And there I found myself again, sitting in a huge lecture
hall full of peers. Just a normal day in the life of a medical student.
All closely listening to the microbiology professor and taking notes.
But hey… is that what was really going on here? Take a closer look and see. The professor talking about different types
of E. Coli. At the same time, my fellow students reading the
newspaper, chatting on Watsapp, replying mails, posting pictures on Instagram, checking their Facebook and whispering to each other about the night club they attended during the weekend. Exactly. Just a normal day in the life of a medical
student.
We trust the students we send to med school to become omniscient
doctors. These students are supposed to gain a lot of knowledge in six
years; six years to know how to save lives. Fortunately, the example
above is not the only way we med students get taught all that important
information. We practice skills, we do role play, we have
interactive sessions and in those last years of study we go to the
clinics, where doctors guide us in becoming doctors ourselves.
But isn’t a doctor much more than just someone who cures
people? My curriculum thinks so, and that’s why it’s based on the world
famous CanMEDS model. This model says a medical expert is someone who
masters six roles; professional, communicator, collaborator, manager,
scholar and health advocate.
Though, sitting in my microbiology lecture, I realized one
of the roles was missing. Yes. Attending the lectures and learning all
the medical details will make me a professional, my role play classes
will teach me to be a communicator, team-based learning will help me to
become a collaborator, research internships will pave the way to
becoming a scholar and during the clinics I will get to know how to be a
manager in healthcare. Where did the health advocate go?
This is where the International Federation of Medical Students’
Associations (IFMSA) stepped into my curriculum. Being an active member
of this international organization taught me to be a health advocate.
And that’s not all, it also enhanced the other roles of the CanMEDS
model. IFMSA didn’t do that by giving normal lectures, they did it by something that is called non-formal education.
Non-formal education is any organized educational activity
outside the established formal system – whether operating separately or
as an important feature of some broader activity – that is intended to
serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives.
The IFMSA trains medical students in soft skills, leadership
and global health. We organize exchanges around the world. We organize
activities to change the face of medicine globally, nationally and
locally. We give students the chance to go to conferences and talk to
medical professionals. All of this is non-formal education and
all of this changes medical students. It makes them better health
advocates, managers, communicators, collaborators, professionals and
scholars.
Students can almost not believe it. Doing all these things
they love to do and calling this education. Non-formal education is a
very valuable way of learning. Unfortunately, this isn’t seen by many
medical schools yet. There is no recognition of these wonderful
opportunities for students in most medical schools.
And this is what we want! We want
non-formal education, extracurricular activities, to be recognized by
medical schools. Reward the students that voluntarily work towards
better health care and at the same time grow in every role of the
CanMEDS model.
I have a dream that future medical students are sitting
in their microbiology lecture. Listening to the professor talking about
different types of E. Coli. And instead of reading the newspaper or
checking Facebook, students are talking about next week’s conference on
microbiology where they will advocate for conservative use of antibiotics to decrease antibiotic resistance and where they will be supported by their university.
Let this be just a normal day in the life of a future medical student.
Rachel Bruls,
Regional Assistant for Medical Education in Europe for the IFMSA
University of Amsterdam
Amazing blog!
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing great blog
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