Objective To investigate the current status of higher education of allied health professions (AHPs), professional human resource as well as the career development of allied health professionals, and to provide references for the planning of higher education of AHPs in China. Methods Literature was reviewed in relation to the current status of higher education of AHPs and professional human resource in China. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine the career development conditions of allied health professionals. Results a) Currently, the higher education of AHPs in China was faced with such problems as a limited scale, a lower structural level, and an absent degree system. b) The number of allied health professionals was small with lower qualifications. Higher-end professionals were in shortage. C) The professionals saw multiples glass ceilings over career orientation, academic advancement, and professional entitlement. Conclusion Efforts should be made to expand the scale of higher education of AHPs, elevate degree structure, and to construct a professional education system with multiple layers and categories. The professional education should be combined with the career development for planning and collaboration to provide assurance for the career development of the professional in China.
Objectives Based on the Global Minimum Essential Requirement in Medical Education (GMER), we tried to use the theories and methods of “competency” as a reference to introduce the concept of “competency” into medical education in China and to investigate the skills that medical graduates need for their prospective clinical work. Methods According to a literature search and expert interviews, the Glossary of Medical Graduates’ Competencies was built to define the competencies needed by medical graduates. Students’ attitudes toward those competencies were surveyed by questionnaires. Factor analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were used to analyze the data and to build the Medical Graduates’ Competency Model. Results The competencies of medical graduates could be divided into six groups. The weighting of each competency group and specific competence was different. Conclusion The Medical Graduate Competency Model can be used to evaluate medical graduates’ capacities. It has significant reference value for medical education, in terms of the evaluation of medical graduates and the reform of teaching methods.
As one of the first batch of pilot universities for the education reform of clinical medicine master program, Sichuan university has conducted in-depth research on the training models in medical schools from home and abroad since 2013. Relying on the platform of medical education collaboration, we have explored and gradually formed the “five early” education model for clinical medicine master program. This article summarizes the practical experience of “five early” education model from six dimensions, namely, PDCA management system, rules and regulations, platform support, database construction, case database construction and international exchange. In addition,, the achievements in the training of medical talents with comprehensive qualities are presented from the aspects of clinical skills, scientific research achievements, international exchanges and frontier innovation, The goal is to provide effective experience for clinical medical personnel training.
ObjectiveTo explore the present national status of diagnostic teaching as well as to investigate the opinions on teaching operation such as overall course planning, so as to provide references for the formulation of national diagnostic teaching standard in the future.MethodsSelf-made questionnaires were adopted to carry out an anonymous survey among the teachers from 50 different medical colleges and universities who worked on diagnostic teaching throughout the country from October 2016 to September 2017.ResultsA total of 100 teachers were investigated. The diagnostic teaching departments where 59 respondents worked in were formed by a few fixed teachers plus teachers in rotation. The requirement of rotation time as well as the setting up of lecture-internship ratio in each school were quite various. Forty-seven respondents agreed that the ideal lecture-internship ratio should be internship more than lecture. As for the instruments of clinical skill room, only 40% of the respondents agreed that their diagnostic departments were equipped with a steady standardized patient (SP) team, which was also the reason why SP teaching was the least utilized teaching method during internship (47%). The respondents had various opinions on whether the final exam should weigh more than 50% in the subject score. Above these, the planning and expectations of the respondents on diagnostic course were mostly in consensus.ConclusionsThe development of diagnostic course including teaching staff, teaching content and teaching condition, etc. among each medical colleges and universities was not balanced. It’s quite necessary to formulate a unified and reasonable standard to normalize the teaching staff constitution, teaching planning and set-up as well as teaching condition so as to guarantee the teaching quality.
