How medical education can contribute towards the reduction of maternal mortality in Angola: the teaching/learning process of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Abstract

Background: In Angola the maternal mortality ratio is among the highest in the world. Medical students are an important target for intervention. Objectives: To evaluate how students perceive the curricular unit of Gynecology and Obstetrics (G&O) in a public institution of reference in Angola. Methods:The study involved a sample of 147 students of the faculty of Medicine of the University Agostinho Neto, Luanda, Angola, attending the curricular unit of G&O in the 5th and 6th years of the medical course. Data were obtained through surveys of opinion. The information of the scales was summarized through the construction of scores from the original items using the Principal Components Analysis. Results: Students evaluated positively the curricular unit although emphasizing the lack of human and physical resources. The 5th year scored with higher values Teacher Performance and 6th year Students' Performance. Both years considered to have insufficient skills to meet the learning objectives. Conclusion: Constraints were identified in the outcomes of the teaching/learning program. Several points emerged as crucial from this study: widespread the areas of teaching/learning, increase the number and quality of teaching staff, improve the monitoring of students and provide adequate infrastructures and medical equipment to support the teaching/learning program.

Sexual and reproductive health teaching in undergraduate medical education: A narrative review

“…Most articles assessed medical schools in the United States of America (USA) 2–33 . Additional studies reported sexual and reproductive health education from around the world including Angola, 34 Australia, 35–37 Canada, 38–40 China, 41 the Democratic Republic of Congo, 42 India, 43–45 Iran, 46 Nepal, 47 the Netherlands, 48 Pakistan, 49,50 Turkey, 51 and the United Kingdom 52–54 . Our review largely revealed studies at single medical schools.…”

“…Some studies assessed the perceived adequacy of sexual and reproductive health education at medical schools. Medical students in Angola generally rated their ability to “perform family planning” highly when compared with other reproductive health care (perform Leopold's maneuver, perform urine test strips) 34 . In a survey of preclinical and clinical medical students at a US faith‐based medical school, students felt the sexual and reproductive health curriculum to be inadequate 10 .…”

“…16,17,21 Thirty-one studies reported student responses about their knowledge on, perceptions of, or experiences with, sexual and reproductive health teaching . [2][3][4][5]8,9,[13][14][15]18,19,24,[32][33][34][35][36][38][39][40][41]43,44,[46][47][48][49][51][52][53]55,56 Five studies provided insights from medical educators about their experiences with contraception and abortion education. 7,23,48,49,53 Two qualitative studies explored student perspectives on sexual and reproductive health education.…”

“…Medical students in Angola generally rated their ability to "perform family planning" highly when compared with other reproductive health care (perform Leopold's maneuver, perform urine test strips). 34 In a survey of preclinical and clinical medical students at a US faith-based medical school, students felt the sexual and reproductive health curriculum to be inadequate. 10 They voiced a desire for more content on contraception, sterilization, and abortion in the preclinical curriculum and found the clinical training on sterilization and abortion largely inadequate.…”

“…7,53 Six studies assessed fifth and/or sixth year students about sexual and reproductive health education. 34,37,41,50,51,54 Two studies compared second-year and fourth-year students to better understand the differences between the sexual and reproductive health teaching in the preclinical and clinical curricula. 39,56 Study designs…”