Upstream Medicine : Doctors for a Healthier Society [Book Supplement]

Original French-language contributions, by Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers, “Chapter 10: Interview with Simon-Pierre Landry” and “Chapter 12: Interview with Joanne Liu,” and by Nina Nguyen, “Chapter 21: Interview with Alain Vadeboncoeur.” Versions françaises des chapitres par Claudel l Pétrin-Desrosiers, “Chapitre 10 : Entretien avec Simon-Pierre Landry” et “Chapitre 10 : Entretien avec Joanne Liu” et par Nina Nguyen, "Chapitre 21 : Entretien avec Alain Vadeboncoeur.” Book description: Alleviating suffering and treating patients, whether in a physician’s office or an emergency room, can be a matter of prescribing medication or staunching a bleeding wound. But every clinical story has a social story, and patients who present with acute medical problems or a chronic disease often describe the everyday life conditions that made them sick in the first place. These stories are often about where they work, live, and play, and about their income, food security, and housing. Doctors are now listening. More than this, they are working with their patients and communities to address the root causes of illness at their sources. Upstream Medicine features interviews by medical students and residents with leading Canadian physicians whose practices bring evidence-based, upstream ideas to life. Their personal stories and patient encounters illuminate the social determinants of health – the conditions that lead to good health and long lives or to more complex, painful, and expensive downstream medical problems later on. By transforming how we imagine the practice of medicine, this book will help us build a healthier society. Original French-language chapters in the book.Non UBCUnreviewedResearche

Introducing global health into the undergraduate medical school curriculum using an e-learning program: a mixed method pilot study

Abstract Background Physicians need global health competencies to provide effective care to culturally and linguistically diverse patients. Medical schools are seeking innovative approaches to support global health learning. This pilot study evaluated e-learning versus peer-reviewed articles to improve conceptual knowledge of global health. Methods A mixed methods study using a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) and qualitative inquiry consisting of four post-intervention focus groups. Outcomes included pre/post knowledge quiz and self-assessment measures based on validated tools from a Global Health CanMEDS Competency Model. RCT results were analyzed using SPSS-21 and focus group transcripts coded using NVivo-9 and recoded using thematic analysis. Results One hundred and sixty-one pre-clerkship medical students from three Canadian medical schools participated in 2012–2013: 59 completed all elements of the RCT, 24 participated in the focus groups. Overall, comparing pre to post results, both groups showed a significant increase in the mean knowledge (quiz) scores and for 5/7 self-assessed competencies (p < 0.05). These quantitative data were triangulated with the focus groups findings that revealed knowledge acquisition with both approaches. There was no statistically significant difference between the two approaches. Participants highlighted their preference for e-learning to introduce new global health knowledge and as a repository of resources. They also mentioned personal interest in global health, online convenience and integration into the curriculum as incentives to complete the e-learning. Beta version e-learning barriers included content overload and technical difficulties. Conclusions Both the e-learning and the peer reviewed PDF articles improved global health conceptual knowledge. Many students however, preferred e-learning given its interactive, multi-media approach, access to links and reference materials and its capacity to engage and re-engage over long periods of time

Additional file 1: of Introducing global health into the undergraduate medical school curriculum using an e-learning program: a mixed method pilot study

Framework for Global Health Education in Postgraduate Family Medicine Training (CanMEDS competencies). (PDF 195 kb