Pre-Service Education

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]

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.

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]