The Medical Education Unit (MEU) was established in 2007 by the then Dean, Prof. A. McDonald. The mandate was to develop and implement medical education philosophy and practice in the undergraduate medical programme and to coordinate accreditation and quality assurance initiatives in response to a growing need.
The embryonic unit focused on staff training in broad aspects of medical education, while supporting educational activities, undergraduate curriculum development, department initiatives and research in medical education. Important liaisons and collaborations were established with the Instructional Support Services (ISS), Mona Information Technology Services (MITS) and the Medical Library.
Developments and achievements in medical education by the MEU since the inception have included the following key areas:
A. Staff Training in Medical Education Numerous workshops and capacity-building opportunities have been conducted at Mona and the clinical training sites for the MBBS Programme throughout Jamaica. These were facilitated by primarily local expertise but augmented with visiting scholars. The activities included training workshops on:
• Item writing
• Student assessment
• Utilisation of the Virtual Learning Environment (OurVLE) by the Instructional Support Services (ISS) of Mona Institute of Technology (MITS)
• Advanced Item Analysis
• Facilitator Training (case-based learning)
• Standard Setting
• Use of ICT in the classroom
• Course Coordinator training
• Teaching skills (with Instructional Development Unit, now the Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning [CETL]) in house and off campus
Several faculty members received support to uptake international scholarly activities and training:
• Conference attendance, in particular International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) and Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE)
• Formal courses at the University of Dundee, e.g. Dundee Discovery Courses, Diploma and Masters in Education, University of Dundee
B. Collaboration and Communication The success of the MEU is largely due to the collaboration with relevant expertise in higher education training and communication. These have included the following:
• MITS support for Student Tracking/STEMS
• ISS Training
• Library
• Working with the IDU
• Training of clinical faculty at Cornwall Regional Hospital
o Case-based learning
o Teaching Skills
o ICT
• Electronic Newsletter
o A newsletter provided faculty with appropriate advances in medical education and reports on FMS activities
C. Support Educational Programmes
The MEU provided substantial expertise, academic and technical support to the following committees and initiatives:
• MB BS Curriculum Committee
• Mona Undergraduate Committee
• Staff-student Liaison Committee
• Respond to Dept. Requests
• Preparation for MB BS Regional Accreditation
• Participation in regional UWI Quality Assurance
• Cross-campus harmonization
D. Encourage Research in Medical Education
Through the creation of a Research Interest Group, the MEU contributed to scholarly activity in the FMS and UWI by virtue of:
• Output 2006-09
o Publications (4)
o Scholarly Conference Presentations (19)
- Canada
- USA
- Holland
Further development of the unit was stymied with the departure in 2010 of the Deputy Dean Curriculum, Prof. JM Branday to his new position as Dean, FMS, Cave Hill, Barbados.
A series of events has however led to the critical need to re-think, re-establish, rebrand and expand the MEU into a Health Professions Education Unit (HPEU). These include among others:
• Development and expansion of programmes in the FMS, Mona [MBBS, Dentistry, Physical Therapy, Doctor of Pharmacy, Diagnostic Radiation, Nursing]
• Accreditation and quality assurance concerns among programmes
• Gap in curriculum and relevant medical education expertise and capacity
• Renewed interest and emphasis on Interprofessional collaboration in curriculum
The vision for this HPEU is to become a diverse, comprehensive Unit to fulfil the following overall objectives:
1. Faculty development in all health professions education
2. Improving curriculum management, research and evaluation across the health disciplines
3. Developing working models for social mission and inter-professional education
4. Leveraging educational technology across all programmes to enhance programme delivery
5. Innovative course development
6. Strengthening student support and tracking
7. Cross-campus collaboration in development of degree offerings in health professions education
