(4) Is social accountability at the forefront of our medical curriculum?

         Irit Shimoni, Sivan Spitzer-Shohat, Shmuel Reis, Peter Gilbey, Mary CJ Rudolf

         Faculty of Medicine in the Galil, Bar Ilan University, Israel

 

 

Introduction: Medical schools, charged with the responsibility of producing tomorrow's doctors, have been criticized for focusing on clinical learning and inadequately addressing society’s needs in the medical curriculum. The present research aimed to create a strategy to assess the extent to which the curriculum taught at the Bar Ilan Faculty of Medicine addresses social accountability. 

 

Methods: We mapped the 17 pre-clinical and 17 clinical course syllabi using a reduced and adapted version of the Conceptualization, Production and Usability (CPU) model of Boelen and colleagues. This mapping process was complemented by semi-structured interviews conducted with department heads, course organizers and teaching committee members in order to gain a better understanding of the curriculum taught in relation to social accountability. 

 

Results: Only four pre-clinical courses out of all 34 courses given throughout medical training explicitly addressed major elements of social accountability. Their focus was to provide students with an understanding of complex social issues, the context where they are studying and their role as future advocates and leaders. Other courses addressed some of these competences, but more loosely. Interviews are in process with course organizers and department heads to map the curriculum fully. 

 

Conclusion: Mapping and evaluating the medical curriculum regarding social accountability 3 years after the Faculty's establishment indicates that social accountability has not adequately been embedded in course aims and materials although may be taught in other guises. More effort is needed to emphasize social accountability within the medical school’s curriculum if we are to ensure that more socially accountable graduates will emerge in the future.