Title Evaluation of the Integration of Social Accountability Values into Medical Education using a Problem-Based Learning Curriculum

Abstract

BackgroundMedical schools have the obligation to direct their education toward addressing the priority health concerns of the societies that they serve. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the integration of the concepts and values of social accountability into the case scenarios that are used in a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum at a medical school in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods A validated “social accountability inventory for PBL” was used for examining 70 case scenarios in a problem-based learning (PBL) medical curriculum.ResultsThe findings of the study indicate that the majority of the case scenarios integrated the social accountably values in addressing the following: the major health problems or social health concerns of the UAE (73%), the social determinants of health (70%), the contextual integration of medical professionalism (87%), the evolving roles of doctors in the health system (79%), the healthcare referral system based on the case complexity (73%), the involvement of different stakeholders in healthcare (87%) and the psychosocial issues rather than only the disease-oriented issues (80%). However, the case scenarios were deficient in integrating other social accountability values that related to the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to patient management (29%), issues regarding the management of the health system (49%), the values of health promotion/prevention (59%), consideration of the underserved, disadvantaged or vulnerable populations in the society (62%), the socioeconomic statuses of patients (54%), ethnicity (54%) and cost-effectiveness (65%). There was variability in integrating the social accountability values in case scenarios across different units which are based on organ system. ConclusionMedical educators can use this valuable data to calibrate their curriculum content, especially when using a problem-based learning curriculum to integrate the values of social accountability such as relevance, quality, equity and cost-effectiveness to train the future generation of healthcare providers to be ready to address the ever-changing and diverse needs of the societies.