Faculty Of Medicine, Suez Canal University Research Articles

Knowledge, attitude and behaviour of undergraduate medical students towards mentally Ill patients-Suez Canal University, Egypt

Background: Worldwide, studies show negative attitudes among medical students toward psychiatry and mental illness. The knowledge of the attitude and awareness of the undergraduate medical students toward mental health and psychiatric disorders are most important as they are going to be involved in the care of these patients either directly or indirectly during the years of their careers. Aim: To explore, the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of undergraduate medical students towards mentally ill Patients before their planned psychiatry rotation in the fourth year of undergraduate medical study, faculty of medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt. Objectives: To assess mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and intended behavior of undergraduate medical students towards mentally ill patients. Subjects and methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study, conducted on 120 fourth-year undergraduate medical students affiliated with the faculty of medicine-Suez Canal University. A comprehensive sample was used to include all of the students in the fourth year of undergraduate medical study, and the study group participants completed a semi-structured questionnaire including four parts to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral responses towards individuals with mental illnesses. The data of the study was collected in September-October 2019. Results: Based on the participants’ scores, the cut-off points estimated to dichotomize the responses as poor or good, for mental health-related knowledge, belief towards mental illness and intended behavior were, 17, 55 and 8.5 respectively. This study showed that the study participants had marginally poor mental health-related knowledge with a median score of 17, poor beliefs about mental illness with a median score of 49.5 and poor intended behavior towards the mentally ill with a median score of 7. Conclusion: In this study, undergraduate medical students showed marginally poor mental health-related knowledge, poor stigmatizing beliefs, and behavior towards mentally ill patients. More controlled studies are needed to eliminate the inherent response biases in survey studies and to measure the outcomes of anti-stigma educational and curricular interventions.

Examining the Psychometrics of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) among Medical Staff Members at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt

<p><strong>Objectives:</strong> This study aims to investigate the level of Career Resilience among Medical Staff members and examine the psychometrics of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). <strong>Subjects and Methods:</strong> This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study; the study population included medical staff from basic and clinical departments at the Faculty Of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU) (n=75). The instrument was Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) to assess medical staffs’ career resilience.<strong> Results:</strong> This study reveals that the medical staff at FOM-SCU agreed that things happen for a reason, past success gives them confidence for new challenge and, sometimes fate or God can help (78%, 72% and 72%, respectively). Ninety two percent of participants had a resilience score of ?50%. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of the CD-RISC was conducted. This analysis yielded four factors. These factors were labeled as follows: Factor 1: Personal Competence, Factor 2: Tolerance of Negative Affect; Factor 3: Acceptance of change, secure relationships, and spiritual influences; and Factor 4: Control. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The findings revealed that the medical staff received a high level of career resilience, and they especially felt that God gives them confidence. Resilience reveals how the medical staff copes with change and how they face challenges and risk events in the health profession. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the CD-RISC questionnaire and concluded that it is a reliable and valid instrument to measure career resilience in medical staff.</p>

Exploring the Relationship between Student Engagement and Burnout Syndrome among Undergraduate Medical Students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study)

Background: Burnout is a psychological syndrome that is considered an amalgamation of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. It is well known that mental well-being of medical students is heavily affected. Student engagement can be defined as a positive state of mind in terms of studying, where the student tends to be more determined. Engaged students are more resilient to academic stress with a sense of well-being and less feeling of burn out in the future. Aim: The study aims at assessing the prevalence of burnout syndrome among undergraduate medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU) and to explore the relationship between student engagement and burnout levels. Subjects and Methods: 300 students from all study years participated in the study. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale–Student Survey (UWES–S) was used to assess the level of student engagement while the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (MBI–SS) was used to gauge the extent of burnout syndrome among medical students. Results: According to our results, 77.3% of the total study population had two-dimensional burnout and 61.7% of them had three-dimensional burnout. Moreover, 49.7% of the total study population had average student engagement level with the highest prevalence in year three with 54.4%. Overall, student engagement levels were moderately negatively correlated with burnout levels. Conclusion: Most of the study population had high levels of burnout. Nearly half of them considered themselves averagely engaged in their studies. Student engagement levels were moderately negatively correlated with burnout levels, denoting the importance of enhancing engagement and preventing burnout.

