Browsing by Author "Abrahamse-Pillay, Helga Inez"

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    Keeping an eye on student training fit for the South African context
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University , 2024-12) Abrahamse-Pillay, Helga Inez; Keiller, Lianne; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Centre for Health Professions Education.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Background: Ophthalmology undergraduate teaching has increasingly been in the focus with curriculum reviews in Canada, Australia and the UK. The reviews have primarily focused on recommendations of the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) guidelines and local needs. South Africa does not have a unified undergraduate ophthalmology curriculum at present. As Stellenbosch University is currently undergoing a curriculum renewal, the opportunity to review and align current and future curriculum design precipitated this study that focuses on the undergraduate ophthalmology curriculum. Problem: Ophthalmology Undergraduate Medical Curricula that are limited in their alignment to international and local guidelines, are likely to negatively impact the ability of the curriculum to respond to the needs of the local population. Methodology: Using a descriptive needs analysis, a mixed methods approach was used to review the current undergraduate ophthalmology curriculum at Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. A desktop review to compare the current curriculum to internationally published standards, a custom-developed survey, and focus group discussion was included in the data collection methods for this study. The data collection completed during the literature review informed the design of the survey administered to Ophthalmology clinical preceptors in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University. Open-ended comments were used from the survey to design the focus group discussion questions. Verbatim transcripts of the focus group discussion were analysed using inductive and deductive thematic analysis. Results: The result of the comparison between the current curriculum and published data, shows that Stellenbosch University Ophthalmology curriculum is closely aligned with other international medical departments in relation to Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes and Modes of curriculum delivery. A 61% response rate was achieved for the preceptor survey. Preceptors working with undergraduate medical students during their Ophthalmology clinical rotation perceived the curriculum to be comparable to ICO guidelines and published literature in content (81,8%), delivery methods (72,7%) and assessment practices (90,9%). The majority of respondents indicated that they perceived the curriculum to be appropriate for the South African context. Qualitative data collected via open-ended comments and a focus group discussion highlighted the over-loaded curriculum with regard to content, limitations in availability of resources, a need for improvement in clinical reasoning of students, and recommendations related to the training platform used for undergraduate medical student training. Conclusion: The Ophthalmology curriculum for undergraduate medical students at Stellenbosch University will require minor revision to address limitations in clinical reasoning abilities, increase the focus on relevant patient presentation, and decrease the preceptor/tutor/student ratio to enhance the facilitation of learning on the clinical platform.