Postgraduate Training in Global Health for UK Doctors: Our Proposal
Many of our members are UK doctors in training who are passionate about global health. But passion is not enough; if the UK wants to lead global health in the future, it needs to educate its doctors today.
Until now, doctors have taken ad hoc educational opportunities in global health, such as the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and taken time out to work in developing countries, effectively creating their own career paths. Since MMC, this has become much more difficult and as such global health training is not necessarily of high enough quality for the doctors and the people that they serve, in developing countries and in the UK.
We believe that it is time for a proper career path for those who want to work in global health. This would centre around a nationally-recognised global health training structure with a curriculum and tiered qualifications, so that people can study to a level appropriate to their career plans. We believe that doctors in training from all specialties should be able to add global health qualifications to their core training. Global health would not be a speciality in its own right.
Over the next few months, we are taking our ideas to key players in the government and outside. We are taking part in an ongoing consultation involving representatives from all of the medical Royal Colleges. We will keep you informed of any progress.
Global Health Portfolio
What?
- A tool kit to support doctors working in international health to document the knowledge, attitudes and skills they develop whilst working in low and middle-income countries (LMIC).
For whom?
- All doctors who are interested in working in international health.
Aim:
- To encourage increased documentation of the skills developed whilst working in LMICs and therefore promote recognition of the value of international experience in the training of doctors.
Objectives:
- To facilitate and encourage doctors to document their experience and skills gained whilst working in LMICs.
- To support doctors to demonstrate their continued professional development whilst out of programme and to frame their experience in a way that is recognised by recruitment bodies.
Introduction:
- Gaining experience working in LMICs is increasingly being recognised as beneficial to training with a positive knock-on effect on the NHS.
- Moving forwards from it being an acceptable part of training to a central part of education /development of quality and dynamic doctors.
- Increasing awareness of global health within the undergraduate curriculum and the opportunity to channel this focus through to postgraduate education.
What to do if you would like to take part in the Global Health Portfolio Pilot:
Before we send you a copy we just need to ask you a few quick questions. Your answers are important for us to understand the diverse needs of everyone who wishes to use the portfolio, so that we can make any necessary amendments in order to ensure that it is as useful as possible. Please find a copy of the portfolio here: Global Health Portfolio 20141201.
Once you have completed the survey the global health portfolio will be sent your way! We hope you find the portfolio useful and thank you for your time.
With kind regards,
Dr Jayne Ellis, Education and Training Coordinator, Alma Mata Working Group
If you have any queries or require further information about the survey, please contact us at secretary@almamata.org.uk.
Postgraduate Training in Global Health – Trainee and Student Survey
The UK medical professional is full of bright and enthusiastic individuals wanting to work in global health. But there is an enormous range in the ways in which this can be done, and these doctors are not co-ordinated by a single body or institution but are scattered throughout the NHS and beyond. As a broad network that is open to anyone with an interest in global health, we aspire towards a health system in which there are opportunities that are diverse and flexible enough to cater for all of these individuals. In order to ensure that we are advocating for the right changes and opportunities to be created in global health training, we need to be sure that we are adequately representing their needs and desires.
For this reason we have decided to undertake a survey. We want to understand what you, as a trainee or student, want and need in terms of global health training and education. Your views and experiences are really important if training in this area is to be improved.
The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete, with opportunities to give open text responses detailing what you think. It is anonymous and confidential – you can not be identified from your response. We will share our findings with postgraduate training Institutions and other interested parties, and we aim to publish them in a peer reviewed journal. Your responses will also be used to tailor the ways in which we interact with and the requests we make of the bodies responsible for providing under- and postgraduate education in global health.
To thank you for your time, survey participants are invited to enter our free prize draw to win a case of 6 bottles of fair trade wine or fair trade hamper. Winners will be chosen at random and notified by the Alma Mata Working Group.
If you have any queries or require further information about the survey, please contact us at secretary@almamata.org.uk.
Click here to take the survey!
With Thanks,
Alma Mata Working Group