Relationship between the Role of the Clinical Instructor, Students’ Self-efficacy, and Academic Achievement

Background: Learning environment has a direct effect on students’ self-efficacy. In clinical training, instructors should provide the support for their students to cope with this stressful environment and to enhance students’ achievement. We examined the role of the clinical instructor and students’ self-efficacy by two validated questionnaires to find the relationship between these two factors. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the relationship between the role of the clinical instructor, students’ self-efficacy, and academic achievement. Subjects and Methods: This is a correlational and predictive study; the study population included all fifth-year undergraduate (number=154) medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU). The instruments were Medical Achievement Self-Efficacy Scale (MASS) to measure students’ self-efficacy and Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory (NCTEI) to find out the characteristics of the effective teacher from the students’ point of view. The academic achievement of the students was measured through their scores in the OSCE exams in six clinical rounds. Results: The descriptive statistics of the two factors of the MASS questionnaire reveals that the students were highly satisfied with factor regarding outcome expectancy with mean= 3.59. The descriptive statistics of the six factors of the NCTEI questionnaire reveals that the students were highly satisfied with factor 5 (mentoring) with mean= 4.96. The Pearson’s correlations revealed positive correlation between the construct of self-efficacy and all factors of NCTEI and academic achievement. Multiple linear regression analysis of the mean scores of student’s responses to MASS revealed significant predictions. Conclusion: The study concludes that medical students positively perceive their self-efficacy, which influences the development of their interests and goals. So, this study highlights the importance of the role of the clinical educator, especially as a mentor, for enhancing the perceived self-efficacy of the students.

Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Smartphone-Based Study Guide for Undergraduate Medical Students

Introduction: Most medical educators agreed that e-Learning is a necessity nowadays and not a luxury shift. Smartphones contribute to the educational process to a great extent. Integrating the use of smartphones in the curriculum has an important innovative role in medical education and health care services. Currently, medical students are using smartphones as part of their daily routine and learning activities. A study guide is a tool designed to facilitate students' interaction with the various components of the curriculum. The idea of using a mobile application in providing information through a study guide to facilitate learning was reported by different studies.
 Aims: This study aims at designing, implementing and evaluating smart-phone based study guide using mobile enhanced learning technology for the 1st year medical students at Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU) in order to enhance students' learning experience.
 The Study Objectives: Design a study guide using mobile application for the 1st year medical students. Implement the newly designed study guide on 1st year medical students (2017-2018). Evaluate the students' performance during PBL tutorial sessions before and after implementing Smartphone based study guide. Assess students' satisfaction regarding the study guide application. Identify challenges of using mobile application in medical education.
 Study Design:  A quasi-experimental (pretest-posttest), using a non-probability convenience sampling, 105 students (response rate 84%), and 16 class tutors (response rate 100%).
 Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medical Education, FOM-SCU, Egypt during the academic year 2017-2018.
 Methodology: Using a non-probability convenience sampling technique, 105 students (response rate 84%), and 16 class tutors (response rate 100%).
 Results: Most of the students (94.3%) stated that smartphone (m-learning) is useful in Medical Education, 80.9% of them agreed that the module objectives can be met through m-learning and 61.9% of the students agreed on recommending m-learning as an innovative method of learning to others. The evaluation of students' performance in the context of Problem Based Learning (PBL) by their class tutors showed a statistically significant improvement in all items regarding the four factors assessed "independent study" (p-value <0.001), "group interaction" (p-value <0.001), "active participation" (p-value <0.001), and "reasoning skills" (p-value <0.001) when comparing pre and post-intervention scores. 
 Conclusion: This study concludes the m-learning has a positive effect on the students’ performance in the PBL context. It is remarkably significant to integrate smartphone-based learning activities in the undergraduate Medical Education curriculum. Our results can encourage other health professions institutions to apply m-learning in different educational situations.

