Research Training and Workshop – GaMSA Gambia

Name of the activity: Research Training and Workshop

Country/NMO: GaMSA Gambia

Program: Medical Education Systems

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

Type of the activity: Replicating Activity

Category: Capacity Building

Focus area: Students’ involvement in medical education | Curriculum design/development, Capacity building

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth)

General description:

The Standing Committee on Research Exchange (SCORE) GaMSA would like to change the methodology of research teaching in the Gambia  through its series Research Training and Workshop by introducing basic Research skill from the onset of Clinical year to Final year. we would also like to use this research workshop and training to advocate for the inclusion of research education and Training into our curriculum, also make research conducted by senior lecturers accessible to students for learning.

Problem statement:

In Gambia the medical education is mostly focused on the clinical practice and knowledge acquired through classroom learning. Over the medical curriculum research is being thought only for 4 weeks under the community medicine department in addition to a community based research outreach . This is done few years before final year student write their thesis with little or know knowledge on how to conduct research education or access to Research data

Target groups:

• Medical students

Beneficiaries:

• General population
• Medical students
• Doctors
• Other health professionals

Objectives:

*To bridge the gap between medical curriculum and Research Education before the end of the Workshop series 2022.

*Provide Medical students with opportunity to learn research skill for self assessment and

competency before the start of Clinical Year.

*To Promote the advocacy of more research teaching, training and workshop within the medical school by the end of the 4 hour Workshop and integration into the curriculum .

*To advocate to Ministry of Higher education, research institutions and NGOs for the inclusion of medical student in their research activities before the end of 2022 term of office.

*To Provide Clinical students with opportunity to involve delivering the skills learned during the workshop within the school education and creating opportunities for themselves using the skills by the end of he Workshop series.

Indicators of Success:

*Additional hours or weeks allocated for Research Training and workshop by the end of the workshop

series 2022

* Inclusion of Research Education as a whole course in the curriculum by the end of the advocacy.

*40% of clinical student involved in research programs and projects

*conduction of 5 more diverse research by final year medical student during their dissertation

studies.

*Atleast two research opportunities in 2023 being provided and made accessible to student by the Ministry of higher education, research institute and NGOs by the end of the workshop advocacy.

*Students using atleast 50% of Skills acquired  during the workshop in research and developmental changes through presentation and evaluation(posttest)

Methodology:

Every Month a research topic ex. WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW AND WRITING MANUSCRIPTS FOR PUBLICATION. Will be selected to the presented by a member of the score mentor program.

During the training, we will make use of the smart board, laptops, flashcards, and the Internet  to ensure full engagement and interaction between the resource person and the student

Alongside the training, the resource person talks about their research experience and academia to encourage students into considering and engaging in research

Other activities are done for socialization and team building. Such as games and team presentations.

After the training, an assessment will be conducted and Students will be given a chance to send in their Input which will be shared with the school administration and used as a means of advocacy for stakeholders such as the Ministry of Higher Education and the

Medical Research Council, to advocate for the inclusion of Medical Students in their Research Projects

Plans for evaluation:

Basement assessment in which we will compare previous thesis published before the start of the training and those published after the training.

The use of questionnaires and assessment after every activity to evaluate on students understanding of the skills.

Assessing the number of students attending subsequent training and the willingness of the resource person to conduct the training.

Measurement of performance through presentation and post test.

External collaborations:

none