NagpurToday: The sixth National Conference on Health Professions Education (NCHPE 2014) organized at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), was held recently and the reforms suggested by MCI in the Vision 2015 document were discussed in the meeting.
Medical teachers from all over the country gathered here to discuss about the reforms required in medical education.Much Emphasis was given on the issue of reforms made by the Medical Council of India (MCI) were ahead of their time or not.
MCI has the huge task of faculty development of around 3 lakh medical teachers in order to implement reforms like: early clinical exposure, foundation course, integrated teaching and skills training. Faculty introspected on the challenges, hurdles, resistance and concerns in implementing these reforms. Delegates shared their success stories and failures. It was stated that while students were ready for these reforms, faculty did not display enough commitment due to lack of time from clinical work and failed to take adequate initiatives.
“Most reforms in India are expected to have a top down approach, where institutes expect regulatory bodies to enforce changes. However, it is important that faculty members initiate innovations in their own departments and institutions without waiting for directives from the top,” said Dr Supe Dean of Mumbai’s Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College.
Vice chancellor of Maharashtra University Health Sciences (MUHS) , Dr Jamkar spoke about how MUHS had started communication skills and basic life support workshops all over Maharashtra. Delegates also displayed concern about how the curriculum was getting overloaded without students getting enough self study time. The need for interdepartmental collaborations, transformational leadership and good role models were suggested as answers to this dilemma.
