AMCOA
African Medical Councils Gather for 19th Annual Conference
The Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) recently concluded its 19th Annual Conference in Mombasa, Kenya. During the five-day conference, held August 31–September 4, 2015, regional regulators gathered to discuss a wide range of topics related to medical and dental licensure. The event was hosted by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board.
Among key issue for discussion were mutual recognition and reciprocal licensing, Continuous Professional Development (CPD), licensure of foreign trained medical and dental practitioners, certification programs and fitness to practice.
Guests included keynote speaker Niall Dickson, President of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) and CEO of the United Kingdom's General Medical Council, and James Macharia, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Kenya.
Former University of Nairobi Vice Chancellor George Magoha was named President of AMCOA during the event.
Member nations of AMCOA include Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
To learn more about AMCOA, visit www.amcoa.org.
Source: Association of Medical Councils of Africa website
Denmark
Danish Regulatory Responsibility to Be Spread Over Several Agencies
The Danish Health and Medicines Authority has announced that, starting in 2016, it will be reorganized into four agencies with responsibility for regulation and oversight of various aspects of the Danish health care.
The four new agencies will include:
A health agency, which will focus on disease prevention, health planning and radiation protection.
A medicines agency, which will focus on clinical trial authorizations and the marketing of new medicines in Denmark.
A patient safety agency, which will handle the supervision and registration of health care professionals and deal with complaints.
A health data agency, which will make health data available to researchers and authorities and strengthen the overall digitization development in the health care system.
The health data agency is a new organization intended to better integrate health care information in Denmark, with a focus on helping regions and municipalities better share health data with national organizations in order to raise the quality of health care.
Source: Danish Health and Medicines Authority website announcement, August 11, 2015
IAMRA
Plans Under Way for 2016 International Conference on Medical Regulation
The International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) has begun planning for the 12th International Conference on Medical Regulation, which will be held September 20–23, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.
The IAMRA 2016 Conference will be hosted by the Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) — the lead agencies in regulating medical practitioners in Australia.
A global forum for international medical regulators, policy makers and academics, the IAMRA Conference is held biennially. In recent years it has attracted hundreds of delegates, representing more than 30 countries.
According to IAMRA, the diverse program being planned will “underpin IAMRA's purpose — to protect, promote, and maintain the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards for the profession of medicine,” while providing “networking opportunities through a unique social program to experience Melbourne, Australia's most vibrant, creative and playful city.”
To learn more, or to register for the conference, please visit www.iamra2016.org.
Source: IAMRA website, December 2016
IAMRA Now Accepting Abstracts for 2016 Conference
IAMRA has announced that it is now accepting abstracts for its 12th International Conference on Medical Regulation, to be held in Melbourne, Australia in September 2016.
IAMRA's Program Committee is inviting those interested to submit an abstract for consideration as an oral, workshop or poster presentation during the Conference.
Themes for this year's abstracts are:
Medical regulation — What works?
Medical education — Preparing the doctors of tomorrow
Medical practitioners — Ensuring ongoing competence, professionalism and performance
Medical practice — Innovation and emerging challenges for regulators
Abstracts should be relevant to at least one of these themes.
The deadline for receipt of abstracts is April 6, 2016. Authors will be notified by email of acceptance by May 11, 2016. Author registration and early bird deadline is June 23, 2016. Abstracts must not exceed 300 words.
Oral presentations should be no more than 10 minutes in length and presenters should limit their presentation to a maximum of 8 slides. Presentations may be followed by 5 minutes of questions and answers. Workshops will be allocated to one-hour sessions.
All abstracts must be prepared according to guidelines provided by IAMRA. To view the guidelines, visit www.iamra2016.org/call-for-abstracts.
Ireland
Irish Medical Council Publishes ‘Your Training Counts’ 2015 Report
The Irish Medical Council has published its “Your Training Counts” 2015 report, intended to provide data and insights about the quality of the clinical learning environment for Irish medical trainees. The report, published December 7, found that there has been a slight increase in the perception of the quality of learning environments for medical trainees in 2015, but that bullying persists within the training system in Ireland.
According to the report, 50% of trainees reported physicians as being the main sources of bullying, while 36% of trainees reported nurses and midwives as being the main sources of bullying. Almost 70% of trainees who experienced bullying in their learning environment did not report their experience to anyone in authority. Of those trainees that reported their experience of bullying to someone in authority, almost 40% felt no action was taken.
While the bullying problem persists, according the report, medical trainees also rated teamwork and peer collaboration significantly improved over the previous year.
Source: Irish Medical Society website, Dec. 7, 2015
NBME
NBME Reports on International Projects in China, Kazakhstan and Brazil
The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) announced recently progress on international programs aimed at improving medical education and health in China, Kazakhstan and Brazil.
Highlights of the programs include:
China: Health Coach Examination
NBME is working on a pilot project that will develop a certification examination for a new health care professional in China, designated a “health coach.” The Chinese government issued a request for proposals for an assessment to ensure the competency of health care professionals in China and to address the knowledge and skills needed to motivate people in that country to take responsibility for their improved health and wellness.
NBME staff has been working for the past year to develop a framework for the Professional Examination of Health Coach, or PEHC, in China. Though health coaches currently exist in the United States, the responsibilities of the health coach in China will differ somewhat, according to NBME, and development of the proposed examination will ethical and cultural topics unique to China.
Staff conducted three item writing workshops (IWWs) with medical school faculty, including physicians, nurses, U.S. health coaches, and several Chinese nationals to develop items for the examination. Individuals involved in the IWWs helped to shape the definition for the health coach in China and how this new health profession will work within the current Chinese health care system.
The new examination is part of a larger initiative of the Smart Healthy Cities Alliance (SHCA). The goal of the SHCA is to combine world class capabilities to provide integrated solutions that focus on the elderly and aging population in China, on chronic diseases, and on promoting health and wellness in the Chinese population. The second annual SHCA conference was held In Hangzhou, China on September 23–25, 2015 and representatives from NBME were in attendance.
Kazakhstan: Medical Education Improvements
The NBME has been engaged over the last year in an effort to work with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan to bring improvements to Kazakhstan's medical education system — including establishing a licensure/certification framework for health specialists.
NBME staff traveled to Astana, Kazakhstan in December 2014 to work with staff of the newly established Republic of Kazakhstan Center for Knowledge and Skills Assessment (RCKSA). Team members worked with RCKSA on blueprint design, standards for health specialists according to the International Organization for Standardization, National Council for Measurement in Education, and American Psychological Association, and score reporting and equating. NBME staff also conducted workshops on item writing and standard setting.
Following that meeting, representatives from Kazakhstan visited NBME headquarters in Philadelphia and the NBME sent a team for a second visit to Kazakhstan in August of this year. Progress on the new standards development process continues, according to NBME.
Brazil: Performance Evaluation of Medical Students
A test committee comprising faculty from medical schools throughout Brazil worked with NBME staff recently to contribute more than 50 new questions to Brazil's Performance Evaluation of Medical Students examination, which was introduced in Brazil in 2013.
The length of the exam has grown over the years, from 80 items the first year to 100 items in 2014; it now has 120 items. According to the NBME, the goal is to have the examination used throughout Brazil to measure progress of medical students before they graduate from medical school.
In addition to its overall work on questions for the Performance Evaluation, the NBME is also engaged in a joint project committee with the Hospital Sírio Libanês (HSL) in São Paulo, which has repurposed and used the Performance Evaluation exam as a residency selection examination.
Source: NBME Examiner, Fall/Winter 2015
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