes with the SCOME project coordinator at MedSIN-KMSA SCOME Drive.

6.Assist LOME in writing the monthly reports to the Secretary General for MedSIN KMSA. 7.Performs any other task delegated by the LOME.

4. Local Officer on Medical Education Development Assistant

The Development Assistant is responsible for overseeing and ensuring the quality of all1. capacity-building activities and tailoring the standing committee’s proceedings SCOME Director depending on the members’ needs and interests

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Task Description Assists the LOME in organizing regular activities for the committee (sessions, trainings, conferences, etc.).

Writes activities’ proposals.

Writes activities’ reports.

Responsible for the assessment and evaluation of all activities conducted by the SCOME local team.

Performs any other task delegated by the LOME

5. Local Officer on Medical Education Publication Assistant

Task Description -Works with the PNTSDD in announcing KMSA SCOME activities and producing designs and calls.

- Shares the local, national and international calls with members.

-Documents all of KMSA-SCOME activities by taking pictures, videos, ...etc.

-Promotes for the committee using different methods (newsletters, posts, videos...etc.).

- Responsible for issuing certificates.

- Responsible for creating and updating the members’ database.

- Performs any other task delegated by the LOME

Last but not least we come to the members! SCOME members are the heart and soul of the organisation - without them, there is no standing committee in the first place!

1. SCOME Director

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A Success Story

Story told by Arwa Babiker, Feedback Project Coordinator How It All Started The feedback project story dates back to 2018 when the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at University of Khartoum- Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Abubaker Nasr was new in his position and wanted to make genuine changes in the educational environment in the faculty, but he knew genuine change needs to be constructed on proper feedback from the students. At that time, I was the head of the development centre of the medical education office at SAMER (Students’ Association of Medical Education and Research) and our goal was to communicate medical students' issues through scholarly work based on rigorous scientific methodologies, the reports were to be disseminated locally to the administrative bodies responsible and as scholarly research papers.

In one of our early meetings we had with our supervisor Dr. Mohamed Hamza and he communicated to us that Dr. Abubakr is very welcoming of the idea, and that is when the collaboration began.

Very oblivious of medical education jargon, the team started studying references of medical education and previous papers published about our faculty. We also sat down with the curriculum committee that participated in the last accreditation visit and they informed us of the areas in most need of improvement based on the last report. We became more aware and eventually along with our supervisor we wrote down the areas of most interest and impact for our local setting.

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A Success Story These areas later informed the domains for The Feedback Project and it was sponsored by the vice dean of academic affairs and other stakeholders including the EDC and SAMER. Right before we were supposed to get some papers certified so that the project can work directly under the vice dean for academic affairs, the revolution started and we ended up having to stop for a while. We came back after the revolution and COVID-19 outbreak happened. After COVID, we resumed work, and we started another cycle, it was troublesome as a decent number of members were not committed since it has been a long time since the project was active, so we had to make a lot of changes, especially since we were going to be using new methodologies and knowledge that our members are unfamiliar with, so it took us a while to get back on track.

The Structure We have researchers in five domains which are: 1. Clinical education in medical schools 2. Teaching and learning in Medicine 3. Attendance systems in medical schools 4. Psychological issues in medical students 5. Assessment and evaluation in medical schools Each domain has a team, and each team has its researchers. We also have a quality and support division, those are the ones that make sure the project processes are of high quality and facilitate all our activities and their evaluation as well. We are very grateful to have them. Basically, they maintain the quality of the sessions that we present since we give our members educational material such as research methodology sessions, we teach them how to collect the data and prepare their proposals. Right now we are in the process of writing the research papers that we already started on.

Overlooking teams, we have leaders of domains, and a leader for the support division, so a total of about 6 leaders, at the top of the pyramid is Dr. Mohamed Hamza along with a team of supervisors from inside and outside Sudan, and many stakeholders such as vice dean for academic affairs, the dean and the Education Development Center and SAMER, we are looking for new collaborations from other universities and not just faculties of medicine, all other faculties in the health profession too, in order to fulfill our vision of leading the change in Health Professions Education in Sudan.

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The Feedback Project is famous for using Qualitative Research methods, but we also use quantitative and mixed methods research. Qualitative research takes a

A Success Story The Feedback Project is famous for using Qualitative Research methods, but we also use quantitative and mixed methods research. Qualitative research takes a bigger role now since we were just exploring things in the first cycle, trying to develop a richer understanding so we can later dive deep into every issue, we needed qualitative as our main method of inquiry. There are not many supervisors who are well versed in qualitative research in medical education locally, so it was just me, a fifth year medical student navigating my way into medical education and qualitative research and trying to introduce people to the Feedback Project but thanks to the power of networks and collaborations, we made it happen.

Collaborations We are very proud of our collaborations, and they are one of the few things that drove the Feedback Project forward. We have collaborations with SAMER, ASIAcademic Societies Initiative, structures in the faculty such as the Education Development Center (EDC) and the vice dean of academic affairs office, as well as the dean’s office. We’re very proud of the array of advisors we have on the project, they helped the project stand on its feet with their marvelous advice.

