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Decentralised training for medical students: Towards a South African consensus
Marietjie R De Villiers1, Julia Blitz, Ian Couper
1Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. mrdv@sun.ac.za.
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine
|October 19, 2017
Summary
Decentralised training enhances health professions education by focusing on primary care and student needs. Key success factors include technology, continuous rotations, and aligning medical school missions for better healthcare graduates.
Area of Science:
- Health Professions Education
- Medical Training Models
- Healthcare Workforce Development
Background:
- Health professions institutions face challenges in producing sufficient, relevantly trained graduates.
- Decentralised training models offer a solution to enhance quantity, quality, and relevance in healthcare education.
- Existing expertise in decentralised training can be leveraged to benefit all health professionals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a comprehensive model for decentralised training for health professions students.
- To synthesize expertise and best practices in decentralised health professions education.
- To address the need for improved healthcare graduate preparedness.
Main Methods:
- An expert panel workshop was convened in October 2015.
- Presentations on the current state of decentralised training across South African medical schools were delivered.
- Discussions involved 33 delegates to formulate potential decentralised training models.
Main Results:
- Five critical success factors for decentralised training were identified.
- These factors include information and communication technology (ICT) availability, longitudinal continuous rotations, and a primary care focus.
- Alignment of medical school missions and responsiveness to student needs were also crucial.
Conclusions:
- Training institutions must collaborate to refine decentralised training models.
- Involving all health professions and establishing a tripartite approach (universities, Department of Health, communities) is vital.
- Curricula should prioritize student learning processes over teaching methods.