Concept of Quality Assurance in ME
*Dr.N.K.Gupta
*Department of Medical Education Technology
*Department of Emergency Medicine
*Era’s Lucknow Medical College & Hospital,
Lucknow 226 003
Quality Assurance
*Target Audience – Medical Faculty
*Program – 5th Workshop ( as per MCI
Requirement)
*MCI Observer (Regional Center KGMU)– Prof.
Dr.Uma Singh
Quality Assurance
• Mission
• Medical schools need to define their overall
mission & objectives & make these known major
stakeholders, community & government.
• Medical schools then develop & implementing
curricula appropriate to their mission.
Quality Assurance
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• Learning Objectives
Mission and Objectives
Educational program
Assessment of students
Student selection and support
Academic staff
Educational resources
Program evaluation
Governance and administration
Continuous renewal
Quality Assurance
• Definition
• Totality of systems, resources & information
devoted to maintaining & improving the quality
& standards of teaching, scholarship & research,
& of students learning experience.
• Quality Assurance Agency in UK Higher
Education
Quality Assurance
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ATTRIBUTES - Credible QA process
Include all major stakeholders.
Open to external public scrutiny.
Conducted in a consultative & consensusbuilding fashion.
• Balance academic priorities with those of
regulating authorities.
• Identify both strengths & weaknesses.
• Encourage innovation & re-orientation toward
changing health needs.
Quality Assurance
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contd
Means & authority to implement its conclusions.
Monitor progress on an ongoing cycle of review.
Focus on achievement of self-specified objectives.
Encourage variety of methods of teaching &
learning.
• Ensure choice of credible student assessment
methods appropriate for teaching & learning
methods chosen.
• Ensure adequate resources to deliver curriculum.
• Concerned with good outcomes.
Quality Assurance
• FRAMEWORK FOR ESTABLISHING A QA SYSTEM
• 2 Parts - Internal & external QA process.
• Most important - own internal
• Quality of medical education depends on interaction between
teacher & student.
• Collective integrity & professionalism of academic community.
• Develops its own goals & objectives - relevant to local &
national health care needs & methods to achieve goals.
• Conducts periodic reviews to assess extent to which goals are
met within framework of guidelines, & whether methods of
teaching & learning,facilities, & financial & human resources
for delivery of curriculum support the goals.
• Invite external reviewers to assist in the review.
Quality Assurance
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FRAMEWORK FOR ESTABLISHING A QA SYSTEM
External QA
Through mechanisms such as accreditation, validation & audit.
Confirm that medical school’s responsibilities are being
properly discharged.
Methodological approaches -adopted to provide guarantees of
quality.
Independent agency - functions in continuous, transparent &
open way.
Includes in its quality process representatives - medical
schools & profession, health care & registration authorities .
In most countries processes of external agency incorporate
medical school’s own internal quality assurance processes.
Quality Assurance
• Teaching & learning methods
• Should be enjoyable & consistent with educational objectives.
• Clinical clerkships - principles of active student participation,
problem solving & development of communication skills, + other
educational strategies that promote Learner-centred learning,
stimulate analytical skills & organization of knowledge, & foster
life-long learning skills considerable educational merit.
• Learning in small groups - more expensive to deliver than large
groups- strategies can be employed to achieve economies in
other areas.
• Use of a computer - integral part of medical practice.
supplement - acquire an understanding of medical informatics.
• Computer-assisted learning modules - some lectures replaced, &
digital technology improved opportunities for practical teaching .
Quality Assurance
MONITORING, EVALUATING & CHANGING CURRICULUM
• Mechanisms for monitoring & evaluating its curriculum.
• To be useful, relatively high rate of completion, &
questionnaires must be carefully designed and evaluated.
• Mechanisms for feeding information back to those
responsible for designing and teaching individual courses
or course components.
• Students’ perceptions analysed. If appropriate, the
component should be altered.
• There should be other pathways for student feedback as
well.
Quality Assurance
MONITORING, EVALUATING AND CHANGING CURRICULUM
• Evaluate its curriculum by examining pass rates in
individual components, best method appropriateness &
effectiveness - to examine quality of graduates.
• Follow-up mechanisms for feedback from hospitals(work
as interns & residents & graduates themselves).
• Monitor & respond to community perceptions about
deficiencies in their graduates.
• Identify forms of medical practice that their graduates
appear reluctant to pursue, as this may reflect insufficient
exposure to these areas during basic medical education &
early stages of postgraduate training.
Quality Assurance
• Benefits of quality assurance by accreditation
• Benefits flow from feedback provided by external
reviewers and report.
• Final responsibility for granting or withholding
authorisation for award of a medical degree lies
with national governments.
• Quality assurance mechanism also serves many
useful purposes for its stakeholders - prospective
students, employers of graduates of medical schools
& ultimately, community that relies on medical
school to produce safe, effective & caring doctors.
Quality Assurance
• Best practice in QA systems
• Universities - long tradition of academic
autonomy to ensure that fundamental
educational principles are not compromised by
other interest groups, in professional programs
such as medicine, community, profession &
government all have legitimate interests in
quality & orientation of graduates of program.
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance in approving new medical courses
• The development of a new medical school is a
complex undertaking.
• About the workforce implications of the new
school, how it will be resourced, and the
educational needs it will serve.
• Another decision that has to be made likely to
meet standards ; commitment and capacity to
manage .
Quality Assurance
• ETHICS
• Medical school must identify & incorporate in curriculum behavioural sciences, social sciences, medical ethics & medical
jurisprudence that enable effective communication, clinical
decision making & ethical practices.
• Should be adapted to scientific developments in medicine, to
changing demographic & cultural contexts & to health needs of
society.
• Behavioural & social sciences & medical ethics should provide
knowledge, concepts, methods, skills & attitudes necessary to
understand socio-economic, demographic & cultural
determinants of causes, distribution & consequences of health
problems.
Quality Assurance
• TEACHER AND STUDENT FEEDBACK
• Both teacher and student feedback must be systematically sought,
analysed & responded to.
• Quality development:
• Teachers & students should be actively involved in planning program
evaluation & in using its results for program development.
• STUDENT PERFORMANCE
• Must be analysed in relation to curriculum & mission and objectives.
• Should be analysed in relation to student background, conditions &
entrance qualifications, used to provide feedback to committees
responsible selection, curriculum planning & student counselling.
• Include information about average study duration, scores, pass &
failure rates at examinations, success & dropout rates, student reports
about conditions in their courses, & time spent by students on areas of
special interest.
Quality Assurance
• ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP
• Responsibilities of the academic leadership must be
clearly stated.
• Should be evaluated at defined intervals with
respect to achievement of mission & objectives.
• CONTINUOUS RENEWAL
• Must as a dynamic institution initiate procedures
for regular reviewing & updating of its structure &
functions & must rectify documented deficiencies.
• Exchange with Other Educational Institutions
• Quality Describe any activities directed towards
regional and international co-operation with other
medical schools.
Quality Assurance
•Any
Questions??????????
•Any suggestions
•Thank you
Quality Assurance