The Tangible Results Of course, tangible results take a while to occur but we can already see the educators being a lot more open to recieving scientific feedback and part of that-I believe- is as a result of COVID-19, which worked well in our favor. We have had educators asking us for our results, for example, the curriculum committee wanted to take them into consideration when making the decisions they need to make so that was amazing. The single greatest accomplishment of the Feedback Project is introducing qualitative research in medical education in Sudan because even though it is commonly used in the medical education context outside Sudan, in Sudan it has not been implemented much and hasn’t been taught in our faculty until very recently. Following the distribution of the results, we’ve witnessd how the departments shifted their focus from depending on lectures to depending on tutorials because our Teaching and Learning Domain emphasized on that, i.e. how tutorials are a lot more valuable for the students than the lectures when it comes to their learning experience.

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A Success Story What they had in mind was that lectures were more valuable since the medical experts carry those out and they were harder to coordinate whereas tutorials are much easier to coordinate because those carrying them out are from the younger generations and are more available. Being told they should put more effort into something else other than what they usually were was very interesting to them.

I would say the most tangible change is the role that students now play in the educational process. Prior to the Feedback Project, we used to be the mere recipients of the services that were provided by the faculty, however, now, we are actively contributing and delivering what has benefits to us and what doesn’t.

We have also introduced medical education concepts to students such as what assessment is and how assesment drives learning (I remember the assessment team were very enlighted by just knowing that).

Furthermore, we have advocated for the improvement of the medical education environment and managed to facilitate channels that are very open to receiving feedback from students in general such as the EDC, the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, the dean’s office in general, and the curriculum committee.

Future Plans We will not stop here, we will move forward. We are trying to expand forward but we are also trying to do it very slowly because we have learned a lot of things in the prior period. We are very willing to share these lessons with other people like we already did with a couple other medical education initiatives including the Mentoring Program, and we are very happy for new collaborations, navigating our way in trying to make better doctors for Sudan and in the world in general.

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A Success Story Final Note

We learned a lot of lessons, one of which is that collaborations make your life easier. We have a solid healthy environment in the feedback project because it is a learning environment. Every researcher we have is learning something new everyday so we did our best to make a really kind learning environment, and that I am very proud of. It makes me feel like we have a bigger chance, since if we can do that inside of our faculty then we can do it in other faculties, and other medical schools in Sudan, even other countries can benefit from our experience. I would also like to tell everyone who has an idea for a project that they think has a big potential to not give up because we have been going about since 2018 believe it or not, now 2021 is coming to an end and it was a great journey and everything we made so far is worth the effort, so do not give up. If you want to collaborate with us, or if you are interested in Health Professions Education in Sudan, feel free to contact us! You will find our contact details below.

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Interview

with SCOMEdians Name: Maria Al Rachid Year of study/ University: 6th year at Saint Joseph University in Beirut SCOME Experience/Medical Education related C.V.: IFMSA Program Coordinator for Medical Education Systems 2020/21

Tell us your story/journey in SCOME and Medical Education generally.

My journey started during a pep talk with my NMO president during a coffee break. I thought that SCOME was just about suturing workshops. I knew nothing about advocacy, capacity building, social accountability or any medical education topic. This talk motivated me to attend an AMET in Oman and then I saw the change in SCOME and my journey started.

Why did you choose IFMSA and SCOME Specifically?

I was an advocate before I even knew the word advocacy. When I first went into medical school, I aspired to become a strong independent female neurosurgeon, however, I always felt that something was missing. I asked myself: “should I study law so I can pursue another passion of mine?”

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Interview

with SCOMEdians

Then, in my second year, I heard of my favorite IFMSA standing committee: the “Standing Committee on Medical Education” and it hit me: I didn’t want to become an attorney and a medical student; I wanted to become an advocate in medical education. After much reading, webinars, training, and international meetings, I am now confident I have bridged the gap to follow my passion and here I am trying to develop professionally in the field of medical education.

Tell us about the opportunities available for students who are interested in ME? SCOME opens so many doors and each one of them is an eye opener to other opportunities, for example being in the AMEE STF for one year can help you build connections to write several articles within the field. The main opportunities: -SCOME SWGs -SCOME Policy papers SWGs -SCOME sessions in GAs and RMs -AMEE STF -Towards Unity for Health Conference -WHA and PreWHA -Any opportunity shared in the SCOME facebook group Your message to the next medical education enthusiasts’ generation?

“Once a medical student always a medical student” this is a sentence I heard in last year AMEE pre conference webinars by Dr Lawerence Sherman, it may seem normal to anyone, but it actually stuck in my brain reminding me that as much as you gain knowledge, there is always something to learn and more specifically in medical education. Education is the roots of what we become, and you, the student, have a great role in shaping it, so take responsibility and work hand in hand towards quality education for better societies.

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Interview

with SCOMEdians

Name: Alameen Hamid Elhaj Elthair Year of study/ University: 3rd year, Omdurman Islamic University, Omdurman.

SCOME Experience/Medical Education related C.V.: SCOME Regional Assistant for Africa 20-21 IFMSA AM21 SCOME Sessions Team IFMSA OARM20 SCOME Sessions Team IFMSA AM20 SCOME Support Person MedSIN-Sudan SCOME Strategy SWG Coordinator MedSIN-Sudan SCOME Publication Assistant MedSIN-Sudan 28th NGA EMSA SCOME Sessions attendee MedSIN-OMA Acting LOME MedSIN-OMA LOME General Assistant MedSIN-OMA LOME Development Assistant ScholarRX new educators and scholars training Omdurman Islamic University Accreditation program (as part of students area)

Tell us your story/journey in SCOME and Medical Education generally.

