|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||||||
|
Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Michigan Diversity Case Budget Outlook Mixed for Medical Schools, Hospitals Striking a 'Match': New Graduates Ready for Their Next Step Gastric Bypass Surgery Offers New Hope for the Morbidly Obese Innovations in Medical Education: Medical Scholars in the Making A Word From the President: Setting Global Standards for Medical Education Viewpoint: Guiding the 'IOM Generation' A Day in the Life of a Medical Student
|
|
A Word From the PresidentSetting Global Standards for Medical Education
This recent experience with SARS is but the latest reminder, albeit an exceedingly vivid one, that physicians and medical scientists of every nationality are increasingly part of a virtual network of global proportions, expected to serve a global public in accordance with certain universally held beliefs and practices. An inescapable corollary of this 21st-century reality is that medical schools in every part of the globe should not only attend to the needs of their local communities but also aspire to prepare future physicians for their shared responsibilities for global health. Coming together quickly to prevent a borderless disease from becoming a global epidemic is but one of those responsibilities. Indeed, even without the imperative posed by the threat of pandemics, one can argue that medical education everywhere should reflect a common set of basic tenets. Medical education is, by its very nature, grounded in certain fundamental teachings that are indifferent to geography, nationality, or politics. Consider the established scientific base underpinning our understanding of human biology and behavior; the universal set of genetic, developmental, and environmental determinants of disease no matter where it occurs; the fundamentals of critical thinking, diagnosis, and evidence-based therapy common to the core work of all physicians; and the universal array of ethical responsibilities - honesty, compassion, trust, integrity, duty - vital to the healing relationship between doctor and patient in virtually every culture. In recognition of the inexorable globalization of medicine and of the commonality of core teachings required by all physicians, an interesting movement has begun to gather momentum toward the adoption of global standards for both the processes and the outcomes of medical education. Focusing on process, the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME), a loose affiliate of the World Health Organization, promulgated a draft set of standards in 1999 for medical schools worldwide to consider on a voluntary basis as a quality improvement tool. This initiative was met at the time with a good deal of skepticism, predicated on the view that the extreme variations in local customs and needs would preclude acceptance of uniform standards, especially those crafted from "outside." Earlier this year, the WFME hosted an international conference in Copenhagen to assess the impact of its initiative and, to the surprise of many, including myself, a remarkable change in attitude was evident. According to the conferees, the WFME standards were being adapted and used by institutions all over the world as guides for self-study and program improvement. A few of the 80 or so countries represented at the conference were even beginning to use the WFME framework as the basis for external review and formal accreditation of their medical schools. A complementary effort focusing on individual student outcomes has been mounted by the Institute for International Medical Education (IIME), an offshoot of the China Medical Board of New York. The aim of the IIME is to define and promulgate a set of minimum learning objectives deemed essential for all medical students, no matter what country or school they graduate from. The consensus process employed by the IIME defined 60 global learning objectives and grouped them into seven domains: (1) professional values, attitudes, behavior, and ethics; (2) scientific foundation of medicine; (3) clinical skills; (4) communication skills; (5) population health and health systems; (6) management of information; and (7) critical thinking and research. Several schools in China are currently partnering with the IIME in pilot projects designed to assess the feasibility of incorporating this uniform set of externally defined outcome standards into systems of medical education that embody varying customs and traditions. Early results from faculty, administrators, and students suggest that this approach has considerable promise not only for improving the quality of education in a given institution but also for advancing the movement toward a truly global physician workforce. SARS reminds us of the urgency to prepare physicians everywhere to meet the healthcare needs of an increasingly proximate and interdependent global community. The forward-looking initiatives of the WFME and the IIME are examples of valuable contributions to this goal and deserve our strong support. I would encourage all of you to remain abreast of these efforts and to consider how the experience and expertise resident in the academic medicine community in the United States might be brought to bear to accelerate the adoption of global standards for both medical schools and medical students. Helping to improve medical education worldwide is not only a concrete way for us to minimize the threat of future SARS-like episodes but also an exciting opportunity for us to signal solidarity with medical educators everywhere who are striving to improve the health of their communities.
|
||||||
|
||||||||
|
Contact Us © 1995-2008 AAMC Terms and Conditions Privacy Statement |
As
if we needed more evidence of the globalization of medicine, we
now have severe acute respiratory syndrome, known everywhere by
now as SARS. Originating in what was once a far distant and remote
part of the world, SARS has quickly become an alarming worldwide
obsession. Countries all over the map are issuing travel warnings,
denying visas to visitors from affected areas, quarantining people
in an effort to quell the spread, and pooling information in a coordinated,
international pursuit of scientific answers to this threat to global
health.