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      Equipping family physician trainees as teachers: a qualitative evaluation of a twelve-week module on teaching and learning

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          Abstract

          Background

          There is a dire need to expand the capacity of institutions in Africa to educate health care professionals. Family physicians, as skilled all-rounders at district level, are potentially well placed to contribute to an extended training platform in this context. To play this role, they need to both have an understanding of their specialist role that incorporates teaching and be equipped for their role as trainers of current and future health workers and specialists. A teaching and learning capacity-building module was introduced into a new master’s programme in family medicine at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. We report on the influence of this module on graduates after the first six years.

          Methods

          A qualitative study was undertaken, interviewing thirteen graduates of the programme. Thematic analysis of data was done by a team comprising tutors and graduates of the programme and an independent researcher. Ethical clearance was obtained.

          Results

          The module influenced knowledge, skills and attitudes of respondents. Perceptions and evidence of changes in behaviour, changes in practice beyond the individual respondent and benefits to students and patients were apparent. Factors underlying these changes included the role of context and the role of personal factors. Contextual factors included clinical workload and opportunity pressure i.e., the pressure and responsibility to undertake teaching. Personal factors comprised self-confidence, modified attitudes and perceptions towards the roles of a family physician and towards learning and teaching, in addition to the acquisition of knowledge and skills in teaching and learning. The interaction between opportunity pressure and self-confidence influenced the application of what was learned about teaching.

          Conclusions

          A module on teaching and learning influenced graduates’ perceptions of, and self-reported behaviour relating to, teaching as practicing family physicians. This has important implications for educating family physicians in and for Africa and indirectly on expanding capacity to educate health care professionals in Africa.

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          Most cited references19

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          Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems

          L Wenger (2000)
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            Medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa.

            Small numbers of graduates from few medical schools, and emigration of graduates to other countries, contribute to low physician presence in sub-Saharan Africa. The Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study examined the challenges, innovations, and emerging trends in medical education in the region. We identified 168 medical schools; of the 146 surveyed, 105 (72%) responded. Findings from the study showed that countries are prioritising medical education scale-up as part of health-system strengthening, and we identified many innovations in premedical preparation, team-based education, and creative use of scarce research support. The study also drew attention to ubiquitous faculty shortages in basic and clinical sciences, weak physical infrastructure, and little use of external accreditation. Patterns recorded include the growth of private medical schools, community-based education, and international partnerships, and the benefit of research for faculty development. Ten recommendations provide guidance for efforts to strengthen medical education in sub-Saharan Africa. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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              The Medical Education Partnership Initiative: PEPFAR's effort to boost health worker education to strengthen health systems.

              The early success of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in delivering antiretroviral medications in poor countries unmasked the reality that many lacked sufficient health workers to dispense the drugs effectively. The 2008 reauthorization of PEPFAR embraced this challenge and committed to supporting the education and training of thousands of new health workers. In 2010 the program, with financial support from the US National Institutes of Health and administrative support from the Health Resources and Services Administration, launched the Medical Education Partnership Initiative to fund thirteen African medical schools and a US university. The US university would serve as a coordinating center to improve the quantity, quality, and retention of the schools' graduates. The program was not limited to training in the delivery of services for patients with HIV/AIDS. Rather, it was based on the principle that investment in medical education and retention would lead to health system strengthening overall. Although results are limited at this stage, this article reviews the opportunities and challenges of the first year of this major transnational medical education initiative and considers directions for future efforts and reforms, national governmental roles, and the sustainability of the program over time.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                mrdv@sun.ac.za
                francois.cilliers@uct.ac.za
                franna@sun.ac.za
                nherman@sun.ac.za
                mhpvh@sun.ac.za
                kvonpressentin@sun.ac.za
                Journal
                BMC Med Educ
                BMC Med Educ
                BMC Medical Education
                BioMed Central (London )
                1472-6920
                22 October 2014
                2014
                : 14
                : 1
                : 228
                Affiliations
                [ ]Family Medicine and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
                [ ]Education Development Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
                [ ]Centre for Health Professions Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
                [ ]Ukwanda Rural Clinical School, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
                [ ]Centre for Teaching and Learning, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
                [ ]Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
                Article
                1052
                10.1186/1472-6920-14-228
                4287426
                25335697
                d4b40f18-408c-4553-a6e1-5c1005857b9e
                © de Villiers et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014

                This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 20 June 2014
                : 13 October 2014
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2014

                Education
                family physician roles,capacity-building,teaching-skills training
                Education
                family physician roles, capacity-building, teaching-skills training

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