Having countless flashbacks, I’m really grateful for each and every opportunity. My journey in medical education started late 2018 after joining our local team as the development assistant, a journey that was cut short by the revolution and led to my loss of interest overall. During August 2019 and after the revolution, our LOME at the time, initiated everything and approached the local team in hopes of reviving the committee and after days of inviting us to meetings without response, he finally succeeded. After that we held numerous activities including a national capacity building event which led to increased involvement and overall understanding of the IFMSA work as I had zero experience prior to this.

After that, I attended EMSA GA and this was where everything took a turn. I started googling to learn more about medical education outside of our local committee work (a thing which I rarely did in my studies, let alone extracurricular.) The whole GA experience, sessions, trainings, attending late plenaries and having no idea what plenaries are, midnight socials, countless LMO hours, meal times and the enormous amounts of socializing with people from different standing committees and LMOs was an unforgettable experience that I wanted to live many more times but unfortunately I didn’t.

47

Interview

with SCOMEdians

After the GA, we had our Team of Officials interviews and unfortunately I didn’t get the LOME position. At the time, it was very disheartening but when I look back at it, it became the first step of a thousand more. I applied as our national team publication assistant and I wasn’t selected in the first call but in the second call I got the position.

Fast forward through many 5 hours of physical meetings, sessions to when COVID19 started. Most of the organizations transitioned to online work and depended mainly on publication which was a very stressful period, to the extent where I almost quit but thankfully, I didn’t. I was also selected as one of the local committee’s general assistants which also became stressful due to the countless OLM and the tasks overload. Unfortunately both April and September GAs weren't held which was even more disappointing. I applied for the first ever IFMSA online General Assembly for the SCOME sessions as a support person, which was one of the best and most difficult experiences I had. After the General Assembly, the project coordinators/international team call for the term 2020/21 was shared and not a single brain cell of mine had the thought of applying but lowkey, after the selection results were out and finding that most of my August Meeting 2020 session team buddies were selected, I wished I could turn back the hands of time and apply.

I applied for the online African Regional meeting as a part of the session team and I was selected. It was a great opportunity since it was the first time focusing solely on the African region and having the different Afro SCOMEdians share their experiences regarding medical education which was very enlightening of the difficulties faced in the region.

Fast forward to March Meeting 2021, since I didn’t take part in any Medical education events since OARM and due to personal reasons, my best shot at attending SCOME sessions was through taking part of the plenary team as if I remember correctly by that time, the SCOME session team were selected. While being a part of the plenary team was a new experience, it was really strenuous and I didn’t have the time or passion to engage in most of the social programs during MM21.

Then as MM21 wrapped up, an email on the server popped up saying that a new Regional Assistant was needed. Without any sort of hesitation, I started preparations for my candidature and applied. I was lucky enough to be selected amongst the 4 other candidates.

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Interview

with SCOMEdians

Why did you choose IFMSA and SCOME Specifically?

When I joined, during my first year I attended SCORA sessions because of the facilitators they had at the time but it was a short-lived experience. When the call for LT was shared, during my second year, as most students do, I wanted something to help me academically so I chose SCOME. As misleading as my thoughts were at the time, I later found out that it was the exact opposite. Little did I know that I was so wrong yet so right in my selection. To explain more, SCOME was promoted as sort of the office that you take a part of if you want to learn how to study, but when I joined, I realized it was much more than that. Instead of being your everyday colleague that’s only focused on academics and takes all the beating from higher ups (wink wink), SCOME taught me that being a medical student has more to it than just attending lectures. You are supposed to have a say in what and when you want to study, your university’s environment, your involvement in the university’s future and as much more as your imagination drives. Unfortunately, nothing of what I said or learned is being applied and that is what drove me to be the change, or even help in forming the staircase of students’ empowerment locally and higher up is a dream that I wanted to fulfill and still do! Hopefully years down the road, I have the opportunity to pass by these words again and look back at it.

What did SCOME work add to you?

My journey was filled with many twists and turns. Throughout my first years, I started to become more confident in public speaking, still not at the level that I want but as an introvert, I had a really tough time. Being a Publication Assistant improved my digital content creating skills which helped me down the road preparing for university presentations, seminars and some friends of mine took their skills a step further and started earning money through content creating. I learned organizational skills through attending meetings, using different streamlining platforms and juggling all of that in addition to my studies which improved my time management and academic performance drastically. Keeping the best for last, connections! Throughout my past years in IFMSA, MedSIN and OMA, I knew hundreds of medical students, fresh graduates, and many older doctors who shared the same passion in medical education nationally and internationally. I might not be friends with all of them but having people you know everywhere can be a bliss and a curse (especially in Sudan, haha). All in all, working in SCOME helped me gain lots of soft and hard skills, some of which I may gain later down the years but knowing beforehand what to expect in your professional life is truly a blessing which I’m lucky to have the slightest of.

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How do you manage to stay updated in the medical education field?

