The system of medical education has not changed much over the years. This article discusses the present method of teaching of medical students. Suggestions for change in the methods have been suggested in order to produce better doctors.
There is universal concern on the current inequitable coverage and low quality of health care. The lead roles of medical practitioners in health care and how they are prepared for such roles are being re-examined in many countries. This paper attempts to rationalise the need to reorientate medical education towards primary health care, and to suggest possible emphasis and direction for change.
Most medical schools, especially in South-East Asia, currently are experiencing difficulties in providing the right quality and quantity of educational experiences as the curricula have failed to respond to the needs of the community and country. The pedagogic shift from traditional approach to a need-based approach requires a fundamental change of the roles and commitments of educators, planners and policymakers. Teachers of health professional education in the region are to be well-informed of the trends and innovations and utilize these to increase relevance and quality of education to produce competent human resources for the region. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (i) to discuss innovative strategies and emerging trends, which have been successfully adopted by educators around the world for the reorientation of medical education to overcome existing traditions of educational planning, review and development and (ii) to highlight their implications and importance to initiate need-based reforms of medical training in South-East Asia.
With globalization education has become a tradable service governed by the rules and regulations of GATS and worth trillions of dollars. International standards are rapidly being developed to facilitate cross border supply of services. In medical education, the WFME has produced International Guidelines on Quality in Medical Education which has a regional equivalent in the WHO Western Pacific Region, and the IIME has defined the minimum essential requirements of standards in medical education in seven core competences. Malaysia, having an explicit policy of making education a sector for revenue generation, has put in place regulatory frameworks and incentives to make the country a centre of educational excellence. Within the ambit of this national aspiration, medical education has grown phenomenally in the last decade. Standards and procedures for accreditation of medical schools in line with the world standards have been developed and implemented and policies are enforced to facilitate compliance to the standards. The ultimate goal is for medical schools to be self-accredited. In striving towards self-accreditation medical schools should be innovative in making changes in the three requirements of medical education. These are the intellectual and social imperatives and strategies for effective implementation.
Medical schools have existed in Malaysia for a very long time. The majority of practicing doctors has trained locally. From the early nineteen sixties when the first medical school was established to the current 7 public medical faculties, the standards of local trained doctors have always been exemplary. Now with more need for doctors to serve the country and the mushrooming of medical schools, the question of needs and wants of future medical schools and medical education need to be addressed. In this paper I will try to highlight what we in Universiti Putra Malaysia have been working on to improve the Medical and Health Sciences faculty to achieve greater heights to reach the future in the shortest possible time.
The Professional Society of Genetic Counselors in Asia (PSGCA) was recently established as a special interest group of the Asia Pacific Society of Human Genetics. Fostering partnerships across the globe, the PSGCA's vision is to be the lead organization that advances and mainstreams the genetic counseling profession in Asia and ensures individuals have access to genetic counseling services. Its mission is to promote quality genetic counseling services in the region by enhancing practice and curricular standards, research and continuing education. The PSGCA was formally launched during the Genetic Counseling Pre-Conference Workshop held at the 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Human Genetics in Hanoi, Viet Nam, September 16, 2015. The pre-conference workshop provided an opportunity for medical geneticists and genetic counselors from across 10 Asia Pacific countries to learn about the varied genetic counseling practices and strategies for genetic counseling training. This paper provides an overview of the current status and challenges in these countries, and proposed course of unified actions for the future of the genetic counseling profession.
Retaining lectures in problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum places new demands on lecturers. In addition to subject knowledge, the lecturers must know the overall aims of the lectures, their context in the course, their relation to the subsequent examinations and the underlying educational philosophy.
We hypothesized that as the use of herbal medicines increases in the general population, so do patients' requests to physicians for recommendations. However, why some physicians recommend herbal medicines while others do not is not well understood.
Anatomy education forms the foundation of a successful medical education. This has necessitated the development of innovative ideas to meet up with current realities. Despite these innovative ideas, there are challenges facing anatomy education, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Problems such as inadequate teaching experts and outdated curricula have made anatomy education in sub-Saharan Africa uninviting and disinteresting. Several interventions have been suggested, such as the procurement of teaching tools and upgrading of teaching infrastructure. However, in this age of information technology; anatomy education, especially in sub-Saharan Africa could benefit from the integration of electronic tools and resources. This article explores the electronic tools and resources such as three-dimensional printing, educational games, and short videos that are readily available for the teaching of anatomy in sub-Saharan Africa. The author concludes by discussing how these electronic tools and resources can be used to address many of the challenges facing anatomy education in sub-Saharan Africa.