The impact of a global health elective on CanMEDS competencies and future practice

Ashley Lanys,Rachel F Spitzer,Gena Krikler

doi:10.1186/s12960-020-0447-4

Abstract

BackgroundThere is evidence that participating in global health electives generates positive educational outcomes and personal benefits for medical trainees. The objective of this study was to examine the effect and impact that a global health elective has on CanMEDS competencies and anticipated future practice.ResultsThe medical expert, collaborator, leader, scholar, and professional CanMEDS competencies were self-perceived to be strongly impacted through this elective. A total of 94% of participants indicated it increased their strengths as a medical expert and leader, 82% indicated a major impact on the scholar competency, 88% of participants reported a strong impact as a professional, and 76% of participants indicated that it strongly impacted them as a collaborator. The majority of participants continue to have involvement in global health, and 88% of respondents found this elective to be influential on their current practice and beliefs.ConclusionsThese results suggest that individuals who participated in this global health elective perceived value in their experience. These findings support our hypothesis that participation in this global health elective would generate self-perceived positive impacts. Global health electives may provide an opportunity for physicians to expand on their CanMEDS competencies and become more proficient in caring for diverse patient populations.

Highlights

There is evidence that participating in global health electives generates positive educational outcomes and personal benefits for medical trainees
There is currently limited research that evaluates the impact global health electives have on the development of competencies within the CanMEDS framework
A survey was created through Fluid Survey and was sent to 43 individuals who had participated in the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) global health elective over the past 10 years

Summary

Introduction

There is evidence that participating in global health electives generates positive educational outcomes and personal benefits for medical trainees. There is evidence that global health electives can generate positive educational outcomes and personal benefits for its participants. The Mayo Clinic reported enhanced experience with pathology, learning to work with limited resources, developing clinical and surgical skills, participating in resident education, and experiencing new population demographics as the acquired benefits to participating in their global health elective [1]. There is currently limited research that evaluates the impact global health electives have on the development of competencies within the CanMEDS framework. A survey evaluating Canadian otolaryngology surgical residents indicated that global health electives may serve as a valuable forum for developing CanMEDS roles [4]

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