IFMSA The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) is a non-profit, non-governmental and non-partisan organization representing associations of medical students internationally. IFMSA was founded in 1951 and currently maintains 124 National Member Organizations from more than 100 countries across six continents with over 1,3 million students represented worldwide. IFMSA is recognized as a non-governmental organization within the United Nations’ system and the World Health Organization and as well, it is a student chapter of the World Medical Association. For more than 60 years, IFMSA has existed to bring together the global medical students community at the local, national and international level on social and health issues.
Imprint Standing Committee - Director Stijntje Dijk - The Netherlands SCOME - International Team Stijntje Dijk - The Netherlands Agostinho Sousa - Portugal Rasha Osama - Sudan Scott Hodgson - Canada Yameen Hamid - Bangladesh Ahmad Badr - Egypt Rachel Bruls - The Netherlands Publications Division Diogo Martins - Portugal Mohammed Yasser - Egypt
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Notice: All reasonable precautions have been taken by the IFMSA to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall the IFMSA be liable for damages arising from its use. Some of the photos and graphics used are property of their authors. We have taken every consideration not to violate their rights
International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations General Secretariat: IFMSA c/o WMA B.P. 63 01212 Ferney-Voltaire, France Phone: +33 450 404 759 Fax: +33 450 405 937 Email: gs@ifmsa.org Homepage: www.ifmsa.org
Contacts
scomed@ifmsa.org
Summary www.ifmsa.org
3
Director’s Message
4
Timeline 2013-2014
5
Introduction to IFMSA
6
Introduction to SCOME
Farewell message and introduction to the Annual Report
Major achievements of the term
General Introduction to the Federation’s work
General introduction to SCOME’s work
18
General Achievements and priorities
29
Small Working Group reports
41
Regional accomplishments
57
General Assemblies
72
External Representation
84
Detailed description of the activities of SCOME of this term
Reports of the various Medical Education working on SCOMEs priorities
Reflections by the Regional Assistants 2013-2014
Reflection on the work done during the March and August Meeting 2014
Major priorities and activities related to our externals and partners
Global Policy on Medical Education
Policy paper adopted during the August Meeting 2014 that reflects SCOMEs policy and perspectives
95
Director’s Message for the term 2014-2015
95
How to stay in touch / additional resources
Message by the SCOME-Director elect
Get involved using the many communication channels and resources
Directors’ message Dear reader,
Stijntje Dijk SCOME Director 2013-2014 scomed@ifmsa.org
Sending you this end of term message means that today is my last day as the IFMSA SCOME Director. But I feel no sadness whatsoever: I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to help our incredible Standing Committee grow, to work with some of the most passionate and enthusiastic brilliant minds all over the world, and to have learnt more myself than I could have ever imagined. I believe saying that SCOME has seen a great term this year would be an understatement: I have never had the feeling this group was so alive. The General Assemblies and Regional Meetings from my point of view have been a huge success, we’ve developed a new capacity building programme called Training Medical Education Trainers to ensure sustainabilty, the International Team has tried to bring SCOME to the local and national levels through interactive reporting and regional online meetings, more than doubled our Social Media outreach, accepted a Global Policy in Medical Education, the endorsement of our exchang-
es , and so much more, not even to mention all the major successes that have been achieved on the local level. Our work to empower medical students to become leaders in health care is deeply meaningful to me, that’s why I’m not only happy to leave SCOME in the very capable hands of my successor, Ahmad Badr, who has been an incredible friend and collegue who will continue to inspire medical students worldwide, but am also lucky enough to continue on his side for another term as the Liaison Officer for Medical Education issues. If you ever have any questions regarding this annual report, please never hesitate to contact us. Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported Medical Education, the IFMSA and the entire SCOME international team throughout the year. With immense gratitude, love and warmth,
Stijntje Dijk SCOME Director 2013-2014
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Timeline 2013-2014
October
Start of the term! Selection of the International Team Team of Officials Meeting 1 Creating the Annual Work Plan
November
Creation Small working groups AMEE Symposium proposal accpeted IFMSA We Want Campain Launch
December
African Regional Meeting Start preparations March Meeting Initial plan for Projects Database Subregional Training Guidelines
January
Pre-Americas Med Ed workshop Americas and EMR Regional Meeting Team of Officials Meeting 2
February Renewal of the NMO reports Full March Meeting Preparations Pre-MM / TOM 3 IFMSA We Want and SRT manual
March
March Meeting 2014, Tunisia Midterm evaluation Launch of the Projects database
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April
Team of Officials Meeting 4 Pre-European RM Med Ed European Regional Meeting Standing Committee Reform
May
(Pre) World Health Assembly Collaboration ICRC Healthcare in Danger AMEE Student TF selections
June
Standing Committee Regulations Webinar Essential Skills in Advocacy Transformative Education WHO
July
End-term reports Last August Meeting preparations Search Candidates next term Prepare handover
August Training Med Ed Trainers workshop, TOM5, August Meeting, TOM0, handover AMEE 2014 preparations
September
AMEE 2014, AMSE 2014 Asia Pacific Pre RM and RM Handover, annual report, round up Programmes development
Introduction to IFMSA “A world in which all medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally and globally” The year was 1951, as the world was rebuilding itself after the world war II, when medical students from eight countries (Denmark,, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, England, The Netherlands and Austria) gathered in Copenhagen to start a non-political organization for medical students. The purpose of this organization is to “study and promote the interests of medical student cooperation on a purely professional basis, and promoting activities in the field of student health and student relief”. So the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) was born. Initially three committees are formed: Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME), Standing Committee on Professional Exchange (SCOPE), and Standing Committee on Students’ Health (SCOSH). One year later the first General Assembly (GA) took place in London, 30 students participate representing 10 countries. By now, the original eight member countries have been joined by many more. IFMSA is the world’s largest student organization representing medical students from 117 countries and 124 National Member Organizations. IFMSA unites medical students worldwide to lead initiatives that impact positively the communities we serve. IFMSA represents the opinions and ideas of future health professionals in the field of global health, and works in collaboration with external professionals in the field of global health, and works in collaboration with external partners. IFMSA builds capacity through training, project and exchange opportunities, while embracing cultural diversity so as to shape a sustainable and healthy future. The core purpose of IFMSA is to bring together the global community of medical students at the local, national and international level on social and health issues.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Introduction to SCOME There are six existing Standing Committees within the IFMSA: Professional Exchanges (SCOPE), Research Exchanges (SCORE), Public Health (SCOPH), Human Rights and Peace (SCORP), Sexual Health including HIV and AIDS (SCORA) and finally: Medical Education (SCOME). Medical Education should be a concern of every medical student as M.E includes both curricular activities and extracurricular activities; hence, it shapes not only the quality of future doctors, but also the quality of healthcare. As medical students are directly exposed to medical curricula, they are the first quality check of medical education and they should rightfully have an influence on the creation of new curricula and curriculum development. It is often the medical students who are the strongest proponents for adapting their education to the needs of their community. We are concerned with facing the needs of healthcare in a modern society and are willing to commit to make sure our education prepares us for them. Here SCOME enters the game. The purpose of the SCOME is to gather students from all over the world who would be interested in playing an active role in their medical education; how to analyse it and then advocate to adapt it to the present and future needs as future doctors.
www.ifmsa.org
As medical students are directSCOME offers an international platform for medical students to come together, to be empowered and receive capacity building trainings to enhance their impact on the local level through projects and advocacy, and on the other hand forms a tool that represents the voices of medical students worldwide through international organizations such as the World Health Organization, World Medical Association, World Health Organization, World Federation for Medical Educaiton and many others. Throughout the year, our members come together in two General Assemblies (March and August) and in five Regional Meetings, can participate in online meetings or in Small Working Groups on specific topics, and are constantly updated by the International Team on activities that are going on globally. In this annual report you will find the highlights of the activities from this term.