Interview

with SCOMEdians

How do you manage to stay updated in the medical education field?

In Sudan, as an undergraduate student, sometimes pursuing the field of medical education can be a pain especially since there’s a lot of neglect and not many interested superiors or supervisors but generally most of the keeping up is through self-efforts. For example, IFMSA/SCOME IT may share an opportunity or a new concept or initiative regarding a certain topic and if I wanted to learn more I’d just google it and dig around. YouTube videos are also a great way of simplifying many of the concepts which may sound complex at the first glance. Research journals are also a great place to dig into if you’re looking for the applicability of a certain topic in your own school.

Tell us about the opportunities available for students who are interested in ME? To be honest, I’m not really that experienced with opportunities but I’ll try to summarize everything. AMEE task forces are one of, if not the biggest opportunities a member can take part of. AMEE STFs’ are not limited to SCOME members only, in fact, they’re some of the most diversified events you can attend. You meet members from other standing committees, other NGOs, experienced and passionate doctors in the field so other than the main factor of capacity building and self-development, lifelong connections can be built. IFMSA policy SWGs can be a great source of information regarding topics that the organization considers a major focus area that they need to direct their efforts towards at the time and could also serve as a source of inspiration if you have an idea that you want to advocate for, as the reach of IFMSA is much more than individual efforts. There is also NEST’s course by ScholarRx which provides more in-depth learning materials regarding diverse and innovative medical education topics, interactive monthly meetings with professors and much more. Unfortunately, I recall the call being shared only once at the end of 19/20 term and I don’t have an idea if there are going to be more opportunities.

Any advice for self-development or any personal advice?

Throughout my past years, I came to the conclusion that IFMSA could be one of the most diverse platforms for opportunity sharing and passion seeking but in the end it isn’t the only place. Don’t limit yourself in a certain scope and don’t be afraid to explore new opportunities. Don’t get discouraged if you weren’t selected for a certain position or activity and remember that there are many more opportunities coming your way be it through or outside IFMSA.

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Interview

with SCOMEdians Name: Arwa Babiker Jaber Year of study/ University: Graduate from Batch 91 SCOME Experience/Medical Education related C.V.: Founder of The Feedback Project Head of The Medical Education Department at Soba Centre for Audit and Research Member of the advisory board for multiple local and international medical education initiatives

1.

Tell us your story/journey in SCOME and Medical Education generally.

In 2017, I was the local officer’s general assistant and that is when I started to develop the view that the community needs better medical students so my understanding of medical education back then was basically that we want to give better medical education so we can have better students and that's when I also started to realize that medical education is not just for undergraduate students but also about continuous professional development for doctors and that’s how I became passionate about the whole thing.

I was thinking about how I really wanted to serve the community because I didn’t pursue medicine out of passion, it was mainly by the fact that I'll be able to serve people and I like serving people so I was starting to think about what's the best way to serve people when it came to the health of our community and I couldn’t think of anything better than medical education, especially in a system like ours. There's not a lot of emphasis on the primordial methods of health prevention, it's mainly secondary (the patient gets sick and then goes to the doctor) so I was thinking about how to make this process even better. For example, a doctor let’s say, but if I-Arwa- stay in a clinic,

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I started out late because I discovered my passion for medical education late.

Something that I tried to fix when I was in SCOME was that I tried to introduce medical education as something different from what it usually was, to make it more attractive to make people realize its potential so that's what I focused on in my term, the capacity building of members, I wanted people from the younger generations to realize the potential of being equipped with simple concepts of medical education, how it can change their lives as students and doctors of the future and to make them realize where it sits within the big puzzle piece that is health provision to our local communities.

2. Why did you choose IFMSA and SCOME Specifically?

I chose IFMSA SCOME because it was the only organization at that time that cared about medical education, that was before SAMER became active in medical education but back then it was mainly about research. That's how I've been introduced to medical education and that is why I applied for it.

3. What did SCOME work add to you?

I didn’t really choose medicine and so SCOME gave me a mission and made me feel like there's a place for me in medicine, One of the concepts that really resonated with me was the topic of social accountability and how you should try your best to put your efforts in things that can serve the community so for me back then the community was the local members so I tried my best to put all my efforts into capacitating them and make them interested in medical education and I'm so happy because without that experience I wouldn’t have been the person that I am actually right now.

4. Any successful stories about some LMOs/NMOs that succeeded in making a change in their medical education system?

Back when I was a local officer, BUMSA collaborated with their university to put in an evidence-based medicine course and that was extremely motivating to me back then.

Also, one of my biggest motivations in medical education was Alaa Abusufyan- she was a role model so we thank her for that. I remember one of the things that I wanted to do back then was to do some sort of social accountability movement but the obstacles I faced as a local officer prevented it.

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6.

How do you manage to stay updated in the medical education field?

Twitter! Any social media platform, follow hashtags, people, and organizations that are interested in medical education. There are forums where people just talk about medical education so that helps me stay updated about conferences, opportunities, master’s programs and research groups and their latest publications, so that keeps me updated about what's happening in the world and what's relevant. COVID really taught us that you need to be updated to become relevant so I think that's a really good tip.

