Second Meeting of the Core Committee
November 2-4, 2000

White Plains, New York

 

The second meeting of the Core Committee of the Institute for International Medical Education was convened on November 2-4, 2000 in the IIME offices in White Plains, New York, and was chaired by Dr. Marvin Dunn.

The one important question to be answered at first was if the already developed draft of "Minimum Essential Requirements" - (MER) - is the best possible product that could be made, and what more can be done to make it better in terms of its content and format? The Committee meticulously reviewed the document, discussing in details the preamble and content of the sub-headings of each domain and suggested many additions, changes and new formulations. It suggested the inclusion in preamble a clear statement of what the MER were not, what should help to understand better its real meaning by the medical schools and all other interested parties. The Committee also discussed the title of the document, considering if a more appropriate title might be the "global essential learning outcomes". However, for several reasons this idea was left aside. It was also underlined that the graduates for whom the MER were being compiled are those who start graduate training or are going to see patients under supervision. It was stressed that it must be made clear, for all who will receive the MER, that it is the product of the medical education experts from around the world, and represents a synthesis of the global experiences in the medical education requirements, and it does not represent of the system of medical education of one or few countries. Moreover, its practical value and relevance will be assessed through experimental implementation in several medical schools, before proposing it for the global use. It was also further clarified of the meaning of MER in relationship to the existing medical curricula. It was stressed that the MER are both common and essential to all medical schools and each medical curriculum should include the MER. However, any given schools' curriculum encompasses for more than the MER and therefore its total content would vary from school to school.

It was indicated that although the actual emphases of the WFME and IIME projects are different, as the WFME is aiming at the accreditation standards and the IIME focuses on the content requirements, the projects are complimentary.

The second important task of the Committee was to answer a question how to assess the MER and outcomes of it implementation? This task demands the creative approach because nothing ready is on the table. Evaluation process is usually addressing four components: input, process, outcome and context. However, the present task of the Committee would be to focus on the evaluation of the students learning outcomes. For some domains of "minimum essential requirements " there are available some evaluation protocols or measurement instruments. However, there is a call for more specificity in the sub-items of each domain, for clarification of indicators of performance, and criteria for measuring these indicators. The Core Committee reviewed each of the 7 domains, recommending some evaluation strategies and appropriate measuring instruments. Their recommendations will be summarized by the Institute and sent out to the Committee Members for their critical comments and further suggestions. There are several issues that emerged in the discussion for which there was no immediate resolution, such as: if the evaluation should encompass overall school assessment or to be limited to the student learning outcomes; how many elements in each of the domains are to be evaluated; what criteria are to be assessed and who is to set the level of achievement; and what documentation is needed to ensure that the desired level of achievement has been reached?

The Committee Members were urged to forward as soon as possible names, addresses, emails, and specialty areas of internationally recognized medical educators to whom the Institute would send the document for their review, critique, and recommendations. It will ensure the broader acceptance of the "essentials" by the worldwide medical educators' community.

To make easier a common understanding of content of MER and its assessment tools, it was agreed that the Institute would develop a glossary of terms used, which will be send to the Committee members for their comments and additions. It will constitute a part of the basic document.

In general a smooth and very productive work of the Committee reflected content of the banner in conference room that greeted its members, which stated: "coming together is the beginning, staying together is progress, working together is success."

The date of the next meeting of the Core Committee will be set soon as it was said that the calendars for the next year are filling and everyone wanted to be present.