General achievements and priorities
Strategy and plan of action At the beginning of the term, the SCOME International Team combined the Plan of Action of all members into a general strategy for the term. Halfway through term, an evaluation of the plan of action was shared with NMOs to see which points would still need to be addressed in the second half of term. The headings of the following report will reflect on what was achieved in each of the subjects. NMO Invovlement and needs In the beginning of term, we sent out a survey to evaluate the needs of each country, and evaluated the outcomes of the NMO reports that were submitted the term before. Major points of attention that came out of these evaluations were the request for NMO inclusion in the international level and transparency, and more regulated use of the internal communication channels. All Regional Assistants approached each of their NMOs individually for follow up.
Standing Committee Regulations After seeing the variation between all different years for the Standing Committees, the Standing Committee Directors proposed the new Standing Committee Regulations that were adopted at the August Meeting 2014. This document will hopefully guide future Directors and International Teams towards more unity between their works, as well as give a clear image to members what they can and cannot expect from their International Teams. The document gives recommendations regarding for example the preparations and deadlines around IFMSA events, availability of IT members, the number of assistants, the revision of the Strategic Plan of the Standing Committee. Events Besides the work that the Standing Committee does online throughout the year, several meetings take place where our members can meet to exchange ideas, projects, attend trainings and present their work to each other. The most famous examples are the two General As-
Communication The SCOME International Team has kept a monthly log of each individuals activities to increase transparency within the Standing Committee into what the members were working on. We also launched a monthly ‘video-update’, in each of which members of the International Team talked about their activities for the month (or in March and August two months due to the mid-/end-term reports). Through these video reports we tried to make the international level more approachable to our members. Communication on the e-mail server became more regulated, as feedback from previous years showed that members did not appreciate ‘general’ messages being shared on the mailinglists that were not specific to Medical Education. The server was mainly used to send calls for participants in activities, to share manuals and follow up reports.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
General achievements and priorities semblies that take place in March (MM14, Tunisia) and in August (AM14, Taiwan), as well as the 5 Regional Meetings (Ethiopia, Panama, Kuweit, Poland and Bangladesh). These meetings will be included in section later in this report under the Regions and General Assemblies. The General Feedback we received from previous years contained a request for more time for National and Local Members, less time on projects (as projects can be presented during the Fair and Presentations), and more interactive sessions, that we have hoped to implement during the term. In addition to the general meetings, a Pre-Workshop was organized in the August Meeting, Americas, European and Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting, to train members in the Essentials of Medical Education and Student Representation. Subregional Trainings Besides the IFMSA Face to Face meetings, there had been a request for an increase of Regional activities, therefore the SCOME International Team and Team of Officials developed a new Subregional Training manual and system, that would be available for National Member Organizations willing to host such events. An advantage for members could be financial (less travel), the time of the year (exam periods), access (IFMSA events have limited spots for delegates per country) and the opportunity for discussion of (Sub)regionally important topics or getting rid of barriers such as language. The first SCOME SRT was hosted by PorMSIC, Portugal, in September 2014. Online meetings Each of the regions has held regular online meetings for National Officers to come together to discuss the issues they wanted to, and to be in direct contact with their Regional Assistant, the Director and the Liaison Officer. Apart from the Regional Online Meetings, SCOME hosted 2 online webinars/trainings related to Advocacy and Policy, discussing also the proposal for the new Policy in Medical Education that was adopted in August 2014. Another online training held was the training to empower Local Officers, at the request of one of the regions.
www.ifmsa.org
General achievements and priorities Projects SCOME has two major ways of working on the local and national level: one is through student representation, on is through projects. When advocacy is not enough and not making a quick enough change, our members create their own projects to fill the missing gaps in the curricula. Members can exchange their ideas for projects in several ways: through the use of the servers and facebook groups, through the online meetings, through the SCOME sessions at the GAs and Regional Meetings, the Activities Fair and Presentations, and the Medical Student International magazine. Many members however requested a more sustainable way of advertising their local and national projects, to even access the proposals from other NMOs online when they could not attend the meetings. Therefore, the SCOME International Team worked with the Team of Officials to create a local Projects Directory ont he ifmsa.org website. At the moment, only National Presidents can edit content on the database Transnational Projects In the term 2013-2014, SCOME had the following Transnational Projects under its division: - Breaking the Silence, a project on teaching medical students medical sign language, bridging the gaps
between docters and deaf patients - Surgical Suturing Competency Based Skills Training, a project that provides medical students with suturing workshops - World Health Organization Similations, a project in which medical students get the experience of being in a WHO setting, learning about Global Health and Diplomacy - Medicafe, projects where medical topics are discussed in an informal setting to increase student engagement - Dying, a Human Thing, provides medical students with a patient centered approach to the process of dying - Good Medical Practice, based on teaching and advocating for proper use of Medical Ethics Programmes In August Meeting 2014, Taiwan, IFMSA adopted the proposal that will eliminate the currently existing projects status that IFMSA carried, and aims to create Programmes that will integrate efforts, projects and activities on the international, national and local levels within a thematic framework. The programmes will be proposed by the SCOME International Team 2014-2015. Small Working Groups During the year, SCOME coordinated several SWGs that reflected the priorities of this term, they can be found in one of the following sections of this report.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Small Working Groups Non Formal Education Coordinator: Ahmad Badr NMO: IFMSA-Egypt Contact: ahmadbamesah@hotmail.com Plan of action Non Formal Education forms an enormous part of that what IFMSA does and standsfor. It is any organized educational activity outside the established formal system – whether operating separately or as an important feature of some broader activity – that is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives. Trainings, IFMSA sessions are examples of Non-formal education. The Small working group aims to work on increasing awareness among IFMSA members of what non-formal education is. Its importance , and advocacy for recognition of non-formal education within faculties. Description of the action taken this year - Call for enthusiastic IFMSAians who wanted to be part of this SWG and who wanted to work on this important issue was sent out on the servers - Meetings with the team were held to develop strategy on how to move forward - Main objectives revolved around capacity building and on surveying - A survey was done to ask medical students worldwide and assess their knowledge of non-formal education and if any recognition of these activities was done in their schools. The result of the survey is available at the final report of the working group - Capacity building was done through focusing on introducing the concept and on increasing awareness on NFE and why it’s important in IFMSA in all of the IFMSA regional meetings as well as in the March and August meeting General Assemblies Recommendations for future action/follow up Non-Formal Education will work as a part of a program next year. Along with working on more capacity building , focus on working with the concept of quality assurance of non-formal education activities should be done next year.