Assessing Students’ Well-being in Primary Health Care Setting as a Clinical Learning Environment

Introduction: Well-being in learning environment requires a culture that actively helps students to achieve their own potential. It requires a learning environment (LE) that supports physical, social and spiritual development. It has been shown that medical students experience high levels of stress that can hinder their performance, professionalism, and overall health.
 With respect to primary health care (PHC), some studies have shown the relative advantage of PHC centers to provide opportunities for “hands on” practice by pre-clinical students, availability of general practitioners (GPs) to supervise students, and with respect to the scope of PHC, which includes, beside patient care, community health education. Unfortunately, some aspects of the training process in clinical learning environment (CLE) have unfavorable effect on students’ well-being. Medical students face personal distress with negative effect on academic achievement, competency, professionalism, and health.
 We aimed to measure students wellbeing during their training in primary health care units.
 Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional study to assess well-being of undergraduate students in primary health care (PHC) centers affiliated to the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU). In addition, to test psychometric prosperities of The MED-NORD (Medical Education in Nordic Countries) questionnaire through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). A comprehensive (purposive) Sample was taken from year 1, 2, and 3.
 Results: Testing the psychometric prosperities of MED-NORD questionnaire revealed that the questionnaire contained 7 factors and 41 items. The seven factors are: Conceptions of learning and knowledge, Approaches to learning, Perceptions of the learning environment, Problems in studying, Optimism, Reflective learning, and Lack of interest. There were adequate correlations between the factors.
 Conclusion: The study concluded that the students positively perceived their well-being. Furthermore, Students preferred collaborative knowledge building in learning. However, they use surface approach in their learning more than deep approach. This study also concluded good reliability and construct validity of MED-NORD questionnaire.

Relationship between Metacognitive Awareness and Reflective Learning of Medical Students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

Aim: To examine the relationship between reflective thinking and metacognitive awareness to help medical students to be independent learners who can control their learning and improve their professional performance.
 Study Design: It is a cross-sectional correlational study.
 Place and Duration of the Study: This study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine-Suez Canal University in August 2018.
 Methodology: This is a cross-sectional correlational study; the study population included the undergraduate medical students in all study years at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University. The sample was 264 randomly selected students by using a cluster sampling technique. The instruments that were used for data collection were the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) to measure students’ metacognitive awareness levels, Reflection-in-Learning Scale (RLS) to measure the students’ reflective learning levels.
 Results: The descriptive statistics of both MAI and RLS total scores of students in the six study years revealed that students have mean total MAI total scores = 178 ± 26 and have mean total RLS total scores = 60 ± 13.
 The Spearman's correlation between the metacognitive awareness and the reflective learning skills of medical students revealed that there was a statistically significant high positive correlation between the metacognitive awareness and the reflection in the learning of FOM-SCU students         (p= 0.699, p-value<0.0001).
 Multiple regression analysis revealed that the weighted combination of the predictor variables explained approximately 50% of the variance of reflection in learning.
 Conclusion: It is concluded from this study that the students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University have fair to good metacognitive awareness and partial to ample reflective abilities. There is a significantly high positive relationship between metacognitive awareness and the reflective learning skills of medical students.

Prevention of lymphedema via axillary reverse mapping for arm lymph-node preservation following breast cancer surgery: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundBreast cancer, with an incidence of 32%, is the most frequent cancer among Egyptian women. The frequency of arm lymphedema after axillary surgery for breast cancer ranges from 7 to 77%. Axillary reverse mapping is a technique aimed to distinguish and conserve upper-limb lymphatics and lymph nodes during the course of axillary surgery and could help to prevent arm lymphedema.MethodsPatients (n = 48) were prepared for axillary lymph-node dissection. The study group and the control group each contained 24 individuals. In the study group, following dye injection, stained arm lymph nodes and lymphatics were conserved during axillary dissection, whereas control-group participants underwent the conventional procedure. All participants were re-evaluated after 6 months, and the incidence of lymphedema was recorded by measuring arm circumference at a level 10 cm proximal to the medial epicondyle. Arm lymphedema was defined as a change in the circumference of the ipsilateral upper extremity > 2 cm during the follow-up period.ResultsAge, tumor size and N stage were not significantly different between the study and control groups. Lymph-node visualization was achieved in 20 participants (83.3%) in the study group. Suspicious stained lymph nodes were surgically removed from four individuals but showed no metastatic involvement. In 20 individuals in the study group, no stained lymph nodes were removed. The incidence of lymphedema in the control group was 16.7%, and the incidence in the study group was 4.2%.ConclusionsAxillary reverse mapping is a minimally invasive technique that can be performed during axillary lymph-node dissection, helping to prevent the subsequent development of arm lymphedema.Trial registration#SCURCTN3276, retrospectively registered on 11 April 2017 at Research Ethics Committee at the Faculty of medicine-Suez Canal University.

