Pre-Service Education

More Mentoring Needed? A Cross-Sectional Study of Mentoring Programs for Medical Students in Germany

The authors conducted this study to survey all medical schools in Germany regarding the prevalence of mentoring programs for medical students as well as the characteristics, goals and effectiveness of these programs. [from abstract]

Laos Builds Specialty Training System through Partnerships

This article reports on the successful development of a postgraduate medical training system through a series of international partnerships in Loas over the past decade.

Pre-Service Education Program Toolkit

This program guidance outlines key steps, identifies available resources and shares lessons learned to develop quality and relevant health worker pre-service education interventions. Although it focuses on health workers needed to deliver maternal and newborn health care, the process may be applied to any health pre-service program. The entire content of the toolkit is also available as a printable document, the Pre-Service Education Program Roadmap. [adapted from author]

Teaching Evidence Based Medicine Literature Searching Skills to Medical Students During the Clinical Years: a Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial

This study sought evidence to inform whether skills in evidence based medicine should be taught to medical students during their preclinical years, or delivered during both the preclinical and clinical years of study as an important component of curriculum design.

Mentorship Needs at Academic Institutions in Resource-Limited Settings: a Survey at Makerere University College of Health Sciences

There is increasing global emphasis on mentorship of young scientists in order to train and develop the next leaders in global health. However, mentoring efforts are challenged by the high clinical, research and administrative demands. This study evaluated the status and nature of mentoring practices at Makerere College of Health Sciences. [from abstract]

Bachelor of Rural Health Care: Do We Need Another Cadre of Health Practitioners in Rural Areas?

This article proposes the idea of a new degree course in medicine of a shorter duration to encourage students from rural areas to take up medicine and then provide services in their local areas. [from author]

Training and Professional Expectations of Medical Students in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the professional expectations of medical students during the 2007-2008 academic year at the public medical schools of Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, and to identify their social and geographical origins, their professional expectations and difficulties relating to their education and professional future. [from abstract]

Global Health Education Framework: a Conceptual Guide for Monitoring, Evaluation and Practice

This research article proposes a framework conceptualising global health education in practice to guide the evaluation and monitoring of educational interventions and reforms through a set of key indicators that characterize it. [adapted from abstract]

Contribution of South African Curricula to Prepare Health Professionals for Working in Rural or Under-Served Areas in South Africa: a Peer Review Evaluation

The Collaboration for Health Equity through Education and Research was formed in 2003 to examine strategies that would increase the production of health professionals who choose to practise in rural and under-served areas in South Africa. This article aimed to identify how each faculty is preparing its students for service in rural or under-served areas. [from abstract]

Fit for Purpose? The Appropriate Education of Health Professionals in South Africa

This editorial explores what health sciences training institutions achieved in the past 50 years to address the health care priorities of South Africans who are most in need. [adapted from author]

Do Ugandan Medical Students Intend to Work in Rural Health Facilities after Training?

Several training institutions have engaged in programs to expose pre-service health workers to rural health work to demystify it and to enable the professionals make an informed choice on practice location after qualification. In this study, the intentions of Ugandan medical students to work in rural health facilities after qualification were sounded out, together with the factors that affect them and their perception of rural areas. [from abstract]

Teaching and Teacher Education for Health Professionals: Perspectives on Quality and Outlook of Health Professionals Education in Zambia

This study aimed to measure students’ perspectives on the teaching quality of the school of medicine at University of Zambia and concurrently measure health professionals educators perspectives on the need for teaching courses for health professionals educators (educational skills training). The results are discussed as indications for educational skills training for educators in health professionals’ education. [from abstract]

Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study: Data, Observation and Opportunity

This study is an examination of the state of medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa including all countries, all identified and recognized schools, and all languages of instruction. The study was undertaken to help provide a platform of understanding regarding the status, trends and present and future capacity building efforts for educators, policy makers, and international organizations. [from summary]

Health Professionals for a New Century: Transforming Education to Strengthen Health Systems in an Interdependent World

This commission, consisting of 20 professional and academic leaders from diverse countries, came together to develop a shared vision and a common strategy for postsecondary education in medicine, nursing, and public health that reaches beyond the confines of national borders and the silos of individual professions. This comprehensive framework considers the connections between education and health systems. [from summary]

Challenges to the Student Nurse on Clinical Placement in the Rural Setting: a Review of the Literature

Positive learning experiences for students on clinical placement in rural settings have the potential for supporting the recruitment of qualified nurses to these areas. Recruitment of such nurses is a global concern because current shortages have resulted in decreased healthcare quality for rural residents. By understanding the challenges faced by nursing students unfamiliar with rural settings, educational and organizational strategies can be developed to promote positive learning experiences and so enhance recruitment.