www.ifmsa.org
Global Health Education Coordinator: Elizabeth Thomas NMO: Medsin UK Contact: beth.thomas1990@gmail.com Plan of action We were formed to create a toolkit for NMOs who wanted to advocate for more global health education in their medical school curricula. To create this toolkit, we aimed to gather student experiences through the IFMSA at the August meeting this year, analyse them and create a region specific/ culturally relevant toolkit for NMOs. Description of the action taken this year SCOME, SCOPH and SCORP participants at AM14 as well as members of the Think Global mailing list were asked to identify interested parties in their NMO to fill out the survey. To date, we have 16 participants who have not campaigned for GHE, 3 participants who have run unsuccessful campaigns and 10 participants who have run successful campaigns for GHE from 21 different NMOs. I am meeting with a professor of primary care from my university next week and will use this meeting alongside advice from other professors i have received via email to come up with a strategic plan of data analysis. Hopefully the initial analysis will be completed by the end of november and the toolkit will be ready in the spring. Recommendations for future action/follow up Data finished Nov 2014 toolkit created by August meeting 2015
Small Working Groups Interprofessional Ed Coordinator: Kornelija Maceviciute NMO: LiMSA Lithuania Contact: kornelijamac@gmail.com Plan of action The topic of Interprofessional education (IPE) was discussed during a meeting of IFMSA, and after agreeing upon importance of it, there was a need fo create a working group, who should work on increasing the awareness of the importance of taking an interprofessional approach to medicine and education. The group should work on reviewing the current situation of IPE within our federation, evaluating it, and afterwards creating materials to introduce the importance to the members, suggestions on activities or a manual on interprofessionalism. Description of the action taken this year We established a quite diverse group of 8 people and have worked on defining the priorities for our work, creating plans on possible campaigning for the future and the group decided first to do some research on certain topics regarding interprofessional education. We had 3 online meetings, divided into research topics, delivered some research on them. Also, there was a joint session on interprofessional education during the General Assembly August Meeting in Taiwan. Recommendations for future action/follow up Now that we have the basis to work on, we should carry out the third point of our plan - which is creating the toolkit and materials, maybe even a video (as some memebers expressed the will to do that), for promoting interprofessional education within the federation. Also, this topic should be explored during the GA’s as well. Having a session, presentation, promotion of the created toolkit, presenting opportunities with our partners in order to raise more awareness to the members directly, not only online.
SRH in the Curriculum Coordinator: Rasha Osama NMO: Medsin Sudan Contact: tashaalkashif@gmail.com Plan of action Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Medical Curriculum: The realisation of an individual’s sexual and reproductive health and rights is affected by an innumerable amount of barriers. One of these barriers is health care delivery and how it relates directly to the knowledge and skills of health care providers. This knowledge and skills are not limited purely to medical practices and literature, but also to the providers’ training and ability to provide care in a non-judgemental, supportive environment. The ability of physicians to provide such services is grounded in the earliest of their training - during their time as medical students-, where the foundation for all future learning and skills building is set. In order to address community concerns about the provision of a such safe, non-judgemental services by doctors, we plan to investigate the current state of sexual and reproductive health in medical curricula globally. The research plans to employ both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the current training that future-providers are given in these topics. We will also examine the education delivery in the larger sociocultural and legal context to assess the effect that it has on provision of care. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to utilize the methods outlined below to identify what is currently being taught in medical curricula globally in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to identify current gaps between stated curriculum(s) and the realities of its provision. We will also identify cases of best practice(s) and develop a suggested curriculum based on our findings. Description of the action taken this year Forming a competent team with filters. Setting up SWG methodology manuale, proposal. Started forming the survey and contacting concerned externals. Recommendations for future action/follow up Forming a stick on plan of action, distributing the survey for feedback.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Small Working Groups MedEd Databases Coordinator: Rachel Bruls NMO: IFMSA-The Netherlands Contact: Rachelbruls@gmail.com
Student Rights&wellness Coordinator: Scott Hodgson NMO: CFMS Canada Contact: umhodgso@myumanitoba.ca
Plan of action This group will work on the creation of a curriculum and residency database, something that SCOME has tried to establish in the past years.
Plan of action This group was designed in order to estimate the current state of human rights and wellness, and to then advocate for improved students rights and wellness.
Vision: to use our IFMSA network to gather information that is useful for sharing and learning from each other so medical education can be improved. Mission: to create a professional database on medical education (curriculum + residency (+WAMTE)). Goals: 路 Make a plan of what information database should cover 路 Find efficient way to gather information 路 Find way to keep information up-to-date 路 Work professionally with WFME and FAIMER
Description of the action taken this year Unfortunately we ran into major troubles this year running this group. Huge delays were encountered by members of the group, as well as major delays introduced by collaborators. This resulted in very little action actually being taken, besides an accumulation of research and resources to use in the future.
Description of the action taken this year When the group was formed, the AMV was made and creating this document helped us a lot knowing why we were doing this. Together with Agostinho I worked a lot on the establishment of a collaboration with the WFME and FAIMER and their World Directory of Medical Schools. When this was established we started creating a plan of action and when we agreed on this we started working on questions. At the AMEE Conference 2014 we met again with the externals and talked more about how to continue from here. Recommendations for future action/follow up I think the PSWG can be finished and the work of the further creation of the database can be done by one person, because now it will be creating questionairres and distributing them. This work can be done by the SCOME IT. For the residency database part, this is something that still needs extra work and I would suggest not creating a PSWG for this, but having one person responsible and together with the LOMEi looking at possible externals to work with here and to see the possibilities of adding this to the WDMS.
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Recommendations for future action/follow up I recommend using the plan that I made for this group, and following it using the resources that were collected over this year.
