Responsiveness to Societal Needs in Medical Education: Examining Context for Institutional Actions
Main Article Content
Abstract
Responsiveness to societal needs is an expectation for academic institutions (medical schools and teaching hospitals) that encompasses their three missions – education, research and service to patients and populations. This paper presents a scholarly perspective that proposes practical courses of action for academic institutions to operationalise calls by the World Health Organization and others for medical education institutions to demonstrate societal responsiveness. We offer a pragmatic framework for institutional action to guide societal responsiveness initiatives in all domains of an institution’s academic mission. We point to the history of social accountability as a core role of academic institutions and how these early approaches provide a model for present-day actions and activities. We discuss the importance of engaging individuals and groups who benefit from institutional actions in the service of social accountability in co-determining optimal courses of action. We offer concrete recommendations in each domain of the academic mission to create a practical, institution-specific approach for societal responsiveness, shaped by the given organization’s mission and its role in addressing education, health care and research needs at the level(s) (local, regional or national) at which it operates. We discuss the local, national and global contexts in which individual institutions operate and how they create facilitators and barriers for institutions seeking to meet social responsiveness mandates. We close with discussing how focusing on institution-level priorities for societal responsiveness allows for meaningful actions in a range of settings within an increasingly complex and challenging environment in many regions around the globe.
Article Details
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
References
2. Global Consensus for Social Accountability of Medical Schools, 2010, available at 11-06-07-GCSA-English-pdf-style.pdf (ubc.ca), accessed May 4, 2024.
3. World Federation for Medical Education, Standards, WFME Standards - World Federation for Medical Education, accessed May 4, 2024.
4. Clithero-Eridon A, Albright D, Ross A. Conceptualising social accountability as an attribute of medical education. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2020 Feb 18;12(1):e1-e8.
5. Philibert I, Blouin D. Responsiveness to societal needs in postgraduate medical education: the role of accreditation. BMC Med Educ. 2020 Sep 28;20(Suppl 1):309.
6. Miller AC. Jundi-Shapur, bimaristans, and the rise of academic medical centres. J R Soc Med. 2006 Dec;99(12):615-7. Erratum in: J R Soc Med. 2007 Feb;100(2):69.
7. Modanlou HD. Historical evidence for the origin of teaching hospital, medical school and the rise of academic medicine. J Perinatol. 2011 Apr;31(4):236-9. Epub 2011 Jan 13.
8. Canadian Medical Association code of ethics and professionalism, December 2018; CMA code of ethics and professionalism - CMA PolicyBase - Canadian Medical Association, accessed April 13, 2024.
9. Abdel-Razig S, Ibrahim H, Alameri H et al. Creating a Framework for Medical Professionalism: An Initial Consensus Statement from an Arab Nation. J Grad Med Educ. 2016 May;8(2):165-72.
10. Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools CACMS-Standards-and-Elements-AY-2023-2024.pdf (cacms-cafmc.ca), accessed May 4, 2024.
11. Goold SD, Myers CD, Danis M et al. Members of Minority and Underserved Communities Set Priorities for Health Research. Milbank Q. 2018 Dec;96(4):675-705.
12. Hoekstra F, Mrklas KJ, Khan M et al. SCI Guiding Principles Consensus Panel; Gainforth HL. A review of reviews on principles, strategies, outcomes and impacts of research partnerships approaches: a first step in synthesising the research partnership literature. Health Res Policy Syst. 2020 May 25;18(1):51.
13. Philibert I, Fletcher A, Poppert Cordts KM, Rizzo M. Evaluating governance in a clinical and translational research organization. J Clin Transl Sci. 2024 Feb 13;8(1):e42.
14. Clinical and Translational Science Benefits Mode. Case Study Builder - Tool - Translational Science Benefits Model (wustl.edu); Accessed April 13, 2024.
15. Boelen C, Woollard R. Social accountability: the extra leap to excellence for educational institutions. Med Teach. 2011;33(8):614-9.
16. Barber C, van der Vleuten C, Leppink J, Chahine S. Social Accountability Frameworks and Their Implications for Medical Education and Program Evaluation: A Narrative Review. Acad Med. 2020 Dec;95(12):1945-1954.
17. World Summit on Social Accountability. The Network: Towards Unity for Health (TUFH). April 8-12, 2017; http://www.thenetworktufh.org/2017conference; accessed April 12, 2024.
18. Gonzalo JD, Dekhtyar M, Caverzagie KJ et al. The triple helix of clinical, research, and education missions in academic health centers: A qualitative study of diverse stakeholder perspectives. Learn Health Syst. 2020 Oct 17;5(4):e10250.
19. Wood B, Bohonis H, Ross B, Cameron E. Comparing and using prominent social accountability frameworks in medical education: moving from theory to implementation in Northern Ontario, Canada. Can Med Educ J. 2022 Sep 1;13(5):45-68.
20. Larkins S, Preston R, Matte MC, Matte IC, Lindemann R, Samson FD. Measuring social accountability in health professional education: development and international pilot testing of an evaluation framework. Medical Teacher 2013; 35(1): 32-45.
21. Larkins S, Johnston K, Hogenbirk JC et al. Practice intentions at entry to and exit from medical schools aspiring to social accountability: findings from the Training for Health Equity Network Graduate Outcome Study. BMC Med Educ. 2018 Nov 13;18(1):261.
22. Bandiera G, Frank J, Scheele F, Karpinski J, Philibert I. Effective accreditation in postgraduate medical education: from process to outcomes and back. BMC Med Educ. 2020 Sep 28;20(Suppl 1):307.
23. ExpandNet, WHO (World Health Organ.). 2010. Nine steps for developing a scaling-up strategy. Nine steps for developing a scaling-up strategy (who.int), Accessed July 1, 2024.
24. Leeman J, Boisson A, Go V. Scaling Up Public Health Interventions: Engaging Partners Across Multiple Levels. Annu Rev Public Health. 2022 Apr 5;43:155-171. Epub 2021 Nov 1.
25. McLean M, McKimm J, Gibbs T. Medical education in difficult circumstances: A global responsibility to contribute. Med Teach. 2017 Jan;39(1):4-6. Epub 2016 Dec 9.