Managing national and international priorities: a framework for low-income countries

Abstract

This study describes a conceptual framework highlighting three particular areas for analysis to aid in understanding how to best manage competing agendas. These areas refer to, respectively, the significance of international expectations, the organisational climate, and the development of a professional identity.

Establishing Medical Schools in Limited Resource Settings

“…Considering the number of years of physician training requires (mostly 6 years), planning has to balance between preparing for the ideal system and accommodating current health care use patterns. From current experience, planning for an ideal health care system alone cannot address the actual needs of the population (8). The planning should also include forecasting for future graduates proportion staying in the health care delivery system.…”

Need for Competency-Based Radiation Oncology Education in Developing Countries

“…It cannot be done separately from the nationwide education, healthcare, cultural and political systems. However, it is common for LMICs to seek international expertise in reforming their education systems, either directly through capacity-building programmes or indirectly through the literature, with the resulting need for consolidation and adjustments to maintain balance between maintaining local relevance and achieving global competitiveness (Burgis-Kasthala et al, 2012). Maintaining this delicate balance is certainly not a trivial task as it requires choices and sacrifices to be made.…”

Managing priorities

“…In this issue, Burgis‐Kasthala et al. 6 use a grounded theory approach to explore how national needs and international expectations can be managed in LMICs to ensure successful curriculum development. The process of curriculum development and reform has usually been considered ‘a confusing exercise’, 7 particularly in the education of health professionals as a result of the intrinsic difficulty of balancing national health priorities and global scientific advances 8 .…”

“…Although curricula underpinned by global priorities and scientific and technical advances ensure international competence, they also encourage the migration of trained professionals if the infrastructure and technology appropriate to their training and skills are not available locally, 9 a point well illustrated by Burgis‐Kasthala et al. 6 …”

“…In their case study, Burgis‐Kasthala et al. 6 found that when the agents of change were individuals rather than organisations, the resultant reforms were perceived as unstable and directionless.…”