Project Redefine – MSAI India

Name of the activity: Project Redefine

Country/NMO: MSAI India

Program: Medical Education Systems

Contact information: contact mede[email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: Continuous Activity

Category: Advocacy

Focus area: Students’ involvement in medical education | Curriculum design/development, Students’ involvement in medical education | Evaluation and Assessment

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: GOAL 4: QUALITY EDUCATION

General description:

An advocacy campaign to change the face of Public Health in Medical Education System of India. It is a multi tier project starting with the formation of an SWG that shall formulate a questionnaire to collect regarding the perception of PH in ME. After, panel discussion regarding the same will be carried out and then all this will be used to create an advocacy toolkit to promote local and national level advocacy campaigns targetting all levels of stakeholders.

Problem statement:

Public health education in India is delivered under Preventive and Social Medicine, a subject that unfortunately does not interest most medical students, with studies showing that 83.7% of them felt that it needed more field visits or practical assignments and only 12% students wanted to pursue it further. The interest of medical students in the subject must be renewed to enable them to become doctors trained to respond to the healthcare needs of the community and achieve the SDG 3 objectives.

Target groups:

Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students, Healthcare Students, Other Students, Doctors, Other health professionals

Objectives:

1.1 : To create a baseline assessment form for gathering information on the perception of public health education amongst medical students and the expectations they have as well as the changes that they wish to see in the same, over a period of 3 weeks through a small working group.
1.2: To identify key stakeholders for Public Health Education through stakeholder mapping to be done by the SWG members over a period of 4 weeks.
1.3 : To have at least 250 medical students and 20 faculty members from atleast 20 different institutions fill the baseline assessment form over a period of 4 weeks.
2.1 : To conduct a national “PH in ME” national level advocacy campaign over a period of 1 month using the SWG report.
2.2 : To conduct local “PH in ME” advocacy campaigns in medical colleges, through the SWG report over a period of 6 months.
2.3 : To moderate a 60 minute panel discussion between PH and ME experts on the topic of Public Health Education.

Indicators of Success:

General indicators:
At least 8 medical students are selected as a part of the SWG.
Specific indicators:
1.1 A baseline assessment form with questions gathering information on perception of PHE, present teaching methodologies and strategies to improve the perception of PHE are formed.
1.2 Identification of at least 4 key stakeholders for Public Health Education through stakeholder mapping.
1.3 At Least 250 medical students and 20 faculty members fill the baseline assessment form. Medical students from at least 20 medical colleges ( at least 5 from each region) fill the form.
2.1 At least 2 of the stakeholders of national importance are approached through the results of the needs based assessment.
2.2 At least 25% of colleges ( of the ones from where data was collected) are approached as a part of the local level Advocacy campaign.
2.3 A panel discussion is carried out with :
At least 4 key stakeholders in PHE for atleast 45 mins.

Methodology:

PHASE 1 – KAP Assessment of Public Health Curriculum in Medical Education (2022-23)

1.1 A small working group of healthcare students, headed by SCOPH and SCOME National Teams, formulate an online survey form for students and faculty in medical schools.

1.2 The SWG collects, analyses the responses and develops a report as well as an advocacy toolkit, including stakeholder mapping and analysis.

PHASE 2 – Online Panel Discussion between Public Health and Medical Education Experts to discuss the face of public health in medical education across the country. (2022)

PHASE 3 – Advocacy Campaigns (2023-24)
2.1 National stakeholders are approached with the SWG report through online and offline channels.

2.2 Local Stakeholders (including university administration) are approached through members who take part in the campaign after receiving the report and toolkit. Follow up survey will be conducted for successful local campaigns, advocating for better teaching methodologies and curriculum changes.

Plans for evaluation:

QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION:
Pre and the post SWG forms for the SWG members and statistically correlation of the results with the success indicators and objectives to measure the impact ;
Obtaining the data through the needs based assessment form for medical students and faculty and statistically correlation of the results with the success indicators and objectives to measure the impact ;

QUALITATIVE EVALUATION:
Feedback by the target audience through a follow up online form to be prepared and released by the campaign proposers.
Feedback from the SWG members (through post SWG forms)

External collaborations:

There are no official collaborations, only consultations as a part of the advocacy campaigns.