Small Working Groups Internal Operations Coordinator: Yameen Hamid NMO: BMSS Banglades Contact: yhamid91@yahoo.com Plan of action This group was created to focus on following, topics: - The creation of an online discussion forum, - A resource database - Renewal of the SCOME manual, - Creation of the Standing Committee Regulations Description of the action taken this year 1. Compiling documents for SCOME manual 2. Selection of topics for discussion 3. Draft on call for resource related to ME Recommendations for future action/follow up 1. Subdivide the SWG according to work 2. Be strict about ‘miss in action’ and deadline 3. Follow up- peer review, reporting format
Science and Research Coordinator: Ivana di Salvo NMO: SISM Italy Contact: lorma@ifmsa.org Plan of action - Increasing the knowledge of IFMSA members towards relevant scientific publications, events, and conferences, and therefore increasing IFMSA’s participation in the scientific field through attendance, workshop and session facilitation and publications (including also IFMSA columns in scientific journals) - Facilitate the discussion on research within the medical curricula through surveying, identifying best practices and supporting students to advocate for implementing research in their curriculum - Support the trainings and capacity building events related to the development of science and research development inside the organization - Serve as a platform for students that are interested in research to discuss active topics in Medical field and also Global Health - Collaboration with NMOs Projects and IFMSA Projects related to Research and Scientific Opportunities such as Research Workshop - Promotion of Scientific and Research Opportunities on www.ifmsa.org to be included in the events database (including trainings, courses, summer schools, conferences, meetings, congresses and other relevant opportunities) Description of the action taken this year The SWG has unfortunately seen several changes in leadership during the term and has therefore only managed to establish the detailed plan of action, has worked on the Policy Statement on Open Access and OpenCon, and hosted the Scientific Poster Session during the August Meeting 2014, Taiwan Recommendations for future action/follow up To transform the detailed plan of action into a programme within the IFMSA structure and to ensure the proposed work is not lost and IFMSA ceizes the opportunity to work within the field of Medical Science and Research more than before.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
African Region
Rasha Osama Regional Assistant for Africa 2013-2014 ra.scome.africa@gmail.com
Most important achievements in the region: Throughout the term, establishing and developing already established SCOME offices in the region was the main focus. Africa-SCOME is now a more active, innovative office; with the S.O.S (Start Off Sheet) three new SCOME offices managed to launch. In addition to regular follow up and discussion to the common problems national officers face, we came up with good solutions to keep members interested. A curriculum database project is now launched, in addition to other two important initiatives regarding Medical Education in the region: An african Educational Development Center & a future electronic library to assist students throughout africa. A great achievement would also be, creating good relations and bonds amongst national officers and active members in the region. Communication is not as dramatic problem as it used to be. In this term, four new offices joined the league of active SCOME offices (FUMSA, EMSA, MSAKE and IFMSA-Sierra Leone). African NMOs are now able to hold national SCOME conferences campaigns and events. Monthly online meetings took place to keep track of the progress in addition to monthly reports. The SCOME session was successfully held during the African Regional Meeting, Ethiopia 2013 with the direct supervision of our director Stijntje Dijk. Contents were introduced in addition to minor trainings and projects presentations. A very good feedback was obtained from the SCOME delegates. Most important achievements in the region: One of the most important happenings in the region throughout this term would be: 1-SCOME session in the ARM12. 2-SCOME activation in the following NMOs [Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Sierra Leone]. 3-IFMSA initiative raising awareness and fighting Ebola in the region. Most important achievements by RA: Establishing the upcoming project (EDC-Africa) :Education Development Center-Africa via contacting professor Ahmed Shallaly and Mr. Ismat Wally. Raising conscious in national officers at attending the online meetings, number of OLM meetings is reasonable now.
www.ifmsa.org
Providing a template for African NMOs to successfully start a SCOME office (S.O.S): Start Off Sheet. Good feedback to both regional and international team on SCOME’s stance throughout the term. Most important challenges faced: Insufficient feedback from national officers regarding activities in SCCOME. Communication issues, some countries speak french and no good english, it was difficult to maintain a good channel of communication. Lack of respect to deadlines. Dear upcoming RA, make sure to establish full online meetings elements beforehead, assigning tasks to attendees before the meeting seems to guarantee more attendance, e,g: time keeper, minutes taker..etc. To do list for the future IT: 1-EDC-Africa. 2-Electronic Library. 3-Curriculum database-Africa. Closing remarks: Remember, without ME its just AWESO.. Taking care of educational materials is an important task, I believe only courageous ones take upon such a mission.
Americas Region
Scott Hodgson Regional Assistant for the Americas 2013-2014 ra.scome.pamsa@gmail.com
Most important achievements in the region: As the regional assistant for medical education in the Americas, one of my biggest achievements was the SCOME sessions given at the Regional Meeting. Over that week, I delivered over 20 hours of workshops designed with the intention of giving the attending delegates the basic skills and knowledge needed to advocate for curriculum change, as well as focused information within students rights and wellness, indigenous health and education, and global health education. In addition, I spent energy staying in contact and offering advice to any NOMEs or LOMEs who felt that they needed guidance. This contact and guidance was one of the key parts of the position for me. Of course, the items discussed with them will not be mentioned here, as confidentiality in these matters are important. Needless to say, I learnt about a lot of wonderful projects and initiatives happening within the region. Most important achievements in the region: There was some discussion with different groups about students rights and wellness, including a presentation on post-return debrief at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME), although most of these discussions have stalled at this point. The members of SCOME in the Americas had many achievements on a national level. Within the different countries, strides were made in terms of great national projects such as Rare Diseases, Sexual Health Education, and Indigenous Rights. As always, there are some problems with collaboration within the region as communication is difficult to maintain, but the members spent time and energy to overcome these issues, and I believe that as a region SCOME will continue to grow. Most important achievements by RA: Most of my energy was spent on the permanent small working group I was leading (see below), although unfortunately this resulted in very low yields compared to those I wished for. In addition to that, I also worked on a Canadian project on post-return debrief, with the intention of sharing the results with the IFMSA Most important challenges faced: - Time Management: There is simply too much to do for one person with regards to communication, organizing, meetings, and representation. It is extremely difficult to balance this job and school, to the point that I decided to take a leave from school to focus on this position. The solution to this would be to find many assistants for the regional assis-
tant, and have a team to help you with your work. - Language: Within the Americas, the four main languages are English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. As a person who is only fluent in one of these, communication was often difficult. The solution would be to pick a new assistant who is fluent in more than one of these languages. - Management: Medical students are very busy. It is often difficult to receive reports from students whose lives are so busy that they can barely find time for themselves, let alone reports. The solution is to be kind and patient, but also send reminders. To do list for the future IT: - Have representation at more conferences, especially those put on by the UN and by medical education organizations within the Americas. - Have more international-aimed projects and initiatives with the help of NOMEs Regional Meeting: The Americas Regional Meeting took place January 3rd-10th, 2014. Co-facilitators were Stijntje Dijk, Agostinho Sousa and Pedro Correia de Miranda. There were between 20-30 participants. Main activities and topics during the meeting were: Activities within the Region and NMOs, Indigenous Health, Curriculum Advocacy, and Students’ Rights and Wellness. Feedback and evaluation remarks were that the sessions were organized, interactive and productive Closing remarks: My Dear SCOMEdians, At the beginning of my term, I truly did not know what this year had in store for me. Throughout the year, I was pushed to my limits (and possibly beyond them), taught much about myself and the world around me, educated in advocacy and communication, and inspired by each and every one of you that I met. I have full faith that the next RA Americas will do an amazing job in this region, with the amazing SCOMEdians here to support them. As I continue my journey towards being a physician, know that this position changed my life and my perspective, and my interactions with you all will be key in determining the type of physician I will become. Until next time, Scott Hodgson
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Asia-Pacific Region
Yameen Hamid Regional Assistant for Asia-Pacific 2013-2014 ra.scome.asiapacific@gmail. com
