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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
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Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba
2012
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| Online Access: | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=437542088004 |
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Table of Contents:
- Assessment of a Complementary Curricular Strategy for Training South African Physicians in a Cuban Medical University Frank Quintana Nélida L. Saras Oscar Caóizar Yayly Huguet Medicina Cuba compe tency Evaluation curriculum INTRODUCTION One reason given by the South African govern-ment for establishing a physician training agreement with Cuba is that the ethical, humanistic and solidarity principles promoted in Cuban medical education are difÞ cult to acquire in other settings. However, Cubas general medical training program does not provide all skills needed by a general practitioner in South Africa: other competencies are required, such as management of general and gynecological or obstetrical surgical emergencies, administration of anesthesia and nursing procedures. As long as the desired humanistic values were assured, South African authorities have preferred to complement these competencies. Thus, since 2003, the Medical University of Villa Clara has applied a curricular strategy of 12 complementary courses to develop the requested additional skills, but results have not met expectations.OBJECTIVE Determine why the complementary curricular strategy has not been entirely successful and identify possible courses of action for improvement.METHODS A document review was conducted of the curricular strat-egy applied and of minutes of meetings between Cuban and South African counterparts to identify correspondence between requested professional skills and actions to develop them. In addition, South Afri-can students were surveyed and Cuban professors were interviewed in depth. Senior university administrators and key informants were also interviewed. Variables assessed were course quality and satis-faction of students and professors.RESULTS Some actions originally included in the curricular strate-gy were not implemented and there were structural weaknesses in complementary courses, primarily in objectives, teaching strategy and evaluation. Students reported insufÞ cient practical activities and lack of relationship between content and the health situation in South Afri-ca. Professors were dissatisÞ ed with student levels of motivation and ability to manage their own learning. Other inß uencing factors were insufÞ cient academic management and professors lack of knowledge about the context where these future professionals would eventually practice. CONCLUSIONS Curricular strategy deÞ ciencies detected are primar-ily in academic management; overcoming them could facilitate action in speciÞ c directions identiÞ ed to improve the requested skill levels. 2012 artículo científico 1555-7960 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=437542088004 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=4375 MEDICC Review application/pdf Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba MEDICC Review (Estados Unidos de América) Num.3 Vol.14