Medical Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study examined the challenges, innovations, and emerging trends in medical education in the region. [from summary]

Development of Postgraduate Surgical Training in Guyana

Like many developing countries, Guyana has a severe shortage of surgeons. Rather than rely on overseas training, Guyana developed its own Diploma in Surgery and asked for assistance from the Canadian Association of General Surgeons. This paper reviews the initial results of Guyana’s first postgraduate training program. [from abstract]

Global Health Education: a Cross-Sectional Study among German Medical Students to Identify Needs, Deficits and Potential Benefits

This study aimed to assess the importance medical students place on learning about selected social determinants of health, explore their knowledge of selected global health topics and analyse any associations with medical students’ mobility patterns and education in tropical medicine or global health. [from abstract]

Preservice Education Family Planning Reference Guide

This guide was developed to assist preservice health institutions in Malawi in creating, updating, or adapting the family planning content of their curricula and individual courses. Included in this document are materials that institutions and individual tutors can use to develop technically accurate and pedagogically sound lessons on family planning. [adapted from introduction]

Profile and Professional Expectations of Medical Students in Mozambique: a Longitudinal Study

This paper compares the socioeconomic profile of medical students registered at the Faculty of Medicine of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, for the years 1998/99 and 2007/08 to describe the medical students’ social and geographical origins, expectations and perceived difficulties regarding their education and professional future. [adapted from abstract]

Multi-University Evaluation of the Rural Clinical School Experience of Australian Medical Students

Medical students have been attending rural clinical schools (RCSs) since 2001. Although there have been generally positive single institution reports, there has been no multi-institution study using a common survey instrument. The experiences of medical students who attended a number of RCSs during 2006 were evaluated using a rural-specific questionnaire. [from abstract]

Medical Education and Training in Nepal: SWOT Analysis

The goal of this article was to analyse the impact of the medical colleges that have been set up within the last two decades by production of doctors and the effect on the health of the people. [from abstract]

How Can Medical Schools Contribute to the Education, Recruitment and Retention of Rural Physicians in Their Region?

Developing a sufficient and sustainable rural physician workforce requires commitment and cooperation from communities, governments and medical schools. The author argues that medical education can play an important role in the recruitment and retention of rural physicians. [adapted from author]

Cuba Answers the Call for Doctors

This article outlines the Latin American Medical School program model which trains young people from developing countries and sends them home as doctors with a pledge to practise in underserved areas. [adapted from author]

Pharmacy Schools: Seven African Countries Share Solutions

Heads of pharmacy schools in Africa, as with all global regions, are facing educational challenges to meet local medicines needs, ranging from the physical infrastructure and laboratory teaching equipment to the world-wide shortage in academic capacity to fill teaching positions. Seven heads of pharmacy schools in Africa met recently to discuss how to tackle this situation in order to provide solutions from which the global educational infrastructure can learn. [from author]

Course of Specialization in Public Health in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 1926 to 2006: Lessons and Challenges

In this article we analyse Brazil’s 80 year old public health course via its history, disciplines, organization and characteristics of the student body in order to gain an insight into the development of public health in Brazil and to highlight the progress of education for professionals in this field. [adapted from author]

Wrong Schools or Wrong Students? The Potential Role of Medical Education in Regional Imbalances of the Health Workforce in the United Republic of Tanzania

This paper reviews available research evidence that links medical students’ characteristics with human resource imbalances and the contribution of medical schools in perpetuating an inequitable distribution of the health workforce. [from abstract]

Report on the WHO/PEPFAR Planning Meeting on Scaling Up Nursing and Medical Education

The function of this meeting was to gather information on medical and nursing education, including learning from countries and institutions where innovative solutions are already being tested and implemented. The information, summarized in this meeting report, will inform the the development of evidence-based policy guidance that will serve to support countries in their efforts to scale up medical and nursing education. [adapted from author]

Action Now on the Tanzanian Health Worker Crisis: Expanding Health Worker Training the Twiga Initiative

Recognizing the need to focus on health worker supply in order to achieve progress on health indicators, the Ministry of Health in Tanzania developed the Twiga Initiative to strengthen health workforce production through. This document outlines the steps taken to improve health worker training and institutions and the challenges involved. [adapted from author]

Training Health Workers in Africa: Documenting Faith-Based Organizations' Contributions

This technical brief illustrates the breadth of pre-service and in-service trainings offered by FBOs, with a focus on nursing and midwifery pre-service training in Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. [from introduction]