Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) in Medical & Dental Colleges in Bangladesh -Teacher's Knowledge

Abstract

This cross-sectional study was conducted with the objective to assess the teacher's knowledge about ongoing quality assurance scheme (QAS) at different government and nongovernment medical & dental colleges in Bangladesh. Teachers of different categories were the respondents of this study. Self administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data adopting simple random sampling. The study was conducted in 2008 & 2009. The study revealed that both government and nongovernment medical colleges are conducting the QAS in their respective institutions. The academic coordinator play a vital role to run the QAS and for phase coordination. Students also participate as the representative member of the committee. Existing infrastructure of QAS is performing at its best effort but needs further development for upgradation of the services with an aim to improve the performance of the institutes. Principles of QAS are accountability, selfevaluation and external peer review. Major areas of QAS are organizational & operational frameworks. Organizational framework consists of both academic council and course committee. External examiners are appointed by university. External assessors are appointed by academic council but needs faculty approval. Operational framework consists of course appraisal, faculty development, review scheme, & external review. The study recommends that quality assurance scheme (QAS) should be thoroughly implemented and evaluated by the national quality assurance body. Both the organizational and operational frameworks should run along with faculty development and review scheme. Teachers should be more oriented to update their knowledge for better practices of QAS. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjmb.v3i1.13800 Bangladesh J Med Biochem 2010; 3(1): 6-10

Quality Assurance Scheme of Undergraduate Medical Education in Medical Colleges of Bangladesh: Past, Present and Future

“…The rapid increase in number of medical colleges in Bangladesh, especially in the private sector, makes its vital to have effective quality assurance system in place. 5,16 Towards that end, the WHO Bangladesh office started to support the Center for Medical Education (CME) and the Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) to develop and publish the National Guidelines & Tools for the Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) for medical colleges in Bangladesh in 1998 looking at the future of medical education in a low resource setting. Since then, the above-mentioned published guideline has been serving as resource material and guide for institutionalization of the QAS based on the three principles of accountability, self-evaluation, and external peer review.…”

“…Since then, the above-mentioned published guideline has been serving as resource material and guide for institutionalization of the QAS based on the three principles of accountability, self-evaluation, and external peer review. 4,5,16,17 The scheme has both national and institutional organizational framework. The National Quality Assurance Body (NQAB) is chaired by the Director General, DGHS and the Director for Center for Medical Education (CME) is the Member Secretary.…”

“…The academic coordinator is supposed to act as an honorary member of Faculty of Medicine of the respective universities as per approval and consent of the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the university governing the Professional MBBS Examinations. 5,16,18 Proposed model of "pair of medical colleges" will be selected for each college to oversee the QAS activities of each other and report to the NQAB. The operational framework is based on course appraisal, faculty development and review scheme and external review.…”

“…The operational framework is based on course appraisal, faculty development and review scheme and external review. 5,16,18 Besides, the student evaluation will be conducted phase wise rather than subject wise, 5,[16][17][18] as it was previously implemented through three phases (Phase I, II, III) 19 and currently undergraduate medical education is of four phases (Phase I, II, III, IV). 20,21 The curriculum, teaching and learning, assessment and evaluation as well as reporting procedure are following that guideline to date.…”

“…6,17 Surprisingly, recently founded government medical colleges have even worse conditions (in terms of shortage of medical teachers, infrastructure, teaching hospital and other essential facilities), as most of them were established in line with the political sweet will of the government. 16,17 Moreover, we observed several limitations to the curriculum review process. It relies on the participation of a large number of faculty, students, and administrators from public and private sectors.…”