EDUCATION. Knowledge tests, the clinical training and ALF. These were some of the items on the agenda when representatives from all the country’s medical schools met in Gothenburg at the end of last week.
Kristina Bry, a professor of pediatrics at Östra Hospital, was one of the last of the attendees to take her seat in the Arvid Carlsson lecture hall for the national medical school meeting. She looked forward to gaining a better picture of how medical programs are organized at other universities, particularly within her own field, Pediatrics. “Paediatrics is an extensive subject area, and it is important that it is given enough attention as part of medical programs.” She was also interested in hearing about the national exam question bank that would be discussed during the meeting. “It doesn’t sound like a bad idea, if you create a common bank of exam questions.”
Praise for Region Västra Göteland
After a warm welcome to Gothenburg, Dean Olle Larkö said that he feels that Sahlgrenska Academy stands out compared to other universities, through its discussions on raising standards for our students. He described how the Sahlgrenska Academy Board decided to introduce a grading scale. “The timing is unclear, but the question is not WHETHER a grading scale will be introduced, but WHEN,” he said during his keynote.
He also mentioned continued training for medical specialists, a primary concern of his, where he believes Sweden is too slow in making progress. With some pride, he noted that Sahlgrenska Academy’s close partner Region Västra Götaland is now leading the way for other healthcare organizations through its new initiative for continued professional training. He highlighted Anna Nilsdotter, who was sitting in the audience, as someone who has made an important contribution to the region’s continued training efforts.
When Vice Dean Eric Hanse took the stage, he described how he has previously benefited greatly from the national medical school meetings, and he stressed that these meetings are likely to become even more important and more formal in the future, as the new quality system now being developed will largely depend on the internal quality work performed by universities themselves.
Disagreements came to the fore
That the grading scale is a contentious issue at Sahlgrenska Academy became clear to the audience when Agneta Ekman, president of the medical program committee, shared her view on the matter. “I want to clarify that the medical school is not for a grading scale. A debate about this is ongoing at the faculty, and I want to reassure the students who are here on this issue.”
The national medical school meeting is aimed at medical school program co-ordinators, instructors, study advisors, administrators, and students. The meeting takes place annually, and the universities take turns hosting. This year’s meeting, which brought together over a hundred participants from seven universities, was from lunch October 6 to lunch October 7, with dinner in the evening provided at Universeum.
