INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION
NB
-- INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON
HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION
Date
7 - 10 October 2002
Theme
The role of Health Professions Education (HPE) in health reform
Venue
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of the Free State, Bloemfontein
South Africa
REGISTRATION INFORMATION AND CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Website:
http:// www.uovs.ac.za/faculties/med/education/
OR CONTACT GND...@MED.UOVS.AC.ZA
This conference is hosted by the Health Professions Education Post-graduate
Programme of the Division of Educational Development, Faculty of Health
Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
INVITATION
The Health Professions Education Post-graduate Programme of the Division of
Educational Development of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the
Free State, South Africa invites you to attend an international conference
on Health Professions Education to be held in the Faculty of Health
Sciences, UFS, Bloemfontein. The master's and Ph.D. programme for Health
Professions Education offered by the Division of Educational Development at
the UFS is a first for South Africa (and the whole of Africa), and therefore
the Programme and the Division regard itself as in an excellent position to
offer this conference on a highly topical theme.
The theme of the conference - The role of health professions education in
health reform - should evoke lively discussions and highlight a variety of
perspectives, ideas and priorities in the field of health professions
education and training.
The objective of this 2002 Conference is to provide a forum for health
professionals and health professions educators and trainers to share
research findings and other information relevant to the fraternity of health
professions. Health professions education and training, like health care,
may not become static. Significant changes have occurred and are still
occurring in both health care delivery and in the context, approaches and
methods of health professions education and training. It has become
essential to adapt curricula in order to 'redesign' the health care worker
for the 21st century, to understand and apply contemporary educational
principles, and to study and investigate health professions education as a
field of knowledge in its own right.
At this conference renowned international health professionals will make
inputs, and will share the podium with local experts and researchers. The
conference will take the form of paper presentations, discussions, workshops
and poster sessions. Participants and attendees from the broad spectrum of
health professions and health professions education are invited, that is,
medicine, dentistry, occupational and physiotherapy, nursing, optometry,
radiography, dietetics, medical sciences, health sciences technology, media
in health education, etc.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Conference venue and date
The conference will take place from 7 - 10 October 2002, at the Faculty of
Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Language
English will be the official language of presentation at the conference and
no translation service will be provided.
Academic programme and invited speakers
The following topics will come under discussion:
Leadership and management in health sciences; standards, quality assurance
and development; accreditation; staff development and empowerment; research
methodology; curriculum reform, ethics; primary health care; teaching and
learning in health professions; clinical training; treatment and management
of disease; e-learning and new technologies; student selection and support;
assessment of student learning; community-based education; resources for
health professions education; alternative medicine; topics relevant to each
profession, etc.
WORKSHOPS
CLINICAL TRAINING IN HEALTH PROFESSIONS
The Health Professions Council of South Africa requires early clinical
training to be the norm in health professions education and training.
Clinical training should include patient care, and should be adapted to the
changing patterns of health care delivery. In the workshop attention will
be paid to the rationale for early clinical contact, who should do the
training, strategies and methods for training, the role of the skills unit,
simulated patients, real patients, etc., and the assessment of clinical
skills.
THE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN HEALTH PROFESSIONS
Technological developments made it possible to use highly sophisticated
media in education and training for health professions, as well as for
service delivery. IT is available through the personal computer, which
makes information accessible, calculations easier, graphics available, and
various dimensions of sound and video readily accessible.
Telecommunications networks (Internet) make interactive education, training
and services possible, while electronic journals and books are more
cost-effective and more readily available than the printed media.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Educational institutions have to provide lecturers with support and
development opportunities with regard to innovative educational approaches,
strategies, methods and techniques. Health care education and services have
changed drastically, making heavy demands on training staff. To act
pro-actively and react positively to demands and needs, educators and
trainers in health care require educational expertise. Opportunities for
educational development must be created to empower staff to adapt to
changing circumstances and still ensure quality and maintain standards.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS
Research is said to be the scientific method used to expand knowledge in one
's field of study. Research, including research in health professions
education and community-based research, should be encouraged to the
advantage of intellectual creativity, health care provision and development,
as well as to form a basis for education and training in the undergraduate
curricula. Evidence-based care and education, as well as the preparation
for life-long learning are closely linked to research methodology, and need
to be addressed in health professions, as the health professional must be
able to approach scientific data critically and to form independent
opinions.
POST-GRADUATE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Obtaining an undergraduate qualification is not the end of the road of
education and training, and the process of progression. The mass of
knowledge as vested in a university's sources should be further channelled
to its post-graduate students. Successful post-graduate education and
training is measured in terms of the dissertation or thesis that is
examined. Quality post-graduate education of professionals therefore can
only be pursued if specific standards are set for the evaluation of these
dissertations and theses. Although the final responsibility for
post-graduate studies lies with the researcher (student) the role of the
promoter/ study leader is important, and exactly what this role entails (and
what not) should be clearly spelt out. Workshops will address issues
relevant to each profession and applicable in specific situations.
ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING
Assessment of students' learning entails the evaluation of their knowledge,
skills and attitudes and the changes that have occurred in this regard as a
result of the instruction they have received and their own learning. It
thus entails defining the end result of the education process, and it has to
be done to ensure that students have achieved the stated outcomes. To
evaluate effectively and efficiently, assessments must comply with certain
conditions, the most important of which are that they should be reliable,
valid, feasible and balanced. To ensure this, the examiner/ examining
committee, in most cases, needs to use more than one method of assessment.
The role of the examination panel and moderator, etc. is of great
importance, especially in an integrated curriculum.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Effective leadership and management in a health professions education
institution requires the ability to keep abreast of current changes in the
health environment and in health professions education and training. This
holds a great challenge for the institution, its leaders and its management,
and makes demands on leadership to satisfy often apparently conflicting
demands.
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL AND SUSTAINABLE PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE
Management, whether it is required in the public sector or in private
practice, often is taught in an isolated fashion or as an elective in the
education programmes of health professionals. Skills in the management of
personnel, finance, health care institutions, or general business structures
are required of health professionals, as they are regarded as leaders and
therefore are expected to be able to manage independently. Supporting
management structures are seldom available in developing countries, and
health care workers find themselves in positions where they have to make
decisions they have not been trained for, often resulting in mismanagement
and financial loss.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LIBRARY
The World Health Organization Reproductive Health Library (RHL) is an
electronic review journal issued by the UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special
Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human
Reproduction of the World Health Organization Department of Reproductive
Health and Research. It makes available to clinicians and other health
workers, especially in developing countries, the most reliable,
evidence-based health care information on reproductive health.
Reproductive Health Library is based on selected reviews on reproductive
health topics taken from The Cochrane Library, which is published by Update
Software, Oxford, England, on behalf of the Cochrane Collaboration. Cochrane
reviews are mostly based on data from published and unpublished randomized
controlled trials in all languages. The Reproductive Health Library also
includes commentaries on the Cochrane reviews by experts who describe the
implication of the reviews for low-resource settings as well as summaries of
the practical applications of Cochrane review findings.
ASSESSMENT OF GENERAL SKILLS
An innovative type of curriculum allows learners to be developed and
assessed in a different way from the traditional curriculum. The South
African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the National Qualifications
Framework (NQF) require that learners be developed in critical cross-field
skills. It is up to curriculum developers, module leaders and facilitators
to be innovative in both the development and assessment of these skills, as
the traditional methods of assessment will not guarantee the acquisition of
these outcomes. The critical cross-field skills mentioned above will be
called general skills in this context as agreed upon by the curriculum and
module developers.
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