The School of Medical Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, in Mendoza, Argentina, hosted the XI International Meeting of Medical Education on March 29-30, 2006. Organized by Dr. Ana Lía Vargas, a 2001 Fellow of the FAIMER Institute and former Institute Global Faculty Advisor, the meeting was attended by more than 40 individuals, including faculty from medical schools in Chile and Argentina. FAIMER representatives, John Boulet, Ph.D., Director of Research and Data Resources, and Marta van Zanten, M.Ed., Research Associate, also participated. Like their predecessors in 2003 and 2005, the conference centered on the assessment of clinical skills.
Dr. Boulet rated the conference as highly successful in promoting FAIMER’s mission of providing opportunities for the cross-cultural exchange of experience and expertise in the fields of physician training and assessment. Participants gave very positive feedback to the meeting organizer and expressed appreciation for the opportunity to network with each other and enhance their skills in clinical competence evaluation, as reflected in the feedback of Kristina Weil, M.D., Institute 2002 Fellow:
I traveled to Mendoza with two other faculty members from Universidad de los Andes (Santiago, Chile), who are working very hard on OSCE…and with two other Chilean medical doctors from the Medical School of Universidad del Desarrollo, where I am also teaching. It was a very good opportunity to share experiences and to promote new teaching techniques and FAIMER in Chile. All four colleagues were fascinated by the course and increased their interest in medical education. We are strongly thinking on the organization of a similar meeting in Santiago de Chile, probably next year.
