Involving stakeholders in postgraduate health professions education programmes
Submitted: 10 April 2023
Accepted: 15 May 2023
Published online: 3 October, TAPS 2023, 8(4), 59-60
https://doi.org/10.29060/TAPS.2023-8-4/LE3036
Siti Suriani Abd Razak, Bhavani Veasuvalingam, Pathiyil Ravi Shankar & Norul Hidayah Mamat
IMU Centre for Education, International Medical University, Malaysia
Dear Editor,
We read the article titled ‘Involving stakeholders in re-imagining a medical curriculum’ (Foster, 2022) with great interest. We would like to share our experiences and extend the importance of stakeholder involvement in postgraduate health professions education programmes (PGHPE). These programmes are utilised by educators for skills development, career progressions and advancement of health professions education across various health professions. Our institution started accredited PGHPE programmes in 2018 to equip health professional educators within and outside our institution with competencies to deliver evidence-based education and impact graduate outcomes positively. Our curriculum review conducted in early 2023, began with a stakeholder engagement meeting involving students, facilitators, alumni, employers, and ‘institutional partners’ (national and international HPE experts). Focus group discussions were held on four areas: (1) HPE ‘Industry’ institutional Needs and Graduate Competencies, (2) Student Experience, (3) Scholarship in HPE, and (4) Inter-Institutional Partnership and Collaboration.
Four key outcomes emerged from the engagement. The four outcomes were increased educators’ competency, digitalisation in health profession education, supporting scholarly work and publication and widening the scope of learning with global engagement.
The first theme of increased educators’ competency is related to the value of our PGHPE programmes. Our alumni strongly felt their teaching and learning competencies were enhanced and they were more confident in accepting leadership roles. Greater emphasis on contextualisation was requested for example local and regional accreditation frameworks. Stakeholders jointly highlighted the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in HPE and emphasised that both awareness of and being able to work with digital tools is important. The use of AI in curriculum design, review and assessment may need greater emphasis. Greater HPE student engagement with online learning tools and assessments to promote deep learning was firmly echoed by our stakeholders.
The need for greater support to facilitate educational research and the possible formation of research consortiums was widely agreed upon by participants. The team has identified and initiated Health Professional Educational Research Clusters to facilitate HPE students achieve this goal. The final theme focused on widening engagement and collaboration. The centre’s strong international collaboration provides opportunities for HPE students to share ideas and thoughts and enhances networking and collaboration.
As a postgraduate programme, the number of alumni is more limited, and are educators with work experience, hence stakeholder involvement becomes more valuable to programme developers. Importantly, postgraduate programmes provider can utilise stakeholder engagement and feedback during different stages in a developmental manner.
Notes on Contributors
Siti Suriani Abd Razak organised and conducted the stakeholders’ engagement meeting, conceptualised and wrote the manuscript and approved the final version.
Bhavani Veasuvalingam organised and conducted the stakeholders’ engagement meeting, conceptualised, revised the manuscript and approved the final version.
Pathiyil Ravi Shankar organised and conducted the stakeholders’ engagement meeting, conceptualised, revised the manuscript and approved the final version
Norul Hidayah Mamat organised and conducted the stakeholders’ engagement meeting, revised the manuscript and approved the final version.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Professor Vishna Devi Nadarajah and Professor Er Hui Meng for their support and feedback in the process of conducting the stakeholders engagement meeting and writing this letter.
Funding
No funds, grants, or other support were received.
Declaration of Interest
No conflicts of interest are associated with this paper.
References
Foster, K. (2023). Involving stakeholders in re-imagining a medical curriculum. The Asia Pacific Scholar, 8(1), 43-46. https://doi.org/10.29060/TAPS.2023-8-1/SC2807
*Siti Suriani binti Abd Razak
No 126, Jalan Jalil Perkasa 19
Bukit Jalil, 47000
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
+6019-4429985
Email: sitisuriani@imu.edu.my
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