Evaluation of Two Applied Methods for Standard Setting in Undergraduate Medical Programme at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

Standard setting process is known to overcome the problem of the arbitrary pass score which is prone to underrate or overrate students. At Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM/SCU), arbitrary 60% cutoff score is used in written exams. The objective of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of applying two standard setting methods in undergraduate medical programme of FOM/SCU. Two standard setting methods (Angoff and Hofstee) were applied on the integrated multiple choice question (MCQ) exam of the third year FOM/SCU undergraduate students. Eleven judges from different specialties participated in this study. The cutoff score was determined by each method. Focus group discussion was conducted to get the judges’ perception regarding standard setting process, importance, judges’ selection and challenges. The determined cutoff scores using Angoff and Hofstee methods were 54.98% and 44% respectively. Thematic analysis of focus group discussion revealed judges’ acceptance for standard setting application on all exams and they agreed on involving non-specialists in the judges’ committee. There is a difference between the fixed cutoff score currently used at FOM/SCU and those determined using Angoff and Hofstee methods. Multidisciplinary judges are satisfied with this difference and they echoed the use of standard setting methods in improving assessment process.

Coaching as a Tool for Personal and Professional Development in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Medical Curriculum: A Qualitative Study

Background: Coaching is a form of supervision which is about unlocking a person’s potential to maximize own performance. Recently, medical education has been bringing such one-to-one developmental activities to the fore. Objective: Is to explore opinions of experts and leaders in a PBL medical school about coaching as a method for students and faculty development. Methods: This is a qualitative study conducted in the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU); a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) college in Egypt. A focus group discussion was conducted with 10 faculty members in the Medical Education Department. In addition, interviews were held with 5 faculty members in leadership positions. All sessions were audio recorded then transcribed verbatim. Data were organized around the themes: applications of coaching in medical education, potential benefits, expected outcomes and challenges. Results: Coaching is perceived as applicable within context of the PBL curriculum of FOM-SCU. To institute coaching as an efficient developmental tool, a lot of efforts are still indicated. Furthermore, coaching can comprise a set of other already existing developmental activities in the PBL curriculum. Resistance to change and lack of resources are the most anticipated challenges. Conclusion: Innovative curricula more receptive for coaching. The major against developing a coaching culture are resistance to change and shortage of financial resources.

Evaluation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Implementation: Perception of Students from Two Medical Schools

Background: Institutions may have different interpretations of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) characteristics. As a result, the imple‌mentation of PBL may be completely different from one institution to another. Aim: This study aims to evaluate and compare the implementation of PBL at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU), Egypt, and Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies (ISNC), Saudi Arabia from the viewpoint of the student at both schools. Methods: This is a descriptive study, conducted at the FOM-SCU and ISNC and a convenience sample was taken from students in both schools (381 students at FOM-SCU and 479 students at ISNC). A validated, self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the quality of PBL implementation from the students’ points of view. Validity and reliability studies have been done for the questionnaire after its translation into Arabic. Descriptive statistics together with regression analysis were applied, using SPSS v.20. Results: Overall students’ satisfaction with the current implementation of PBL gave mean scores of 3.44±0.70 and 3.59 ±0.63 at ISNC and FOM-SCU, respectively. Scores were consistently higher for FOM-SCU students over all the evaluated subscales. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in student-centered learning, self-directed learning, and the quality of the small groups have been found between both schools, consistently higher in FOM-SCU. Conclusion: The current study found that students are moderately satisfied by the quality of PBL at their respective schools. However, moderate scores indicate that there is room for more improvement in the implementation of PBL at both schools, especially in the training of PBL facilitators. Students at FOM-SCU were more satisfied by PBL at their schools than students of ISNC, especially regarding student-centered learning, self-directed learning, and the quality of the small groups.