诊断学是临床医学的基础和入门，是习得临床执业风格最重要的环节。如何在诊断学学习阶段，夯实学生基本理论和技能，培养其科学缜密的临床思维能力，是各医学院校共同面对的课题和挑战。互动参与式教学摒弃传统单一的被动式、灌输式的教学模式，强调以学生为主体，赋予学生协作性、参与性的教学诉求，加强内在激励，激发其主观能动性和创造力。根据诊断学不同教学模块的课程目标、内容和知识结构，有机地将互动参与式教学法应用于诊断学教学中：问诊-角色扮演，查体-示教与实践学习，症状学-小讲课、小组讨论、床旁实践，临床思维-案例分析，职业素养-小组讨论、角色扮演、床旁实践、辩论演讲等。策略得当地将互动参与式教学的理念、元素、方法应用于诊断学教学中，符合临床医学教学实践性强的特点，遵循个体认知规律，符合外部和内在发展并重的教学效果的深层考量，具备良好的教学容量和一定的普适性，值得在临床医学教学中推广运用。
Objective To know the training status and expectation of village doctors in remote and poor areas of Sichuan province and to provide the preferences for developing a viable and efficient training model. Methods The cluster sampling method, combined with questionnaire surveys and qualitative interviews, was used. A total of 463 village doctors of 302 village clinics in Pengzhou and Baoxing of Sichuan province were interviewed. Results The “three-side” phenomenon including the doctor being old, poor academic background and lack of female doctor in remote and poor areas of Sichuan was serious. In-service village doctors’ knowledge on public health and Chinese medicine increased through training. There were differences between the training village doctors participated and that they had expected. The cost of the training was somewhat high for rural doctors. The training system has not been established yet in remote areas. Conclusions Both quantity and quality should be considered in in-service village doctor training in remote areas of Sichuan Province, which should also consider local conditions and farmers’ needs . The in-service training system should be developed as soon as possible. It is suggested that the treatment of village doctors should be improved. Cultivating more young village doctors should be based on the stability of the medical team.
Objectives To establish a course evaluation model for overseas medical students in West China Medical School of Sichuan University, to identify problems in teaching and to solve problems based on evidence so as to futher improve the quality of teaching. Methods We conducted a preliminary course evaluation to determine the limitations of our evaluation methods and to convey our intention to related stakeholders. Firstly, we identified problems in teaching according to the feedback from our students using a questionnaire. Secondly, we proposed an initial list of possible solutions to these problems based on evidence from literature searching and discussion within the Department of Teaching Affairs. We submitted the initial list to the administrative departments, teaching departments (teachers) and students to identify applicable solutions through two rounds of formal consensus. Their attitudes to this procedure of evaluation and decision-making were collected. Finally, incentives were given out by administrative departments and teaching departments to facilitate the implementation of applicable solutions. Results Teachers’ English ability and the didactic teaching methods were the most concerned problems. In addition, some semesters and courses were not well arranged and there was not enough practice time. An initial list of 14 items was submitted to teaching departments and students. They all agreed with the procedure of evaluation and decision-making. We also found that some aspects of the evaluation methods and styles need to be improved. An additional paper would report further results. Conclusion This preliminary evaluation was helpful for improving teaching and formal evaluation in the future. We need to strengthen the English language skills of younger faculty and gradually adopt a model of student-centered and enquiry-based teaching. This process of evaluation and improvement should be applied as a long-term policy and an evidence-based research group should be established to work together with our quality assurance unit.
To cultivated competent clinicians with the potential to be future pillars and leaders is the educational objective of an 8-year medical program at the West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University. Problem-based learning (PBL) is more effective than traditional, passive, didactic teaching in training of communication skills, information management and critical thinking and research. These are included in the Global Minimum Essential Requirements in Medical Education (GMER). We introduce our practice of PBL as a separate course for the 8-year medical program, including its design, preparation, implementation and evaluation. We discuss why it is designed as a separate course and implemented in multiple semesters with fewer cases in each semester. The move from giving a fish to people to teaching people how to fish, and from teacher-centered to student-centered teaching is a radical transformation of educational concepts and the traditional teaching-and-learning model. Such a change cannot happen in a single step and we hope that this model PBL course, focusing on training in methods and skills, will facilitate the concept transformation and the involvement of all our teachers and students. This should help our teaching to evolve continuously, develop a system for evaluating PBL and lead to the gradual incorporation of PBL into our discipline-based courses or organ system-based courses.