Also, find some journals whose content you really care about and so for me that would be BMC Medical Educationand MedEdPublish. These are very easy for me to read and follow through. There are other ones such as Medical Teacher but such ones are really hard for students who are not familiar with medical education jargon to read through, but nonetheless I love and read them too from time to time.

7.

Tell us about the opportunities available for students who are interested in ME?

Medical education, locally in Sudan there's a concept about how every university should have a medical education department and we are currently working on that in Khartoum University but generally in Sudan that's not happening and that makes people less motivated to become medical education scholars so there is the Education Development Center and we are super lucky to have the people running it be super helpful and super welcoming to any student proposed initiatives. If you want an idea about your medical education system, head to your local EDC. AMEE student task force, and right after the conference is over there is the ESME Course and I think that is a really great opportunity to follow through, they take 2 people every year and the application is mainly a motivation letter. In the past year, I attended AMEE. The number of applications to AMEE increased so it's very important to stay updated about what’s happening and even more, try to share these opportunities with other people.

There are also student journals about medical education, they usually open up editorial positions and they usually take in students who have minimum experience and a lot of motivation so look out for that too. The main thing about medical education is that they believe in making the students better and a lot of the opportunities just really need you to be committed so it's mainly a motivation letter and you’ll learn a lot of things and it's so mind-blowing.

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I really recommend that people attend the AMEE conference and even if you don’t attend the conference just follow the hashtag on Twitter and you’ll learn a lot of new things.

IFMSA has a lot of SWG opportunities and there are a lot of projects in medical education every year. I really believe in the power of networking and collaboration so it's super important to have a network of people from different countries

8.

Your message to the next medical education enthusiasts’ generation?

1- Find a mentor- it's super important and it makes your life a lot easier.

2- Establish a network of people - one quote I really love- “fake it till you make it” it works!

So it goes like this: you act as if you have already reached where you want to be and you’re gonna find yourself more than ready to become that person, so for example I want to become a professor of medical education, what I do is look for others like me and add them to my newsfeed, I read to keep myself updated with what is new in the field, I organize my time and interests based on that, and Voila, you will slowly pave your way into it.

3- Just try to be as open as you can to new things, especially in the past few years, medical education changed dramatically. One of the things I really love about student organizations is that we believe in teamwork because not everyone has the same vision of the world and not everyone has the same network so having a couple of friends who are interested in the same thing brings even bigger insight, that way you can grab more opportunities and you’ll stay updated.

P.S. I am very open to discussing medical education and I have a special gift in helping people figure out what they want, so feel free to contact me.

Email: arwababiker@outlook.com +249968126788

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AMEE Experience from an Attendee (Arwa Babiker) My first AMEE conference was AMEE2020. I remember the application was in April and I had my exams at that time. My friend Sawazen and I decided to apply for AMEE. Our main drive was attending a conference about medical education and AMEE was and still is the biggest international conference where medical educators from all over the world meet. Back then we had the idea for the Feedback Project, and we wanted to get to know the medical education community generally and see if we can learn more from their experience in projects because we were relatively very young and not very young, expertise-wise to conduct a project like the feedback project. We applied and it took a while for them to respond to the applications because around that time COVID happened and there was generally a lot of confusion on whether it was going to be held in real life or virtually or even canceled. In the end, they opted for making it virtual.

That was the first year, the second year was this year, 2021, and it was supposed to be hybrid, as in a part of it would be virtual and another part would be in real life so I also applied because I really loved my experience with the first AMEE, and I am thinking about making it a tradition, actually, to just continue doing that because it was super beneficial to me.

But sadly, that still didn't happen because of COVID and they decided to go virtual this year as well. So I have two experiences with AMEE. The first one was the regular Student Task Force. I got the regular AMEE student Task Force certificate. The second one, I was actually a tutor. So this time around I am actually responsible for other students' task forces and introducing them to AMEE and the conference in general, so we work right under the coordinators of the AMEE student.

Where did you stumble into the application for the conference?

Generally, AMEE has really good relations with EMSA in Europe, and IFMSA as well.

They usually send out the applications on the MedSIN Sudan portal, so that is where I found it. After my experience in AMEE2020, I did my best in spreading the news about the conference and was so happy to find that a lot more people applied to AMEE2021, in total there were 4 students from Sudan, compared to only 2 in AMEE2020, and we were actually one of the highest countries to apply. I was introduced to many innovative methods, but the real question is how am I going to be able to apply that to a low resource country?

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I love how this year they also managed to get a lot more experience, especially with COVID basically putting everyone in the baseline and people just had to be creative and I have to work with what they have. So it basically put most of the universities in the baseline where they have to work and innovate to make things work. There was a lot of learning that could happen between universities and between countries and AMEE is just a big hub for that. Everyone comes and tells you what they did and how they changed their curriculum, how they did that with the low resources, the problems that they faced, how they solved them. It was a wonderful experience and it was a real treat to see more Sudanese individuals in the conference.

What is your advice for the application process?

The advice that I want to offer is that there are many criteria for selecting those who apply to AMEE. Some of them have worked at AMEE for quite some timethose are the people who are needed as tutors, and they are a few. However, there are measures in place to allow newcomers who have no prior knowledge of AMEE to attend, even if they do not have a background in medical education.

