Early involvement in a multiprofessional course: an integrated approach to the development of personal and interpersonal skills

A journey through interprofessional education: Students’ perspectives of teamwork in a transforming curriculum

Background. Student engagement in curricular transformation is topical at the University of Cape Town (UCT), including in its Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). Teamwork, which is essential to contemporary interprofessional healthcare, is an objective of transformative health sciences education. This study offers a contemporary contribution from the perspective of students to earlier work on shared learning at UCT FHS.  Objectives. There is a paucity of research literature on this study’s target population. Therefore, a qualitative design was used to explore first-year health sciences students’ perceptions and experiences of teamwork within an undergraduate shared learning programme.  Methods. The primary data collection method was focus group discussion. Two additional qualitative methods, free-listing and pile-sorting, were used to expand upon data collected in the focus groups. Results were analysed thematically.  Results. The study sample (N=32) included first-year audiology, medical, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech and language pathology students. The findings revealed that although their experiences of teamwork varied, students had a comprehensive perception of what teamwork entailed in their educational context. Therefore, the findings were used to generate a heuristic for teamwork learning for undergraduate health sciences students.  Conclusion. The study positions students to contribute tangibly to the curricular transformation process at their university. Students’ perspectives of teamwork may be useful in the future design and delivery of entry-level interprofessional courses aiming to instil teamwork skills.

Experiences of oral health students in interpersonal skills learning and development: a systematic review protocol of qualitative evidence

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVE

The objective of this systematic review is to identify, appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on oral health students' experiences of interpersonal skills learning and development in undergraduate university programs.More specifically the research questions are.

Twelve tips to designing and implementing a learner-centred curriculum: prevention is better than cure

BACKGROUND

Change in medical education has brought with it new perspectives on content, process, assessment and evaluation. With this change has emerged a new discourse. New words and phrases, used by many but not always fully understood, have infiltrated every aspect of our academic lives. One such term which we believe is used relatively freely but which is not well understood or implemented is "learnercentred" or "student-centred" education.

AIM

These twelve tips, drawn from experience, attempt to clarify the implications of learner-centred education and provide a structure upon which to ensure that all stakeholders have the same understanding of the implications of what being learn-centredness involves.

CONCLUSIONS

Without a common understanding of learner-centreness, the true educational concept may not be appropriately implemented, resulting in considerable faculty and student stress. We should practice what we preach and consider the "whole" student.

Global paradigm shift in medical education: issues of concern for Africa

INTRODUCTION

When medical education became established in Africa, many curricula were adopted from the West so as to achieve comparable standards in training. Over the last half a century however, major global pedagogical shifts have occurred in medical education without African keeping pace.

METHODS

This article reviews key pedagogical changes and other innovations in medical education that have occurred over the last half a century as reported in the literature and identifies some of the issues that need to be addressed in Africa.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Socioeconomic and political instability, failure to rapidly overcome the inertia for change by substituting the old curriculum with a more problem, system and student-based one and redefining the goals of medical education are some of the issues of concern for Africa, and its ability to keep up in the dynamic world of medical education. There are only few faculty and school managers with effective medical education backgrounds to initiate, evaluate and sustain these changes. African medical academics, national governments and the international community need to come together to assist Africa to rise up to these challenges to ensure attainment and sustenance of global standards in medical training.