Abstract
IntroductionNumerous frameworks and tools have been developed to assist medical schools striving to achieve their social accountability mandate. The purpose of this study was to design an instrument to evaluate medical students’ perceptions of the key competencies of a ‘socially accountable’ healthcare practitioner using widely accepted frameworks which contain clear measurable outcomes.MethodsThe instrument was designed in three phases: selection of a competency-based framework, development of items, and validation of the instrument through exploratory factor analysis. Medical students in the 6‑year medical degree program at the University of Cape Town, South Africa were invited to participate in the study. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was performed using Stata/SE version 13.1.ResultsOf 619 students invited to participate in the study, 484 (78%) responded. The CanMEDS framework was selected for designing the instrument, which comprised 35 statements reflecting five competencies for each CanMEDS role. Exploratory factor analysis of the student responses yielded a 28-item instrument. There was a significant difference in overall Perceptions of Social Accountability Instrument (PSAI) scores between men and women (p = 0.002) but no significant difference between the overall PSAI scores for students in the respective years of study.DiscussionThis study describes the design of an instrument to evaluate medical students’ perceptions of the essential competencies of socially accountable healthcare practitioners. Used longitudinally, the data may provide evidence of the successes of our programs and identify areas where further improvements are required.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40037-020-00564-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Numerous frameworks and tools have been developed to assist medical schools striving to achieve their social accountability mandate
The CanMEDS framework was selected because it was developed to address calls for greater social responsiveness in medicine[23], has been widely adopted for program accreditation including in South Africa [24], and has well-defined, observable competencies that are suitable for developing a quantitative in
This study describes the design of an instrument to evaluate medical students’ perceptions of the essential competencies of a socially accountable doctor, an understanding of which may enhance health sciences curriculum development
Summary
Numerous frameworks and tools have been developed to assist medical schools striving to achieve their social accountability mandate. The literature distinguishes between two closely related topics, the ‘big picture’—social accountability of institutions and an ‘on the ground reality’—the socially accountable behaviour and practices of individual healthcare graduates [9] Our understanding of the latter is, limited [10, 11] and indicators to measure the extent to which this is achieved are. The envisioned product is a doctor responsive to the priority health needs of society, who conducts him/herself in a socially responsible manner from both a personal and professional perspective, and holds him/herself accountable to society for providing healthcare which is comprehensive, relevant, accessible, patient-centred, responsive and cost-effective [13] This entails reflection, engagement, advocacy, leadership, and the ability and preparedness to serve
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