Focus on your motivation letter if you want to apply, have a well-written motivation because the conference is worth every letter written. If you look up the AMEE hashtag on Twitter you will be able to see the posts about AMEE in the past years. It is a very nurturing environment for everyone interested in Medical Education and for students as well. In general, the educators are so fun, and they really love students. It’s an opportunity everyone should take advantage of, regardless. I think the students who are in their first year, the ones who are getting introduced to medicine and extracurricular work, are the ones that can benefit most from the AMEE experience. My advice is to never stop trying, ask people who applied and were accepted to AMEE, such as myself and we will be more than glad to provide assistance.

What happens at the AMEE conference?

AMEE is a conference, but it has a lot of other subcategories there are plenaries. A plenary is basically a long session. You're probably familiar with the name from the General Assembly that MedSIN has, at the time of the Plenary there are no other parallel ongoing sessions taking place so everyone is present. It is usually about topics that are very impactful, topics that leave you a profound motivational message. They typically want you to focus on a significant concept that has the potential to transform the way you think about medical education.

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For example, one of the most memorable plenaries from AMEE 2020 (there is a plenary everyday, and usually the conference is three days long) was one about how you should never just settle for one type of data, quantitative or qualitative. You should be able to use both and integrate both into how you make policies, whether that be in medicine, economics, or any other field. I also remember that one of the presenters was a professor- who I think won a Nobel Prize- the thing is that he was not a medical practitioner or a doctor, he is surprisingly from a different field, he has so much knowledge to convey, it was an impactful session indeed. That, I believe, is one of the reasons why I am still working on incorporating qualitative methodology into research in our local setting. I also remember a plenary about women's roles and the inequities they face in medical education and how the system is still somehow sexist.

This year was about how the system is racist as well, and how science in general, especially medicine, with all of the historical background of how experiments were made, became the way that it is today. Some of the research methodologies that were very successful, were in fact, racist. We discussed how we need to carry that along with us to be more sensitive to the diversity of medical students these days. Generally, there are many impactful ideas that can change the way you are practicing medicine, teaching medicine, interacting with the patients, these are plenaries.

Aside from that, are your typical workshops. Some introduce you to new innovations and best practices, some are basic workshops such as research in medical education, international collaboration between medical educators and medical education researchers, others are about best practices and assessments, like modern methods of assessing students, for example, in OSCEs. In addition to many other relevant and useful workshops that benefit the educators. An idea is put in mind with relevance to the current problems educators all over the world are facing, now, for example, that would be COVID. As a student, you actually get to plan and organize a part of the workshops so you get the chance to meet with the people who are presenting the workshop and that is a great networking opportunity. You can actually see the transition from being in a student task force, and the next AMEE, for example, you would find the student task force actually presenting a session to the same person who presented for them to the session last year.

There is also a fringe session that is usually very fun, in sketchy ways, the presenters are very nice. Other networking sessions are also available, something they added this year including Meet the Experts, I especially enjoyed these.

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In 2020, we were using a platform called Virtway, and this year we used Zoom and Swapcard for the networking opportunities. Last year there were a lot of technical issues and a smaller number of workshops. This year, there were a number of workshops running in parallel giving you the opportunity to choose which workshop to attend. The general timeline for the conference is an opening, workshops, and plenaries.

The differences in time zones between countries is also kept in mind. The rest is the usual part of any conference we all know about, like the research papers, the doctoral favors, the communications, and the posters. In the first year, I did not present but in the second year, I presented two short communications about some of the work that I had done in medical education research locally. These opportunities I am most grateful for. Not to mention the chance to publish the work we did. A piece of advice for students, to not shy away from presenting. If you get the chance to be part of the student task force, use it to present your papers as well.

In general, everyone is super nice. The educators are very happy to have students on board because it gives them a sense of “we're not just educators here”. They have some of the people that they’re going to be teaching in the future, some of the people that they’re going to be presenting this to. They benefit a lot from having the students’ perspective on things they have been teaching for a long time and get insight on how students view things, such as assessment. It’s a golden opportunity for people from similar backgrounds to work together and come up with new solutions. I met with experts from other settings that are similar to ours in Sudan, and they would be facing problems that we have already solved and we would be facing problems that they have already solved.

Collaboration is one of the most amazing things that can happen in AMEE, even though it is a virtual event, people still manage to cope with that in real life. Of course, next year is going to be held in Leon, France. Hopefully, COVID does not really take that away from us. It’s going to be hybrid with a part taking place virtually and a part in real life. I am so excited about that!

How did this experience benefit you?

It gave me an overview of other aspects of our education that I have never really paid much attention to before, and the whole meeting, especially meeting the expert part, is super helpful because when you approach them, give them your background and they will let you in on the next steps you can take in a specific problem

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What you should read, for example, to advance yourself in a specific area.. It also introduces you to opportunities such as courses, free courses or courses that are accessible to you and those are very helpful resources. Other than that, actually, speaking of resources, there's an Arc Center that you get access to, which is basically all of the papers that were presented, all of the recordings of the workshops, the short communications posters, all of those get saved into an online Republic in the AMEE website, and you get access to that for a whole year and believe me, that is a handful of content, it is absolutely mind-blowing.