Most important achievements in the region: 1. Updating NOME contact list: There was no regional NOME contact list. I created a folder in my official drive. In first 3-4 months I tried to get contact of the NOMEs. Then I updated it whenever there is any handover of NOME. 2. Support to NOMEs: Pushed IFMSA-Pakistan to elect their NOME and they did it successfully. IFMSA- China showed up their interest in SCOME. I supported them with all the reosurces, they are waiting for the deision of EB. AMSA- Australia also showed their interest to collaborate with SCOME as according to their structure they don’t have traditional SCOME unit. I also supported new NOMEs from IFMSAThailand, MSA- India, Most important achievements in the region: 1. Health professional education transformation: Reform in education of health professional was an important topic being discussed in Prince Mahidol Award Conference 2014 at Thailand. This was discussed in SCOME IT as well for providing input in WHO guide for scaling up health professionals’ education early in this year. 2. Human resource for health (HRH): An statement was made on this specific agenda in 67th South East Asia Regional Committee Session 2014 at Dhaka, Bangladesh by IFMSA delegation emphasizing importance of improving learning environment and competency based education. 3. Scope of working: Representation in upcoming SEARAME meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka; WONCA South Asia Regional conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh; World Congress on Public Health in Kolkata, India. Most important achievements by RA: Assisting session team in MM 2014 directly and AM 2014 indirectly! Most important challenges faced: Lack of response, Lack of basic idea about IFMSA structure & work, Irrelevant project Recommendation: Training for NOMEs on basics of IFMSA, ME (online may be), Support in creating project, Motivation, Maintenance of ‘buddy’/ peer review for accountability of NOMEs
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To do list for the future IT: 1. Advocacy and students’ representation in conferences/ curriculum review 2. Research in medical education 3. Collaborative training with ME unit/ department Regional Meeting: This was the12th IFMSA Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting 2014, from September 15-21, 2014, and was co-facilitated by Palesh Golder and Amrutha Denduluri. There were between 10-12 participants throughout the meeting. Short description of meeting: 1. Short training on curriculum development, quality improvement, advocacy & representation 2. Discussion on global health, universal health coverage, transformative health professionals’ education 3. Update from TO on Global strategy for medical education, IFMSA reform, transformation from project to program 4. Group work on project bank, regional advocacy As a Pre-Regional Meeting, the Essential Skills in Medical Education for Students workshop was organized Closing remarks: Dearest SCOMEdians worldwide, It’s been so short time being a part of global SCOME and more importantly amazing IT. I believe each and every SCOME member is equally important and equally can contribute to achieve excellence in ME! Throughout the year we together have done so many improvement within the SCOME and I really hope it will be continuing in the fullest spirit in future also. As we are a member of biggest IFMSA family, I am ending my term with a hope that we’ll meet in future in any IFMSA meetings or events with new inspiration and just don’t forget to rock SCOME!! Hugs, Yameen, a SCOMEdian forever :)
Eastern Mediterranean Region
Ahmad Badr Regional Assistant for the EMR 2013-2014 ra.scome.emr@gmail.com
Most important achievements in the region: A major problem with the region is lack of SCOME national representation on the global scale. This year , i tried with the help of SCOME experts from the region to encourage and involve EMR SCOMEdians to join us in our international efforts. This was done by building an updated database of all NOMEs of the region and maintaining it throughout the year. This database was used for a mailing list where emails regarding relevant updates in medical education and information was sent to the NOMEs to be disseminated. Through our regular Online meetings , i tried to motivate them more to share in the many international opportunities IFMSA has to offer , and also kept track of which NOMEs weren’t showing up for the meetings in order to focus specifically on them and work with them personally to have better & stronger representation in IFMSA. Most important achievements in the region: One specific issue i was really happy to see was Oman’s initiative to include extracurricular activities as officially recognized activities by faculty and gaining credit for them using an innovative program. The main problem during the term is being able to ensure that all countries of the region are involved. It is very easy to make the mistake of working with the most active/visible members and forgetting about the rest Most important achievements by RA: - My work within the Small working group on Non-Formal Education ( details below) - Working on EMR NOME database and mailing list , especially that it was very hard to reach some NOMEs or update relevant information and encourage them to show up and be involved. - Capacity building during the various sessions of SCOME in the General Assemblies Most important challenges faced: - Not working with all the NMOs in the region. For the next term RA , keep in mind that active SCOMEdians will remain active so instead of focusing on them to finish work issues. Involve them instead to work with you on developing and empowerin less active countries/members - Work and focus on capacity building between Regional meetings. Usually regional meeting sessions dont have a lot of participants and they arent from all countries of the region
- I didn’t have a proper archiving system both internally for the SCOME team and externally for all SCOMEdians in the region. Avoid this mistake and make sure from the beginning of the year there are structured folders which has everything relevant to your region and updated workflow charts To do list for the future IT: 1- Having an IFMSA delegation in the AMEEMR 2-Creating a public SCOME folder drive with an updated calendar of year work and events and relevant documents 3-Ensuring better and more active representation of EMR SCOMEdians in IFMSA Regional Meeting: The regional meeting was in Kuwait from 2226th of January, 2014. The pre-regional meeting was from 19th-22nd of January where a medical education workshop was done to introduce medical students from the region to basics of medical education topics (curriculum development, assessment, etc.. ). The sessions were mainly focused around getting to know how medical education systems work in different countries from the region and how to work on issues regarding students’ involvement in the EMR. Sessions were facilitated by Agostinho Sousa & me. Participants were around 10-15 and the major issue was lack of representation from many countries in the EMR. Closing remarks: It isn’t very much a closing remark, I will still be involved next year in SCOME -obviously :Pbut I wanted to mention that in order to make change, we have to work hard for it. We need to learn more, understand more, and discuss more about basics of medical education and medical education systems. Only then we can be strong advocates and deliver our message. This year, many EMR SCOMEdians showed strong dedication and motivation to improving our medical education framework, and with many potential opportunities, and plans being prepared , next year is only going to be better. Thank you for a productive year.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
European Region Most important achievements in the region: I worked mostly on creating awareness amongst the European members of the Standing Committee on Medical Education about how the international level works and how they can use it for their national work. For me it was most important to be there for any questions or problems they had and help them solve it. I worked on providing the National Officer on Medical Education skills they could use in their work. Rachel Bruls Regional Assistant for Europe2013-2014 ra.scome.europe@gmail. com
Most important achievements in the region: In the beginning of the term a select group of NOMEs were active on the international level and throughout the term this number increased. NOMEs also started collaborating more and were eager to share their work. There were two things NOMEs called for in the beginning of the term: SCOME Sub-Regional Training and more information about advocacy. The first “SCOME Camp” happened in Portugal in September 2014 and there were two Webinars about advocacy topics in June Most important achievements by RA: Working on capacity building during the GA’s, for me mainly the March Meeting. Hosting a online training on motivating LOMEs together with the IFMSA Training Support Division Director. Working on interprofessional education by joining the PSWG on that topic and attending a conference on One Health of the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) and the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME). Most important challenges faced: The most difficult thing in Europe is to stay in contact with all NOMEs. For many NMOs there is no NOME or it’s hard to get respons from them. What I recomment for next term is to try to find an active SCOMEdian that wants to be active on the international level or to get contact with the NMO through their president. Something difficult in the region is the difference in experience and knowledge. I found it hard to challenge the NOMEs that had more knowledge than the rest. It would be good to talk with them seperatly to give them extra challenges. To do list for the future IT: I wanted to finish the NOMEs database for Europe, but I still don’t have the contacts of a lot of NOMEs. Also I wanted to work more with
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the Transnational Project Coordinators (TNPCs) during the OLMs to promote the transnational projects to our members. I think with the new plan for Programs this will be something that NOMEs can be consulted and stimulated for. Regional Meeting: The European Regional Meeting (EuRegMe) took place in Poland from the 30th of April until the 4th of May 2014. From the 27th the pre-EuRegMe took place and for SCOME there was a Essential Skills in Medical Education for Students with additional a continuation of the Workshop on the Access to Medical Training in Europe, about mobility of residents in Europe. This workshop was facilitated by Agostinho Sousa and Stijntje Dijk. The SCOME sessions in EuRegMe were co-facilitated by Eleonora Leopardi, Agostinho Sousa and Stijntje Dijk. The number of participants was 31. The sessions included training on projects and student representation, an external talk about medical apps, an introduction to advocacy for medical education and to SCOME activities and joint sessions with some of the other Standing Committees. Participants were enthusiastic about the sessions and a lot of them stayed active after the meeting. Closing remarks: It was an absolute pleasure to work on medical education for Europe. The European region is a huge challenge with lots of differences, but this makes the job very interesting. I have thousands of great memories of the fantastic collaboration with the members and the two international teams I was part of. For me this is an unforgettable year.
