Medical Education as a Tool for Teaching Skills Development among the Faculty of HITEC-IMS, Taxila

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Background: Continued Medical Education (CME) of the faculty is imperative for improving the knowledge, skill & behavior of the health professionals as an educator & health care provider. CME helps in acquiring new & updated knowledge of teaching, assessment & patient care. In this way medical teachers & health care providers are better equipped for training the future doctors and bringing innovations in health profession. In this context a study was undertaken at Hitec Institute of Medical Sciences Taxila to ascertain the relationship of CME on professional development of the faculty of medical & dental sciences.
Methods: It was a retrospective cohort study in which a group of faculty members who were exposed to CME programs were identified and were compared with a group of faculty members unexposed to any CME activity. A questionnaire regarding assessment of teacher's self-efficacy, teaching competencies, method & medium of teaching and methods of evaluation were administered to both the groups of faculty members of medical & dental colleges. The questionnaire had reasonably high reliability (α=0.90). The results were analyzed and tabulated using SPSS-17. The teacher's self-efficacy, teaching competencies, methods & medium of teaching and methods of evaluations were analyzed separately.
Results: The results showed that CME has very pertinent effects on all areas ranging from improving the teachers' competencies for evaluating students' performances.
Conclusion: As CME activities are beneficial for upgrading the knowledge & competencies of faculty in training future doctors it should be a continuous process & institutions should encourage & facilitate the faculty in their professional development through participating in different CME activities within & outside the institutions.