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Interview

with SCOMEdians Name: Razan Mohamed Hassan Year of study/ University: 3rd year SCOME Experience/Medical Education related C.V.: SCOME member since 2018 Facilitated more than 70 hours of different sessions KMSA LOME general assistant 2018/19 KMSA LOME 2019/20 Acting NOME 2020/21 Attend four national General assemblies AM21 session team SNGA21 session team ZAMSA UGA returning officer SNGA21 SCOME Plenary Chairperson

Tell us your story/journey in SCOME and Medical Education generally.

My journey started as general member since 2018, I really got fascinated by the idea of medical education and I found a lot of support from my surrounding to continue.

I was trying my best to attend and learn everything, I attended all the national meetings and workshops at that time. Also, I attended my first general assembly in Mughtarbeen University.

My excitement kept increasing and I applied for KMSA LOME general assistant, but unfortunately due to the situation of Sudan at that time we couldn't achieve what we aimed for.

Then I joined MedSIN KMSA as Local Officer of Medical Education and it was really one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.

The journey ended up with the Acting NOME this term which was also a lifechanging experience for me.

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Why did you choose IFMSA and SCOME Specifically?

Because of the environment and the large number of people you can learn from and meet. Also, IFMSA offers so many opportunities that you won't find elsewhere.

What did SCOME work add to you?

At the beginning, I didn't really know why, but I didn't find myself in any other standing committee . However, I do believe in the vision of medical education. I believe in the change that could be made through improving our medical education.

What does medical education mean to you?

A mission and future.

How do you manage to stay updated in the medical education field?

I still look for answers to this question, but I try my best to follow SCOME pages, follow theAMEE website, the SNO website and of course read some articles about what interests me.

Tell us about the opportunities available for students who are interested in ME? -AMEE students Taskforce -TUFH conference (preferably to attend and present an abstract there) -WFME conference -IFMSA regularly opens calls for policies -ASPIRE Award -Social accountability award And of course many other opportunities.

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Your message to the next medical education enthusiasts’ generation?

Read more about medical education and make a mission to make change.

Any advice for self-development or any personal advice?

I'm not the right person to do so but anyway my biggest advice is to calm down from time to time and give yourself a chance to take a break to re-evaluate yourself.

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Interview

with SCOMEdians

Name: Abdullah Al-Khafajy Year of study/ University: Graduated University of Baghdad / College of Medicine SCOME Experience/Medical Education related C.V.: IFMSA Liaison Officer for Medical Education Issues (20/21) IFMSA SCOME General Assistant (19/20) IFMSA-Iraq NOME (18/19) IFMSA-Iraq NOME Assistant (17/18) IFMSA-Iraq Baghdad LOME (16/17)

Tell us your story/journey in SCOME and Medical Education generally.

My story goes back to the year 2015 during my first year in Med School where I met the NOME of my NMO (IFMSA-Iraq) by complete coincidence, we became friends and he invited me to join SCOME, I’ve become a loyal member to the standing committee and gradually climbed the ladder of positions by starting as a Local Officer at my University in 2016, a NOME assistant in 2017, and then a NOME of my NMO in 2018, I had an interest in Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Medical Schools and therefore I joined The National Council for Accreditation of Medical Colleges (NCAMC) as a student representative for 1 year as a representative of my NMO and Iraqi Medical Students, however.

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After the end of my term as a NOME, I applied for a position within the SCOME

After the end of my term as a NOME, I applied for a position within the SCOME International Team where I was selected to become the SCOME General Assistant (19/20), the SCOME IT experience and work environment was so enriching and rewarding, and therefore I decided to take it one step further combining my interests in Medical Education and External Affairs to run for the position of the Liaison Officer for Medical Education Issues, I was elected by NMOs during August Meeting 2020 and it was one of the happiest moments of my life, I had the opportunity to work as the representative of all medical students worldwide at the Executive Council of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) and the Executive Committee of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), and worked with the most inspiring Medical Education stakeholders globally during this term (20/21).

Now, I’m writing you this story during my last month of the term as IFMSA LME and as a recently graduated Medical Doctor from the University of Baghdad / College of Medicine.

Why did you choose IFMSA and SCOME Specifically?

IFMSA opens many doors and opportunities for you as a medical student, it adds new dimensions to your life through its meaningful activities and it allows you to connect with like-minded people from different parts of the world to work on solutions for the most pressing global issues in Global Health, Rights, and Education.

SCOME in specific has the most relevance to your personal context as a student and is the most important advocacy priority for you as a future doctor, SCOME gives you access to the tools where you can take ownership of your education, improve quality, and expand your learning outcomes via student engagement and participation, students deserve a seat at the table when it comes to making decisions of their education, and SCOME teaches you how you can use that seat in the most efficient manner possible for the benefit of students and learners.

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What did SCOME work add to you?

SCOME taught me how to be a powerful advocate for my student rights, it gave me a voice to speak up about the flaws of my medical education system and gave me access to communicate and collaborate with its global network, perhaps one of the best things that happened in my lifetime was that I made friends from 80+ countries worldwide whom I share with similar goals and aspirations.

I have gained so much knowledge and experience by attending SCOME sessions during IFMSA meetings and improved my soft skills such as leadership, communication, advocacy, presentation skills, emotional intelligence, and so many others, and I was able to implement projects on the local, national, and international levels which some of are still running even though I am no longer in the position in charge of the projects.

