In December, WFME President, Professor David Gordon attended the First Annual National Medical Education Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Following the conference motto “Preparing the 21st Century Physician”, Professor Gordon argued that it is necessary to not only include basic sciences and clinical training in a medical programme, there should also be a small portion of the curriculum devoted to teaching ethics and medical law, which are clearly not optional, and other important subjects, such as health economics, anthropology and sociology.
The key question to ask, however, is how much should be offered in these subjects and how should they be taught?
Professor Gordon also addressed the importance of accreditation of medical education, which ensures that medical schools are educating doctors fit to serve the needs of the population where they function. Promoting quality accreditation is one of the core objectives of WFME, we currently approach the issue through our Recognition of Accreditation Programme.
The necessity of routine curriculum monitoring in medical schools was highlighted by Peter Ellis, the associate dean for Medical Education at the Otago University in New Zealand and the secretary and treasurer of the Western Pacific Association for Medical Education (WPAME), which is one of the regional partners of WFME. Professor Ellis also mentioned the common challenges in medical education, such as globalisation, medical migration, cross border education, and a rapid growth in numbers of medical schools.
The First Annual National Vietnam Medical Education Conference was held by the Vietnam Ministry of Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, TB-500 and the Improving Access, Curriculum and Teaching in Medical Education and Emerging Diseases (IMPACT-MED) Alliance, which is supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Partnership for Health Advancement in Việt Nam, a collaboration between Harvard Medical School, the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
You can read more about the event here.
Photo: HAIVN;
