TCD Hosts Conference on Medical Education

Posted on: 29 May 2011

 The fourth annual meeting of the Irish Network of Medical Educators, INMED   www.inmed.ie which was opened by the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, took place in the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin recently as part of Trinity’s celebrations of the tercentenary of the School of Medicine.  All medical schools in Ireland as well as Queen’s University Belfast were represented at the conference.

Medical education in Ireland has undergone significant changes in the last five to ten years and was influenced to a large extent by the publication of the Fottrell Report, ‘Medical Education in Ireland; New Directions’ in 2006. Changes recommended by the report included a doubling of the number of Irish/EU medical students, a change in the curriculum to include clinical skills, medical ethics, global health and the introduction of humanities modules. The report also recommended that a graduate entry programme should be introduced as well as a new examination, the HPAT, which should be used in conjunction with the CAO.

Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn,  addressing the INMED Conference

The INMED conference covered all aspects of medical education in Ireland by way of lectures, simultaneous sessions, posters and interactive workshops. Key note speakers included Professor Warren Anderson, Professor of Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology, Southeast Missouri State University.  Professor Anderson who has been an ethnographic consultant to a consortium of 16 new medical schools in the US and Canada  addressed  questions about the institutional culture of medical education. 

Professor Alexander McCormick, Associate Professor of Education, Indiana University Bloomington  gave a talk titled, ‘Student engagement: What it is, Why it matters and What we know’.

Professor Bairbre Redmond, Associate Professor of Higher Education and Deputy Registrar, Teaching and Learning, UCD examined the issue ‘Coping with Complexity-100 years of Educating Reflective Health Professionals’.

Commenting on the significance of the gathering, Trinity’s Professor Shaun McCann Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Medicine said: “This conference brings together doctors involved in teaching and experts in medical education to ensure that Irish doctors are trained to the highest International standards and continue to be recognised worldwide.”