Egyptian Medical Faculty Learn State-of-the-Art Methods

The Grunigen Medical Library played a key role in a recent program designed to provide faculty of Egyptian medical and nursing schools with the skills necessary to implement modern curricular reform and other improvements in programmatic quality.

Twenty distinguished professors of medicine and nursing from five Egyptian universities participated in the two-week program at UCIMC, sponsored by UCI’s Department of Family Medicine and funded by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The program focused on enhancing skills in teaching, curriculum design, learner assessment, and evidence-based health care to assist Egyptian medical schools with their goal of working toward higher standards for accreditation and quality control. The program’s curriculum is based in part on the participants’ pre-program self-assessment of skills that provide valuable insights into their schools’ curricular reform needs.

The participants spent many hours in the Grunigen Medical Library over the course of the two-week program. They received intensive training in medical informatics and evidence-based health care skills in sessions taught by librarians and UCIMC faculty. Sessions were on topics such as assessing the validity of information on the Web; searching PubMed and other medical search engines; identifying various levels of peer-reviewed information; and formulating well-crafted clinical questions using the PICO (Patient Intervention Control Outcome) model. Grunigen also became a useful home base for the attendees to engage in study and research in order to complete the rigorous schedule of assignments.

More than 70 Egyptian professors have participated in nine sessions of the program since 1998. Feedback from participants is key in helping UCI librarians and faculty understand their evolving needs. Upon returning to Egypt, they use their new knowledge to offer training in design, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based health care curricula at their own institutions.

Susan Lessick, Head of the Grunigen Medical Library, said of the program, “International academic exchange is a critical means for transferring knowledge and skills across borders and instilling a sense of global citizenry. In the years ahead, programs such as this one will be more important than ever for maintaining the highest standards of medical excellence and fostering understanding between nations.”

For more information, please contact Susan Lessick (slessick@uci.edu or 714/456-6488).