KARACHI, March 21: In the revised MBBS curriculum, 2002, emphasis has been laid on teaching the students in community and primary health care settings but most medical colleges in the country, especially those in the public sector, lack the facilities to provide such exposure to their students.
This observation was made during the two-day workshop, which was held by the Society of Medical Educationists of Karachi.
It was noted that the new instructional and assessment methods, detailed in the curriculum, would require a major effort in teacher training to equip the faculty for the task.
The 45 participants, drawn from all the teaching hospitals of the city and including principals and senior professors as well as junior faculty members, agreed that the new scheme could be meaningfully implemented only where the teachers worked full-time and were not distracted by extra-institutional activities, said a press release.
The introduction of an annual evaluation of the performance of teachers, with input from multiple sources, was stressed. Similarly, the students should be responsible and time-efficient and they should also be made accountable for their behaviour and performance through a regular and robust system, added the handout.
It was recommended that provision be made for the medical students to develop learning skills and be exposed to the social sciences and the fundamentals of medical ethics.