Teaching and Assessment of Professionalism: A Comparative Study between Two Medical Schools

Background: Medical professionalism, a key element in medical practice, includes values, behavioursand relationships that build up the trust between the public and doctors. As professionalism is notinborn social characteristics, it is vital to be formally taught in the undergraduate curriculum. Thestudy aimed to assess and compare the degree of coverage of professionalism behaviours in Facultyof Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU), Egypt, and Ibn Sina National College for MedicalStudies (ISNC), Saudi Arabia. Method: Two-stage survey was used to obtain information aboutcurricular components related to teaching and assessment of professionalism and to review theprograms of both schools against the categories of professionalism behaviours. Results: Both schoolswere found to have curricular components related to teaching and assessment of professionalism.Coverage of professionalism components in FOM-SCU curriculum was 100% of the courses, exceptfor “Honour and Integrity” and “Caring and Compassion”. At ISNC, coverage ranged between(26.4%) to (37.7%), except for “Altruism”. Some teaching and assessment methods of professionalismwere common between both schools, while some were specific for each school. The relative amount ofprofessionalism teaching is different in both schools. Conclusion: Both schools recognise the necessityto address professionalism as an essential component of their students’ education. FOM-SCU needs toemphasise on Honour and Integrity and Care and Compassion, while ISNC needs to pay more attentionto teaching of most components of professionalism.

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT HUMAN MUSCLE TISSUE PRESERVATIVES ON QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF DNA: MEDICO LEGAL ASPECT

Background: Disaster victim identification (DVI) is a part of a collective response to mass disasters with the intention of identifying victims and body parts. Muscle tissue is sampled during DVI operations to identify victims by DNA analysis. Aim: To provide an effective field based method for preservation of DNA in human muscle tissues. Methods: A cross sectional comparative study was carried out on normal healthy human muscle tissues which were collected from patients admitted to Suez Canal University Hospital for surgical amputation of a part of limb. Muscle tissue was stored for 4 weeks in a number of preservatives at room temperature (15- 20°C). This process was repeated at 37°C to simulate the conditions expected during DVI operations in warm conditions. Samples were also stored at -20oC which represents the optimum storage condition used in many countries. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of DNA extracted from samples was done for each preservative during the 4 weeks. The study was conducted in the clinical pathology department in faculty of medicine-Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt. Results: All preservatives could retain DNA up to the 4 weeks. Ethanol 70% (EtOH) gave the highest DNA concentration in both conditions (p value <0.001), followed by Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in room temperature and Sodium Chloride (NaCl) in 37 oC. All used preservatives did not show degradation in room temperature, while NaCl and Ethanol 70% showed degradation in DNA extracted in day 28 in 37 oC condition ( p value <0.001). Conclusion: DMSO is a successful method of preservation of DNA in human muscle tissue up to 4 weeks in both room temperature and 37 oC. While NaCl and Ethanol 70% are successful methods of preservation of DNA in muscle tissue up to 2 weeks only in 37 oC and up to 4 weeks in room temperature (15-20oC).

