Document Type

Abstract

Publication Date

1-2020

Academic Year

2019-2020

Abstract

Introduction: To date, there has been no formal evaluation of the exchange program that sends medical students from Sydney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) to CES University, Colombia. While many medical schools have international exchange partnerships, little is known about what makes a successful global training experience. This project aims to evaluate the SKMC-CES student exchange program with the goal of improving collaboration between the two universities and creating a logic model backbone for the program going forward.

Methods: Surveys and interviews were done with program participants from the 2018 and 2019 academic years (6 students interviewed and 4 surveyed) exploring attitudes and beliefs, focusing on cultural competency and personal development. Interview data further encompassed an in-depth assessment of the structure of the program, strong points, and potential areas for improvement. Data was analyzed via NVivo with a direct content analysis approach.

Results: Participants showed improvement in cultural knowledge about Medellín, its culture and its healthcare system. Certain aspects of the program were particularly strong, including the rotation in the pediatric hospital, development of Spanish language skills, and wellness, while communication and scheduling could use improvement. Overall the students were immensely satisfied and hoped to return for future medical rotations.

Conclusion: We are beginning to study the CES-SKMC relationships by creating a program evaluation model to document the experience. The partnership could benefit from further evaluation through iterative feedback from participants in the 2020 program, along with a more robust bi-directional exchange model based on the analysis of the existing data.

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS