Abstract
Background:Major challenges are being experienced in medical education in sub-Saharan African Universities. These include emigration of faculty, infrequent curriculum review, inadequate training in medical education, poor investments in infrastructure and lack of faculty development programs. The USA government committed funding to improve the quality of medical education and research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa through the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI).Objectives:This article describes the implementation of faculty development at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZCHS), a recipient of a MEPI award.Methods:Data sources included annual surveys and reports of UZCHS MEPI activities, exit evaluation reports of faculty development workshops; results of a survey conducted in 2015 at the end of the MEPI grant. Questionnaires were developed based on the MEPI Zimbabwe evaluation plan and logic model. Surveys were administered to faculty members, postgraduate and undergraduate students. Qualitative data was collected through in-depth key informer interviews of stakeholder.Findings:Different faculty development activities were implemented such as workshops, exchange visits, visiting professors program, advanced leadership training and curriculum development. The implementation of the activities brought positive developments to the college as confirmed by faculty and students. The majority of faculty interviewed (96%) confirmed that faculty development programs were very helpful in enhancing their expertise and skills. A similar number, i.e. 96%, also reported satisfaction with the training.Conclusions:We have described how the implementation of faculty development programs at the UZCHS contributed to the improvement of medical education at the College. The short term and long-term benefits of faculty development have been analyzed. Various forms of faculty development programs were described. Limitations of this analysis were the inability to collect data on students’ performance and the demonstration of changes in teaching performance.
Highlights
Major challenges are being experienced in medical education in sub-Saharan African Universities
Qualitative data was collected using key stakeholder in-depth interviews with 37 stakeholders comprising of Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) leaders at University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZCHS), Mentored Clinical Scholars Program attendees and 18 participants who were nominated by program leadership as those who had received great benefit by participating in the activities
We have demonstrated the role of faculty development programs through their short-term impacts on teaching skills, knowledge acquisition, change in attitudes, leadership practices, workshops attendance and perceptions in general
Summary
Major challenges are being experienced in medical education in sub-Saharan African Universities These include emigration of faculty, infrequent curriculum review, inadequate training in medical education, poor investments in infrastructure and lack of faculty development programs. Conclusions: We have described how the implementation of faculty development programs at the UZCHS contributed to the improvement of medical education at the College. Various forms of faculty development programs were described Limitations of this analysis were the inability to collect data on students’ performance and the demonstration of changes in teaching performance. Faculty development enables faculty members to acquire skills that enhance their performance in their roles as teachers and researchers to improve student outcomes [1]. The goal of this study is to describe how faculty development programs through MEPI impacted faculty and students, and contributed to addressing medical education challenges at the UZCHS
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