Development, implementation, and evaluation of an integrated multidisciplinary Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in primary health care settings within limited resources

Background: In ordinary circumstances, objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a resource-intensive assessment method. In case of developing and implementing multidisciplinary OSCE, there is no doubt that the cost will be greater.Aim: Through this study a research project was conducted to develop, implement and evaluate a multidisciplinary OSCE model within limited resources.Methods: This research project went through the steps of blueprinting, station writing, resources reallocation, implementation and finally evaluation.Results: The developed model was implemented in the Primary Health Care (PHC) program which is one of the pillars of the Community-Based undergraduate curriculum of the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU). Data for evaluation of the implemented OSCE model were derived from two resources. First, feedback of the students and assessors through self-administered questionnaires was obtained. Second, evaluation of the OSCE psychometrics was done. The deliverables of this research project included a set of validated integrated multi-disciplinary and low cost OSCE stations with an estimated reliability index of 0.6.Conclusion: After having this experience, we have a critical mass of faculty members trained on blueprinting and station writing and a group of trained assessors, facilitators and role players. Also there is a state of awareness among students on how to proceed in this type of OSCE which renders future implementation more feasible.

Is our medical school socially accountable? The case of Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

Background: Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM/SCU) was established as community oriented school with innovative educational strategies. Social accountability represents the commitment of the medical school towards the community it serves.Aims: To assess FOM/SCU compliance to social accountability using the “Conceptualization, Production, Usability” (CPU) model.Methods: FOM/SCU’s practice was reviewed against CPU model parameters. CPU consists of three domains, 11 sections and 31 parameters. Data were collected through unstructured interviews with the main stakeholders and documents review since 2005 to 2013.Results: FOM/SCU shows general compliance to the three domains of the CPU. Very good compliance was shown to the “P” domain of the model through FOM/SCU's innovative educational system, students and faculty members. More work is needed on the “C” and “U” domains.Conclusion: FOM/SCU complies with many parameters of the CPU model; however, more work should be accomplished to comply with some items in the C and U domains so that FOM/SCU can be recognized as a proactive socially accountable school.

Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Tutor Guide for Problem Based Learning Phase II Class Tutors at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

Background: The Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU) was established in 1978 to become the first Problem-Based (PBL) school in the Middle East Tutor plays a major role in facilitating PBL sessions, Tutor should be well prepared and have the sufficient knowledge and facilitation skills to effectively facilitate PBL sessions. Aim: The aim of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate a tutor guide for PBL class tutors in phase II at (FOM-SCU) the in order to help tutors facilitate PBL sessions in a competent manner and increase effectiveness of the PBL sessions. Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental, Pre-program/post-program non-equivalent comparison group design was applied in this study. The target population was randomly assigned to intervention and control groups, a total number of 28 tutors in each group. The study passed through three stages: preparatory, design and implementation and evaluation. The data was collected by: needs assessment questionnaire, tutors self-satisfaction questionnaire, student satisfaction questionnaire administered before and after the implementation, questionnaire to assess tutors’ and students’ satisfaction with the developed tutor guide and “what if” mini cases. Results: Needs assessment results shows an urgent need for a tutor guide for some educational blocks. Results also showed improvement of the intervention group performance. The average score for the overall performance of the tutor was (7.67 ± 1.20) in the intervention group compared with the control group (6.54 ± 2.02). Conclusion: The study concluded that implementing a tutor guide increases tutors’ self satisfaction with their performance and enhances students’ satisfaction with tutor performance.

Integrating interprofessional education in community-based learning activities: Case study

Faculty of Medicine/Suez Canal University (FOM/SCU) students are exposed to clinical practice in primary care settings within the community, in which they encounter patients and begin to work within interprofessional health teams. However, there is no planned curricular interaction with learners from other professions at the learning sites. As in other schools, FOM/SCU faces major challenges with the coordination of community-based education (CBE) program, which include the complexity of the design required for Interprofessional Education (IPE) as well as the attitudinal barriers between professions. The aim of the present review is to: (i) describe how far CBE activities match the requirements of IPE, (ii) explore opinions of graduates about the effectiveness of IPE activities, and (iii) present recommendations for improvement. Graduates find the overall outcome of their IPE satisfactory and believe that it produces physicians who are familiar with the roles of other professions and can work in synergy for the sake of better patient care. However, either a specific IPE complete module needs to be developed or more IPE specific objectives need to be added to current modules. Moreover, coordination with stakeholders from other health profession education institutes needs to be maximized to achieve more effective IPE.