General Assemblies General Assemblies The main objective of the General Assembly SCOME sessions is to inspire local and national members, to exchange ideas, and to collect the information we need to make sure the International Team works according to the expectations of the members March Meeting 2014 The following sessions were held during the MM14 SCOME sessions: - Introduction to SCOME (newcomers) and Ongoing issues (experienced members) - The Future of Medical Education (external participation: Prof. M. Patricio, Past-President of AMEE, Prof. D. Gordon, President-elect WFME, Dr. E. Wheeler, Global Health Workforce Alliance WHO) - Policy statements related to Medical Education - Internal Operating Guidelines - SCOME Mission/Vision - NMO Activities (Projects) Database - Subregional Trainings - SCOME Small Working Groups: Internal Operations, Curriculum Database, Non Formal Education, Reproductive Health Education and Student Rights & Wellness - General Assembly Proposals related to SCOME - Joint Sessions - Global Core Curriculum and Global Policy in Medical Education
August Meeting 2014 After conducting a survey which topics and trainings were preferred by the members, the following topics were covered during the AM14 SCOME sessions: - Welcoming game - Meaningful Student Participation - Introduction to Policy and Advocacy - Policy Statement Discussion Human Resources for Health and Global Policy in Medical Education - Theme 1: Internationalisation, Global Health Education and Mobility. Trainings: Curriculum reform and student involvement - Standing Committee joint sessions - Theme 2: Non Formal Education. Trainings: Project Leadership and Local Officer Empowerment - Regional Time - Theme 3: Human Resources for Health. Trainings: Creating a movement, strategic planning - Vote Standing Committee Regulations Training Medical Education Trainers TMET was held in its first edition during the Pre-AM14. Members of the Standing Committee were trained to become trainers in different Medical Education topics, such as Curriculum Development, Assessment, Student Representaition, Research and many others. The newly trained trainers delivered their first sessions during the Pre-AM14 and AM14 sessions, the feedback we have received to this new concept was very positive, we’re looking forward to expanding this concept in collaboration with our external partners next year.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
External representation General introduction IFMSA and SCOME strive to represent medical students worldwide through our various partnerorganizations. Although we work together with many partners throughout the year, you will find some of our major achievements listed below. Global Policy in Medical Education In an effort to centralize medical students’ voices, IFMSA adopted the Global Policy in Medical Education (found in the next section of the annual report), replacing the currently existing various Policy Statements. This global policy was developed through a year of regional consultations and comparing the currently existing policies within the IFMSA. It was also discussed after the two online trainings in Essential skills in Advocacy. Human Resources for Health The second Policy Statement that was discussed by SCOME was on Human Resources for Health and the Health workforce, a topic that will continue to be a priority for the federaton to work on during the upcoming year Trainings SCOME focussed a lot during this term on providing our members with tools to advocate on the local and national levels, as much of the impact our members can make will directly involve their faculties. Capacity building took place during the events (Pre-General Assemblies and Pre-Regional Meetings) and through online webinars that focussed on Essential Skills in Advocacy. Also the General sessions of SCOME tried to create focus on increasing Student Representation skills and aimed to empower our members to increase the impact of their projects and activities World Federation for Medical Education IFMSA continues to appreciate the support from the WFME towards medical students worldwide and their meaningful involvement. A major accomplishment and part of our collaboration during this year was the endorsement by the WFME of the IFMSA exchanges. WFME also took part in the Symposium hosted during the AMEE 2014 conference on the educational culture in medical schools. IFMSA took part in the WFME Executive meeting. Professor David Gordon, President-elect, took part in both the AMEE symposium as well as the March Meeting 2014 SCOME sessoins. Association for Medical Education in Europe SCOME takes part in the Executive Committee of AMEE and once again took part in the coordination of the AMEE Student Taskforce, where medical students worldwide receive the opportunity to take part in this conference while
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also helping out with the logistics. We celebrated an incredible experience in Milan, Italy. WHO Transformative Education / Educational guidelines IFMSA has started to work with closely with the WHO to make the voice of medical students heard in the development of the educational guidelines. IFMSA is also one of the co-moderators of the WHO Transformative Education blog that will showcase medical students’ actions in changing Medical Education worldwide World Medical Association WMA Secretary General, Dr. Otmar Kloiber, also took part in the AMEE 2014 symposium on the educational culture in Medical Schools. WMA and IFMSA co-organized the side event “violence against women and girls” during the World Health Assembly 2014, Geneva. The SCOME Director took part in a three month internship at the WMA giving her the opportunity to update the SCOME archives at the IFMSA Office in Ferney-Voltaire, as well as establish a basis for collaboration with the World Health Professions Alliance for the existing Small Working Group on Interprofessional Education Healthcare in Danger The international campaign “Healthcare in Danger” by the International Committee of the Red Cross, became a common project between SCOME and SCORP (Standing Committee on human Rights and Peace), and will hopefully continue in a form of collaboration throughout the next term in a series of workshops, Subregional Trainings and Pre-General Assemblies.
