Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME)
From SCOME Wiki
Contents |
History
Medical Education should be a concern of every medical student as it shapes not only the quality of future doctors, but also the quality of healthcare. The International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) has a dedicated organ which aims to implement an optimal learning environment for all medical students around the world – the Standing Committee On Medical Education (SCOME). It was one of IFMSA’s first standing committees from the beginning of its foundation in 1951. IFMSA SCOME acts as a discussion forum for students interested in the different aspects of medical education in the hope of pursuing and achieving its aim.
Mission
Healthcare is changing at an unprecedented rate and at multiple fronts. Technology has revolutionized archaic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Medical science has increased our understanding of the body and created an explosion of new information. Patients are increasingly questioning and less trusting their doctors. But medical schools are not or only slowly introducing changes in their curriculum. Teachers at many medical faculties are not educated to teach, they are doctors and mostly lack knowledge of how to show their skills to their students.
We question that students educated in a so-called traditional curriculum are able to face the needs of healthcare in a modern society. Scientific data show that modern medical curricula are a lot more likely to teach students in an appropriate way in order to create doctors equipped with various skills and knowledge. Although there are a number of innovative approaches to teaching medicine, partly based on findings of cognitive science, change in medical curricula occurs slowly and at few medical schools. The need for change is either not recognized or ignored in many universities.
As medical students are directly exposed to medical curricula, they should rightfully be assumed to be experts on their educational system, and should therefore have an influence on the creation of new curricula. From IFMSA’s experience, it is often the medical students who are the strongest proponents for adapting their education to the needs of their community.
Here SCOME comes into the game. We try to promote modern medical education. Convinced by many positive examples we go on that mission by teaching and training students, teachers, and professors, exchanging experiences and spreading information.
As a global grassroots organization of medical students locally active in more than 88 countries worldwide, IFMSA has made meaningful contributions to improve medical education over the last decades.
On our way to improve medical education
Are medical students throughout the world acquainted with the subject of “medical education”? Do they recognize their role in the field of medical education and can they really make a change? Most of the students get involved in the process of medical education as passive participants fulfilling their duties, but not scrutinizing the educational process itself. In this way, they are missing the unique opportunity that they have as “consumers”/“clients”, to give their opinion on the educational process and thus provide the data about that system from “inside”. In general, students show lack of interest and awareness for this important issue. This is the main reason why motivating students is our first goal.
Currently, there is a “reform-pandemics” in medical education going on worldwide. Medical curricula are going through changes in most of the medical faculties throughout the world. Since it is difficult to predict the results of these changes and it takes a long period, they are usually drawn from the reform process itself. It is of great importance that students are actively involved in this process because they can very early inform the faculty authorities of the disadvantages which the new system might have. Students should provide that vital feedback which is essential for the development of an efficient medical education system and student organization should exchange experience and data which will enhance their role as active participants in the reform process. In that direction, the roll of SCOME is not to represent a mere talking point, but a central coordinative unit which will guide medical students throughout the world towards a better medical education. SCOME is not meant to be only a discussion forum, but “headquarters” that will analyze the current situation in medical education, set up strategy for action and council students how to put that strategy in action in their own countries.
In most of the cases it is rather hard to improve our educational system. In most of the countries there is no tradition of integrating students in faculty development. Sometimes they even are not members of decision-making bodies within the schools or they are only a minority in those. So statements and proposals of students do not have a high value for stakeholders. This situation is well known to most of us. Why would you write this here? Rather: We must be aware of this well-known situation causing multiple problems. Our strategy has to be adapted to these circumstances. How?
In the last years we worked mainly in three fields:
Locally
The most promising strategy for change is a local approach. Even if students do not have a majority within the faculty boards, students could convince deans, professors, teachers, and stakeholders to develop their education. It may not be possible to change the whole curriculum at once; but small changes in each of the different subjects will slowly but steadily also improve the curriculum as a whole. In a constructive and cooperative way one can find many small solutions to make life easier. To get some ideas of how to approach see “Policy Statements” and exchange experiences with other NOMEs.
To enable NOMEs and LOMEs to facilitate improvements on the local level one of the main activities within SCOME are trainings. These trainings cover all fields within medical education, like assessments and exams, evaluation, teaching and learning systems, Problem-based learning, Community-based learning, Computer-based learning, policies of government and ministries. It is important to provide as many trainings as possible. These trainings are held on general assemblies, pre-GA-Workshops, on regional and national meetings and on special international training workshops. What is the task of SCOME on the local level?
- Provide some additional courses that can be useful for medical students
- Facilitate discussions between students and faculty
- Participating in the evaluating process
- Improve medical education
- Contribute to the SCOME projects and start new national ones
- Collect local students’ opinions and try to implement them
- Represent local students in faculty’s and university’s boards
International projects
We have different types of international projects:
- Database projects
- The main objective of these projects is to collect information (e.g. about curricula, residencies) and to provide it to all, mainly on behalf of the internet.
- Research in Medical Education
- We support and encourage students to do research on the field of Medical Education. Therefore we work together with the scientific students’ conferences where we initiate medical education sessions and provide workshops. Furthermore we have our own research projects.
- Courses
- After students found a lack of a special topic in their curriculum they initiate courses. Students also invite guest speakers and experts themselves. If these courses lead to a success and the interest of the students is high enough, the medical school will accept to integrate them in the curriculum eventually. There are also many courses run by students as peer education.
- Trainings
- To improve our knowledge and skills we organize training workshops e.g. on the topic of the implementation of the Bologna process in medical education.
International lobby
There are some international organizations dealing with medical education. We try to co-operate with them and to represent the students’ thoughts and wishes on the international level. In some cases these ideas find their way back to the national and local level. Actually we are working together with World Federation on Medical Education to define, disseminate and implement global standards in basic medical education. It is the task of the NOMEs to find out which possibilities they have to work in a similar way on the national level.
Structure
In general
The SCOME Director is elected each year by the National Member Organisations at the IFMSA General Assembly in August. She/he co-ordinates the work that is done by National Officers, project co-ordinators and others. The SCOME Director reports to IFMSA and represents IFMSA and SCOME at meetings of external organizations dealing with Medical Education. The SCOME Director is also responsible for the SCOME meetings at biennial IFMSA General Assemblies.
The SCOME Director can appoint members of the committee as coordinators for special tasks, if he/she is not able to fulfil them by him/herself.
Each National Member Organization of IFMSA elects a National Officer on Medical Education (NOME). Her/his task is to co-ordinate and to encourage local or national activities in the respective country. The NOMEs are also responsible for communicating with and reporting to the SCOME Director.
NOMEs are recommended to attend the international IFMSA meetings in March and August respectively. At these meetings, they network with other NOMEs, exchange ideas and attain new knowledge and motivation to bring back home to the Local and National Committees.
The Local Officers on Medical Education (LOMEs) are in charge of local improvement in Medical Education and related activities at the different local medical faculties of a National Member Organisation. They are elected locally and are responsible for tackling local problems. They are advised to form local working groups, whose work they co-ordinate. The LOMEs shall communicate with and report to the NOME.
SCOME and IFMSA are in close contact to other non-governmental-organizations dealing with higher and medical education such as the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) and the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE). IFMSA executive board appoints liaison officers, who maintain and co-ordinate contact with major organizations. The national and international communication between IFMSA and these organizations should go through these liaison officers.
Lists of members of IFMSA active in SCOME
SCOME-members in Africa
SCOME-members in the Americas
SCOME-members in Asia-Pacific
SCOME-members in the East Mediterranean
SCOME-members in Europe and Central Asia
