HLED9115 Social Accountability in Health Professional Education

2017

4.5

1 x 5-hour on-line exercises weekly

1 Admission into GCCE-Graduate Certificate in Clinical Education
1a Admission into GDPCE-Graduate Diploma in Clinical Education
1b Admission into MCE/C-Master of Clinical Education by coursework
1c Admission into MD-Doctor of Medicine
Must Satisfy: ((1 or 1a or 1b or 1c))

Students will need to have a health professional background or interest.

Assignments; Tutorial participation

This topic addresses the concept of social accountability in education with a focus on health professional education. Areas covered will include issues of social justice and how it pertains to the health professions. The social contract that health professionals have with society will be studied. A definition of social accountability, how it applies to education and how it applies specifically to health professional education will be explored. An analysis of underserved communites and exemplars of social accountability in action will assist students to understand the potential benefits of this approach. Frameworks to assess the degree of social accountability of existing courses will be identified. The students will be able to apply the social accountability frameworks to their own current contexts.

This topic aims to extend the principles of symbiosis in health professional education with a focus on the concepts of social accountability, social justice and the social contract. These concepts and their definitions and scopes will be studied. Issues of social justice will be explored including a reflection on students' personal experiences in socially just activities. The social contract that health professionals have with society will be elucidated. Existing exemplars of social accountability in action within the students' own communities and spheres will be studied. Features of a socially accountable health professional course will be identified. Frameworks to assess the degree of social accountability of existing courses will be studied. These frameworks will be applied to students' own health professional contexts. The students will be encouraged to identify and implement areas for future growth and change in their own programs, communities and personal lives.

On completion of this topic, students will be expected to be able to:

• appraise the academic literature on social accountability

• constructively discuss and debate social accountability with colleagues from various health disciplines

• describe the social justice issues that apply to health professional education

• critically reflect on and articulate their own personal values and activities relating to social justice

• describe the social contract that health professionals have with society

• discuss how this social contract has impacted them personally as health professionals and how it impacts teaching in the health professions

• provide examples of social accountability within their own professions and communities

• identify key features of social accountability in health professional courses

• describe existing frameworks that can assess the social accountability of a health professional course

• apply these frameworks to their own educational contexts and identify areas for possible future growth and change