Global Policy in Medical Education IFMSA POLICY STATEMENT Global Policy on Medical Education Location: Taipei, Taiwan Date of adoption: August 8th 2014 Date of expiry: August 8th 2017 Summary The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) is strongly committed to the improvement of medical education worldwide. In this document, IFMSA states its beliefs in ten key areas of action that must be addressed: 1. Lifelong Learning; 2. Sustainability; 3.Research and Innovation; 4.Education, and the Teaching Mission; 5. Readable and Comparable Degrees; 6. Mobility; 7. International Openness and Global Health Education; 8. Social Dimension, Equitable Access and Completion; 9. Quality Assurance; 10. Governance. IFMSA commits to promote and advocate for these principles with the different stakeholders and considers fundamental the involvement of medical students on the all the processes relevant to our education. Introduction The IFMSA believes that medical students should be valued contributors in the advancement of medical education. We believe that students are competent, active and constructive partners in the development and governance of medical educational systems. Furthermore, as medical education outcomes may influence future life opportunities, the IFMSA believes that student involvement in these processes improves fairness and equality. We push forward this idea by the presentation of this policy in key areas related to medical Education. The IFMSA also affirms that student organisations provide the improvement of learning opportunities for students, enabling the development of valuable leadership skills and individual responsibility through participation and leadership in student activities and organizations. IFMSA believes that medical education must, at all times, be relevant, up-to-date, evidence based and based on the ethical principles underlined in the Dec-
laration of Geneva and Declaration of Helsinki. (1)(2) IFMSA believes medical education should adapt to the continuous changes of the society and to the different geographic needs in the world. IFMSA considers also as cornerstones for this policy statement the following documents: - WFME Global Standards of Medical Education (3) (4)(5) - Global Consensus for Social Accountability of Medical Schools (6) - WFME/WHO Guidelines for Accreditation of Basic Medical Education (7) - WHO Education Guidelines (8) - WHO Multi-professional Patient Safety Curriculum Guide (9) Main Text 1. Life Long Learning (LLL) IFMSA strongly believes that LLL and Continuous Medical Education (CME) are cornerstones in development of medical education. LLL must be defined as a learning outcome of the medical school and the curriculum must be designed in order to prepare the students to develop life-long learning skills, such as self-assessment and preparation for continuous education. These skills must be specifically assessed by the medical school. IFMSA affirms the importance of the design and development of medical curricula in collaboration with employers of doctors and/or those concerned with post-graduate education. Medical schools and healthcare institutions should also provide opportunities to students and doctors to attend conferences, meetings and workshops, in order to gain international experience, have boarded perspective on medical education, creation of partnerships, stimulate proactive approaches. 2. Sustainability IFMSA believes that pre and post-graduate education are necessary components of Medical Education for all the future doctors that should be integrated and sustainable. IFMSA strongly believes that the number of entries in medical school must be planned in accordance to the teaching capacity of school, which depends on the number of teachers and educational infrastructures and materials.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Global Policy in Medical Education The adjustment of the number of entries must continuously be accessed by the medical schools, for which they should take into account the teacher/student ratios and the feedback of the students on their learning conditions. The number of entries must also be defined in accordance to the necessities of the country, both in terms of total number of doctors and the specific needs in some specialties. It is fundamental to consider as a principle the adjustment of medical students, in order to be possible for the students to get a place in a residency of specialized medicine in the future. This will minimise wasted financial and human resources and to foster fair access to medical school. Strong and reliable collaboration protocols to health centres should be a priority for medical schools, in order to assure adequate clinical training facilities for all the medical students. Learning outcomes and the curriculum in medical school must reflect the competences and abilities required of a practicing doctor. These learning outcomes must be discussed and prepared in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders including employers of medical doctors, and have into account international reference documents such as the Tuning Project, the CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework. The acquisition of learning outcomes should be periodically accessed by the Medical schools, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning process provided by the school and devise the necessary improvements. IFMSA also believes that is a responsibility of the medical school to provide career advice to prepare them for the job market. Medical Schools and Healthcare institutions must share teaching responsibilities and promote and provide clinical opportunities for students as part of their study programmes, for example shadowing a junior doctor. Teaching must be considered part of what being a doctor means for a specific health system. Medical students should also be assessed before graduation to ensure that they have the competencies and abilities expected of a doctor. IFMSA also considers medical education as a responsibility of governments and societies. Health systems must not limit the students in their career choices,
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if they provide the education to them and not force them any kind of retroactively payment of education. IFMSA also considers fundamental that medical students have excellent conditions of work, respect for the medical profession, access to career progression, access to continuous professional development (CPD) and remuneration that is in accordance to the level of education, responsibility they have in the society and areas where they are more needed in the country. These conditions are essential for the retention of doctors. 3. Research and Innovation Medical schools must consider as a learning outcome for all the medical students, the ability to undertake original research and to appreciate and to evaluate published research findings. IFMSA believes that is important to provide mandatory course of research methodology, both theoretical and practical practice, and having professors from the community medicine department to follow-up with medical student and make sure that they participate in research in collaboration with research centres in the country. Research must be supported financially and logistically by the medical schools and healthcare institutions.
Global Policy in Medical Education 4. Education and the Teaching Mission IFMSA calls for the medical schools to orientate their education to an interprofessional and patient centred perspective, based. To achieve that, healthcare professionals must have appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes and their education must be practical and interdisciplinary. A motivational learning environment must be created by medical schools and healthcare institutions, where members of the healthcare team are working together as team-workers from the very beginning of their careers. Medical schools must move from a teacher centred approach to more student centred learning with empowerment of the students, flexible learning paths, an important elective component of the medical curriculum and learning tailored to the needs of individual students. Medical Schools should also foster the development of Medical Education Centres that should be responsible for the construction and advancement of the medical teaching and assessment methods, in accordance to the current lines of thought in Medical Education. Medical schools must provide learning opportunities that stimulates medical students to be advocates of improvement of healthcare and their leadership skills. The medical schools should also facilitate and support extra-curricular activities to support, encourage and motivate student involvement.
Medical students must also be encouraged to learn Medical Education, in order to be competent teachers in the future and assure the sustainability and constant improvement of the medical teaching system. Medical schools must provide mandatory workshops where teachers can improve their didactic skills. These didactic skills must be assured by the medical schools at all times. IFMSA also supports the advancement of e-learning platforms and MOOC as advancement to medical education. However, face-to-face contact and core competencies should not be replaced by these platforms. IFMSA also endorses the WFME Global Standards on Medical Education and the WHO Education Guidelines, as a tool to improve medical education worldwide. IFMSA also calls for integration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in medical curriculum. A basic knowledge about CAM-therapies and analytical tools to assess efficacy and safety would enable students to give well-founded recommendations to their future patients regarding the usage of CAM. This would help to protect patients from unsafe CAM-therapies and promote the use of CAM-therapies which have been proven in clinical trials. It is also essential for the medical students to prescribe drugs rationally and responsibly. IFMSA calls for incorporation of evidence-based prescribing and rational use of prescription drugs as a core component of undergraduate medical education worldwide.
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Global Policy in Medical Education 5 Readable and Comparable Degrees Medical schools must make information on the educational programme including the curriculum and learning outcomes accessible for the public. Medical schools must provide a document accompanying the diploma, providing a standardised description of the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies completed by the medical student. This will allow to the diploma be recognized internationally in order to improve international transparency and facilitate academic and professional recognition of qualifications. This information must be provided automatically in the end of the studies and free of charge. Medical schools should implement a system of credits based on the workload expected from students to achieve the learning outcomes. This will allow a better mutual recognition of degrees at global level and promotion of mobility. 6. Mobility Medical schools must recognize the time spent and competences acquired by medical students when they were abroad. Medical curricula must be structured in a way that encourages medical students to spend time abroad or students from abroad to spend study periods in the receiving school. Medical schools should provide electives to allow medical students to do part of their education abroad. These electives must be based on ethical principles that benefit both parties. Mobility shouldn’t be limited to medical students, but also teachers and staff must have access to mobility opportunities. Medical schools should have an officer or a staff member whose responsibility is to facilitate/manage the mobility of teachers, staff and students. These mobility opportunities should be supported financially by the medical school and/or government. Medical Schools should also support student initiatives, such as the IFMSA exchange programmes, in order to promote the mobility of medical students and the advancement of medical education worldwide.