How do you manage to stay updated in the medical education field?

Very easy and simple! I follow the IFMSA SCOME email server and Facebook Group, and I also the social media handles of the global MedEd stakeholders such as the World federation for Medical Education (WFME), and the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE).

Tell us about the opportunities available for students who are interested in ME? IFMSA offers students many opportunities to engage and interact with the world of Medical Education through: SCOME sessions at the IFMSA Meetings (General Assemblies, Regional Meetings, NGAs,...).

Medical Education workshops like the Training Medical Education Trainers (TMET) workshop, and the Advocacy in Medical Education Training (AMET) workshop during the IFMSA Sub-Regional Trainings (SRTs) and pre-conference events (PreGAs, Pre-RMs,...).

The SCOME Online webinars, campaigns, and activities.

The opportunity to represent IFMSA and become a delegate to an external meeting such as the WFME World Conference, the AMEE Conference, the TUFH Conference, and many others.

All those opportunities and many others are constantly being announced through the SCOME Facebook Group and email server.

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Your message to the next medical education enthusiasts’ generation?

COVID-19 has taken a big hit on our education, many of our educational institutions weren’t prepared for this pandemic, and many are struggling to adapt to the new norm of education.

I believe that you have a great responsibility to take an active role in the adaptation process by working hand in hand with the faculty, government, administration, and global stakeholders, as well as to explore new methodologies and platforms that enhance learning and compensate for the educational components that we are facing the risk of losing during the pandemic and any other global health emergencies that we might face.

Any advice for self-development or any personal advice?

Do not ever underestimate what a one passionate, well informed, and empowered young student can do to make a difference in their health and education reality.

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7

Meaningful Student Involvement

Session Design

8

SCOME in depth

Research in Medical Education 9

Global Health Education

Rural Health

Assessment & Evaluation

SCOME Library Here

Advocacy in Medical Education

10

Accreditation of Medical Schools 11

Teaching & Learning Theories 12

Social Accountability

Curriculum Design and Development

How to stay updated and become involved?

Join Google groups server This is where all IFMSA opportunities are shared regularly with members. It is a service from Google that supports discussion groups, through which you can create and participate in online forums and email-based groups with a rich community experience. You can also use your Group to share documents, pictures, calendars, invitations, and other resources

• IFMSA General Server • IFMSA SCOME Server • IFMSA Africa Server • MedSIN-Sudan General Server

How to stay updated and become involved?

• IFMSA Facebook Page • IFMSA-SCOME Facebook Group • MedSIN-Sudan Facebook Page • MedSIN-Sudan Telegram Channel • MedSIN-Sudan SCOME Facebook Page • MedSIN-Sudan SCOME Telegram Channel • MedSIN-Sudan KMSA Facebook Page

Important SCOME Resources • AM21 SCOME Regulations • AM21 SCOME Capacity Building Regulations • A Medical Student’s Guide to Student-led Interprofessional Educational Activities • A Collaborative Approach Towards Active Patients Involvement in Undergraduate Medical Education • Meaningful Student Engagement in Accreditation and Quality Assurance • TMET Framework • Social Accountability Manual • SCOME Manual 9th Edition • SCOME Capacity Building Manual • SCOME Approach to IFMSA Global Priorities • Public Health in Medical Education • Policy Making and Usage Toolkit • Non-Formal Medical Education • Advocacy in Medical Curriculum Toolkit • NOME Manual • The World of Medical Education 2.0 Drive • IFMSA Global Priorities 2021/21 Proposal • Other Manuals and toolkits

References Documents (Regulations, Strategy) World of Medical Education 2.0 AMEE Conference An International Association For Medical Education - AMEE IFMSA Programs Toolkit SCOME CB Manual.pdf Medical Education (SCOME) - IFMSA SCOME Strategy 2018 - 2021 by International Federation of Medical Students' Associations - Issuu SCOME Manual (9th edition, 2020).pdf IFMSA Health Systems Program IFMSA Teaching Medical Skills Program IFMSA Medical Education Systems Program SCOME Manual - 8th Edition by International Federation of Medical Students' Associations - Issuu SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN MEDICAL SCHOOLS STUDENTS' TOOLKIT IFMSA Policy Proposal Accreditation and Quality Assurance The Path of Undergraduate Medical Education in Sudan | Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences (SJMS) ‫الجمعية_السودانية_لروابط_طالب_الطب‬ HISTORY OF MEDICAL EDUCATION Medical residency in Portugal: a complete guide for foreign doctors - Atlantic Bridge A Career in Medical Education: What you need to know Medical Education (SCOME) - IFMSA What is Medical Education | IGI Global E-Learning and Augmented Reality (AR) for Chronic Wound Assessment: Promoting Learning and Quality of Care: Medicine & Healthcare Book Chapter | IGI Global SoME-Oct2006 – WMA

References World Medical Association Statement on Medical Education History of Medicine Timeline Ancient Greek Medicine - World History Encyclopedia The history of medical teaching - The Lancet The Path of Undergraduate Medical Education in Sudan MedSIN-KMSA SCORP Manual Research in Medical Education: A Primer for Medical Students Advocacy in Medical Education Training - IFMSA

To Medical Education and Beyond!

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