TransMed

Name of the activity: TransMed

Country/NMO: Romania (FASMR)

Program: Medical Education Systems

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Education. Education on health issues for specific societal groups, either in the form of projects (set of tasks for a certain group over a fixed period of time), events (something notable that happens) or conferences (form meeting about ideas related to a particular topic, usually over several days).

General description:

TransMed is a transnational medical student exchange, meant to raise awareness about differences between medical education systems within Romanian medical faculties and Chișinău’s. Besides students, healthcare professionals and doctors beneficiate of this program as well, by taking the challenge to spread their knowledge to students already-shaped towards this path. The Deans of the 12 medical faculties involved highly support this bilateral students’ movement, knowing that faculty’s representativeness is a great deal for its well-being. Furthermore, some LCs include English or French module students in this process, thus emphasizing the importance of the intercultural context. The grading takes into consideration both curricular and extracurricular activities: GPAs, national or international scientific medical congresses/conferences/workshops, volunteering within FASMR or in other medical related NGOs.

Focus area:

Students’ involvement in medical education through a transnational exchange program

Problem statement:

Students have the tendency to compare themselves to their colleagues or to put in balance medical education systems from different faculties. For the last 15 years, TransMed has offered more than 1200 Romanian students yearly the opportunity to experience one of the 12 available medical environments and to bring back home innovative ideas, ultimately aiming at increasing students’ activism both for their formal and non-formal/informal education.

Target groups:

Medical students, Healthcare Students

Beneficiaries:

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

Objectives and indicators of success:

S- Students from the study years 2-6 can go to a 1-week exchange program to another medical faculty in Romania or Chișinău

M-For the last 15 years, TransMed has offered twice a year the opportunity for more than 1200 students to take part in a 7-day exchange in one of the 12 centers involved

A-The whole program is coordinated by a National Coordinator, who supervises the activity of the 12 local coordinators. More than 400 volunteers help in preparing the event in each LC, following a rigorous schedule, organized accordingly to TransMed regulations

R- If we take into consideration the statistical data from previous years, we can notice that has been a constant increase in the number of participants

T-https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ejs_ODhq3my3VSD6rTmH4nwGvCfhHz8hcmE92fCtQB8/edit#gid=0

Indicators:

-Each LC is represented in each edition

-The total number of incoming students and volunteers increases by at least 10% each year

-Each LC has a number of volunteers, representing at least 50% of the incomings/edition

-Each local coordinator must attend at least 1 OLM

-Each LC offers at least 2 scientific events (1 conference+1 workshop) and 7 social activities (at least 1/day)

Methodology:

The exchange program can be attended by students from the study years II-VI, following the courses at day of one of the Romanian, English and French programs of the Medical Universities from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, as well as from the Midwives and Nursing Faculty, Balneophysiokinetotherapy, Nutrition and Dietetics.

The exchange takes place over a period of 7 days. FASMR organizes a file competition at least 4 weeks before the official opening of the program, for the distribution of available seats.

The distribution of students will be made according to their scores, from highest to lowest, depending on each participant’s options.

Once officially accepted into the program, students have a deadline

of 7 days to pay the participation fee.

The participants are required to attend the clinical training, practical assignments and lectures associated with the academic center in which the exchange takes place.

Students must attend the social program put forth by the host center.

Plans for evaluation:

a.Strengthen collaborations with all 12 local SCOME teams and EBs, in order to establish a local coordinator at least 3 months prior to the event.

b.Increase the quality of the scientific medical events, social activities and welcome kits, through a better promotion, especially for the LCs with a lower request. The incomings’ feedbacks will be used for the further editions’ constant improvement.

c.The local coordinators are responsible for promoting TransMed among their colleagues, to create a community of accountable volunteers, with good social and organizing skills; the local CB teams may come in handy.

d.This is an important step for establishing each edition’s directions and also to ensure a constant exchange of ideas and experiences that can contribute to a better exchange.

e.This standard was implemented by taking into consideration previous feedbacks. The scientific events contribute to the academic quality of the program and the social ones help participants bound.