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7. International Openness and Global Health Education Medical education must reflect international aspects of medical practice. Schools should be involved in global collaborations with other medical schools. This will create opportunities such as implementation of international health programs. The IFMSA strongly believes that it is the responsibility of all Medical Schools to ensure a comprehensive global health framework within their curriculum. To achieve this, medical schools must provide Global Health Education within both the compulsory and optional components of their medical curriculum, as well as supporting and encouraging extra-curricular global health opportunities. IFMSA is also committed to follow-up on the discussions of international evaluation exams. 8. Social Dimension, Equitable Access and Completion Medical Schools and governments must create systems where access to medical education is be based on ability, aptitude and potential of a candidate and not on their financial status, in order to increase the diversity of our future doctors and the ability of the medical profession to be representative of the population it serves. Medical Schools must aim for financial independence from tuition fees to minimise their impact on medical students and exempt medical students of low socioeconomic status from tuition fees or to provide alternative means of student financing that fully cover education and living expenses. Students should not be forced to participate in paid employment to supplement their finances to the extent that it negatively impacts their access to, participation in and completion of medical education.
Global Policy in Medical Education
IFMSA also calls for the implementation of the “Global Consensus for Social Accountability of Medical Schools” in order to make medical schools also accountable for the social trends and changes of the society. 9. Quality Assurance Medical schools must have internal and external quality assurance programmes. Medical schools must create mechanisms to evaluate the quality and competency of staff involved in teaching and to ensure that resources are available for the support of student learning are adequate and appropriate for each programme offered. Medical schools must also regularly publish up to date, impartial and objective information regarding quality assurance results. Medical schools must improve the effectiveness of the feedback process through having real analysis and effective implementation. The gathering of information must be done in a way that protects the identity of the student. IFMSA supports the existence of accreditation processes of medical schools. The purpose of accreditation should be to help medical schools improve their standards in medical education. If a medical school does not meet the standards by an accreditation agency, a deadline should be set by the agency and suggestions given on how to meet the standards. If the medical school still does not meet the standard, then it should have pre-established consequences for the school. Governments must support national/regional accreditation centres, in which the policies and decisions are independent from the government. This national/regional accreditation centres must be academic lead and certified by international accreditation agencies, such as the WFME. The IFMSA supports the WHO/WFME Guidelines
for Accreditation of Basic Medical Education, since we believe that accreditation of medical faculties is crucial to improve standards, assuring the quality of medical education and also establishing basic criteria to increase the mobility for medical students and physicians. Students must be involved in all aspects of quality assurance and not only contribute with data but also be included in analysis and dissemination of the results. In the topic of accreditation, we call for the governments and accreditation agencies to implement the following criteria: ● Students must be included as full members on of the expert committees involved in the accreditation of institutions ● The selection of the students to the Accreditation Agencies bodies must be done in a transparent process based on specific criteria that guarantees the selection’s fairness ● Involvement of the Students Unions in the process ● Involvement of Students in the local site visits of medical schools ● Accreditation agencies must provide a training/briefing course for the students before they participate in the accreditation process ● Creation of pools of student reviewers, who take part of the review teams which carry out the medical schools’ reviews 10. Governance Medical schools must mandate a minimum level of student participation within all medical education bodies, on all important matters, including but not limited to: i. Curriculum development ii. Assessment methods iii. Post-graduate entry procedures iv. Evaluation of faculty and teaching v. Quality assurance and improvement at institutional, national and international levels Medical schools must also promote the development and ongoing functioning of student organizations, which are necessary to promote student representation based on democratic principles. To accomplish this, medical students must have access to comprehensive transparent information of the educational policies of the school, in order for them to make informed decisions about medical education. In order to ensure this measures, student representatives and organisations must facilitate bilateral communication between university and students, advocate on behalf of the students they represent, promote demo-
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
Global Policy in Medical Education cratic processes within student organisations and the student representation at faculty level, communicate and collaborate with students and student organisations on local, national and international levels and advocate for transparent processes to facilitate student evaluation of medical education IFMSA Commitments IFMSA commits to promote and advocate for this policy to their external partners and external meetings and to support national member organizations in the promotion and support of this policy near their national governments and medical education institutions. IFMSA also commits to create opportunities for medical students such as global meetings, workshops, surveys, trainings, international clinical and research exchanges that will reflect the main key areas of this policy. References (1) World Medical Association. Declaration of Geneva. Divonne-les-Bains, France. 2006 (2) World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki. Fortaleza, Brazil, 2006 (3) WFME. Global Standards for Quality Improvement global standards on Basic medical education. 2003 (4) WFME. Global Standards for Quality Improvement global standards on Postgraduate Medical Education. 2003 (5) WFME. Global Standards for Quality Improvement global standards on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of Medical Doctors. 2003 (6) Global Consensus for Social Accountability of Medical Schools. 2010 (7) WHO/WFME. Guidelines for Accreditation of Basic Medical Education. 2005 (8) World Health Organization. Transforming and scaling up health professionals’ education and training: World Health Organization guidelines 2013. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2013. (9) World Health Organization. WHO Multi-professional Patient Safety Curriculum Guide. 2011
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Directors’ message for the term 2014-2015 Dear SCOMEdians,
Ahmad Badr SCOME Director 2014-2015 scomed@ifmsa.org
During my work this year, I noticed one thing: We only meet a few days every year, and out of the many hours in a week, we only spend a few on online meetings and discussions. However, we have a huge lot to cover. Medical Education is a vast world and attempting to cover every aspect is next to impossible. But then i realized that with the motivation, dedication, and spirit we have in GAs, we probably don’t need to cover everything.
As your SCOME-Director elect, and with my team, we will dedicate our time, and energy to expanding these moments of knowledge, exchange of information, and discussions. With such a limited time of a medical student, we will plan extensively to keep SCOMEdians around the world interconnected throughout the year and not only during our meetings. We aspire to maximize these beautiful moments where we get together and dream for a better future for medical education and we will do our best to keep this amazing spirit that pushes us all forward. I am certainly looking forward for next year
We don’t need to be the experts in medical education, but we need to be the most passionate, and most willing to advocate for change. Every now and then, we get together, where we satisfy our desire for more with a few drops of knowledge, not always enough, but just the perfect amount to motivate us to search, and read more so that we Ahmad Badr, can be the leaders of change. SCOME-Director elect
Standing Committee on Medical Education - Annual Report - 2013/2014
How to stay in touch? There are several ways to stay in touch with SCOMEs and IFMSAs activities: Mailinglist: All imprtant information for members concerning SCOME is sent through the official communication channel, the Yahoo Group. You can join the server by sending an empty e-mail to ifmsa-scome-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. For general information about IFMSA subscribe to ifmsa-general-subscribe@ yahoogroups.com Social Media: Like us on facebook.com/ifmsa or join the SCOME group for members. Follow us on Twitter using @IFMSA IFMSA website and blog If you want to know more about IFMSA, what is going on around the world and what our members are doing? follow up on the website ifmsa.org or the blog at ifmsa.wordpress.com Email For any remaining questions, you are always to contact the SCOME International Team members or the SCOME Director through scomed@ifmsa.org
Resourses In this annual report, you will have found a short summary of some of the major accomplisments that the Standing Committee on Medical Educaiton has seen this year. Much of the work that was done throughout the term is not only reflected within this annual report, but can also be found in manuals and reports that were created throughout the term. These resources can be found within the following public drive:
Public Drive http://tinyurl.com/scome-13-14
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The additional materials in this drive include but are not limited to: - The General Assembly Reports - The Regional Meeting Reports - The Small Working Group Reports - The Subregional Training Manual - The Global Policy in Medical Education - The International Team Monthly Reports - Links to the International Team Video Updates