Health professions educators from around the world gathered in Coimbatore, India, September 5-8, 2012, to share ideas and experiences at the joint meeting of the World Federation for Medical Education’s (WFME) South East Asia Regional Association for Medical Education (SEARAME) and India’s National Conference on Health Professions Education (NCHPE). The theme of the meeting was “Social Accountability: Responding to Societal Needs through Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Health Professions Education.” Conference objectives were to:
- Apply principles of social accountability to the Southeast Asian context
- Identify and bridge gaps between current health sciences education systems and health care needs of society in the region
- Create consensus on the missions and strategies of health sciences schools related to improving the health of society in Southeast Asia
- Identify evaluation tools for assessing impact of changes to the missions and strategies of health sciences schools toward improving the health of society
- Link WFME standards addressing social accountability with regional standards for health sciences education
SEARAME NCHPE 2012 was sponsored by FAIMER and included notable contributions from FAIMER faculty and Fellows. FAIMER Associate Vice President for Education and Co-Director of the FAIMER Institute William Burdick delivered a keynote address on the “Future of Health Professions Education.” FAIMER faculty member Anand Zachariah (PHIL 2001) delivered a keynote address on “Making Curricula Relevant to Health System Needs” and participated in a panel discussion on “How Medical Schools Can Contribute to Retaining Health Professionals in Rural, Remote, and Underserved Areas in Southeast Asia.” FAIMER faculty member Ramalingam Sankaran (PHIL 2009) participated in a panel discussion on “How Do We Translate Social Accountability into Action in Southeast Asia?”
Workshops conducted by FAIMER faculty and Fellows (both in bold type) included:
Assessment for Learning
Tejinder Singh (PHIL 2003, IFME 2006), Dinesh Badyal (CMCL 2007, PHIL 2009), Hemangini Shah (GSMC 2008)
Community-based Teaching for Primary Health Care
Thomas V. Chacko (PHIL 2004, IFME 2006), Saira Banu (PSG 2007), Ranjana Sahasrabude (PSG 2009)
Curriculum Implementation Support Program (CISP) for MCI’s Basic Course Trainers
Avinash Supe (PHIL 2002, IFME 2007), Payal Bansal (PHIL 2007, IFME 2010), Anshu (CMCL 2007, PHIL 2009)
Early Clinical Exposure (ECE): Bringing Social Relevance and Context to Basic Science Teaching
Rashmi Vyas (PHIL 2003, IFME 2005), Sucheta Dandekar (PHIL 2010), Praveen Singh (CMCL 2008)
Leader as a Coach—for Curriculum Change
Elango Sambandam (PHIL 2010), William Burdick, Henal Shah (GSMC 2006, IFME 2010)
Measuring Change towards Social Accountability in Your Institution
A-J Neusy, Rita Sood (PHIL 2005), Robert Woollard, Shafik Dharamsi
Moving towards Social Accountability: Facilitating Change in Your Institution
Robert Woollard, Shafik Dharamsi, Rita Sood (PHIL 2005), A-J Neusy
On-line Learning: Using Moodle to Supplement Teaching-Learning
Supten Sarbadhikari (PSG 2007), Sanjay Bedi (CMCL 2007), Indika Karunatilake
Problem-based Learning in the South-East Asian Context
P. T. Jayawickramarajah, Medha Joshi
Qualitative Methods for Community Needs Assessment (Towards Social Accountability)
Amol Dongre (PSG 2008), P.R. Deshmukh, Kalaiselvan Ganapathy (PSG 2011)
Teaching Communication Skills: Breaking Bad News
J.P. Agrawal, Payal Bansal (PHIL 2007, IFME 2010)
Validating of Assessment Tools (OSCE/OSPE) Used in Competency-based Education
Shital Bhandary (PSG 2008), Satish Raj Ghimire, Katrina Butterworth
SEARAME NCHPE 2012 focused on working toward real and lasting improvements in health professions education for the Southeast Asia region and for India in particular. Among the many positive outcomes is a set of Conference Recommendations developed by participants and delivered to health professions colleges and appropriate government agencies throughout Southeast Asia. For more information on the conference, please visit the SEARAME NCHPE 2012 website.
