Medical education departments : a study of four medical schools in Sub-Saharan Africa
Date
2015-07
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Many African countries are investing in medical education to address significant health care
workforce shortages and ultimately improve health care. Increasingly, training institutions are establishing medical
education departments as part of this investment. This article describes the status of four such departments at
sub-Saharan African medical schools supported by the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI). This article
will provide information about the role of these institutional structures in fostering the development of medical
education within the African context and highlight factors that enable or constrain their establishment and
sustainability.
Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with the heads or directors of the four medical education
departments using a structured interview protocol developed by the study group. An inductive approach to
analysis of the interview transcripts was adopted as the texts were subjected to thematic content analysis.
Results: Medical education departments, also known as units or centers, were established for a range of reasons
including: to support curriculum review, to provide faculty development in Health Professions Education, and to
improve scholarship in learning and teaching. The reporting structures of these departments differ in terms of
composition and staff numbers. Though the functions of departments do vary, all focus on improving the quality
of health professions education. External and internal funding, where available, as well as educational innovations
were key enablers for these departments. Challenges included establishing and maintaining the legitimacy of the
department, staffing the departments with qualified individuals, and navigating dependence on external funding.
All departments seek to expand the scope of their services by offering higher degrees in HPE, providing assistance
to other universities in this domain, and developing and maintaining a medical education research agenda.
Conclusions: The establishment of medical education departments in Sub-Saharan Africa is a strategy medical
schools can employ to improve the quality of health professions education. The creation of communities of
practice such as has been done by the MEPI project is a good way to expand the network of medical education
departments in the region enabling the sharing of lessons learned across the continent.
Description
CITATION: Kiguli-Malwadde, E. et al. 2015. Medical education departments : a study of four medical schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Medical Education, 15:109, doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0398-y.
The original publication is available at http://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at http://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Medical education -- Departments, Medical colleges -- Sub-Saharan Africa
Citation
Kiguli-Malwadde, E. et al. 2015. Medical education departments : a study of four medical schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Medical Education, 15:109, doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0398-y.