Accreditation of oncology education in low-and- middle income countries: Perspectives of African oncologists.

Abstract

e18213 Background: There is an expansion of postgraduate oncology training programs in LMIC . Locally trained oncologists are expected to deliver high quality care. Accreditation is one of the essential regulatory mechanisms to ensure high-quality education. Accreditation systems are rarely standardized or applied in the majority of LMIC. The purpose of this study is to understand the perspectives of African Oncologists on the role of accreditation and adoption of global standards into oncology training programs Methods: We developed a survey that addressed African Oncologists’ perspectives of the role of accreditation. It included 187 standards from the WFME PGME standards, ACGME-I standards for hematology/oncology, and the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada medical oncology standards. A 3-point scale was employed for each standard: 1 = not important, 2 = important but not essential, 3 = essential Results: The survey was sent to 79 physicians, 38 responded. 87% agreed that accreditation ensures quality of education. 100% agreed that it should involve an external review. 74% believe that accreditation is feasible in resource-constrained settings. 45% agreed it will not increase emigration of qualified doctors. Data of 22 individuals who completed the survey in its entirety were analyzed for standards. 5 standards received the highest ratings of 3 from all respondents: life-long learning, professionalism and ethical principles, competence in chemotherapy delivery and management of toxicities. One standard (prior internal medicine training) received a low rating of < 2.0. The majority of standards had ratings between 2.6 and 2.94, indicating that African Oncologists believe most standards to be useful. Ratings < 2.6 were related to resource constraints such as having PET scans or exposure to clinical trial patients. Conclusions: Most African oncologists believe that accreditation ensures quality of education. Most of the standards were considered important. This data will be useful for developing and adapting oncology education accreditation standards in resource-constrained settings. Abbreviations: ACGME-I: American Council of Graduate Medical Education-International