To Promote Professionalism and Excellence in Medical Education.
PREAMBLE
"...the NUS faculty of Medicine needs to respond decisively and appropriately
to the rapid changes in medicine and medical education, to ensure that the
graduates are well-equipped to meet the challenges of medical practice in
the years ahead"
(Prof Tan Chorh Chuan. Dean's Message. Curriculum Bulletin, 1999: 1-4.)
Over the past few decades or so, rapidly changing trends in medical education consequent upon fast changing demands and priorities in healthcare delivery to society led to major reforms in the undergraduate medical curriculum
of many medical schools in the world. Our Medical School in the
National University of Singapore implemented a new undergraduate medical
curriculum in the new academic year in 1999 with major revisions, not only
to the curriculum content, but also to the educational strategies
(e.g. implementation of Problem-Based Learning) used in the delivery of
our medical curriculum. Our new curriculum will promote a more holistic
approach to medical education and will lay a strong foundation for
life-long continuing education. This will enhance the quality of medical
education that we provide so that our students can be better prepared to
meet the challenges of medical practice in this new millennium. In
addition, our Medical School has also implemented a MBBS-PhD programme intended
to train clinician-researchers for careers in and for the advancement of
various fields of biomedical research. It becomes imperative then that we
need to strategise, plan, coordinate and monitor our on-going educational
programmes and, for purposes of quality assurance, to continually appraise
their effectiveness through rigorous evaluation of the input, process and
outcome of the combination of pedagogical strategies that we have employed
to achieve our aim. It is in this context that our Medical School felt a strong
need for and initiated the setting up of a medical education unit with a
formal structure and funding of its own to undertake the important tasks
ahead.
ROLE
OF THE MEU
The primary role of the MEU is
to further promote professionalism and excellence in medical education
through: (a) faculty development, (b) medical curriculum development
and (c) research in medical education (see figure 1). As a faculty
support system, our MEU will provide educational leadership in creating
a collegial environment to build a community of learners with the
skills to combine their respective discipline expertise with sound
pedagogy that will optimise student learning and educational outcomes.
Our ultimate aim is to ensure that our faculty will adopt best teaching
practices that will bring out, not only the best in our students,
but also the best in ourselves as teachers.
The role assigned to our MEU will also
complement that of the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning in
NUS. In particular, MEU will focus its professional development programmes
mainly on the educational training of clinical teachers and on the special
educational strategies (e.g. Problem-Based Learning) used in medical
teaching. MEU will provide advice and consultation on the development,
design and evaluation of the overall medical curriculum, with special
emphasis on ensuring the integration and the medical relevance of the
various component disciplines that contribute to the training of a medical
doctor as a whole.
It is indeed appropriate and timely to have
established a medical education unit in our Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. A formal
organizational structure with appropriate expertise in and dedicated to
promoting professionalism and excellence in medical education is now a
common staff support system in most leading medical schools in the world.
Striving for excellence and leadership status in medical education will
contribute significantly to the educational mission of NUS with the people
of Singapore as the ultimate beneficiaries.
