University medical education in Kenya: The challenges

Abstract

There are two medical schools training doctors in Kenya: the Moi University established in 1984 and the University of Nairobi established in 1967. The University of Nairobi has so far produced the majority of Kenyan doctors. Both are public universities with the Government being the main financier. The increased demand for university education and the inability to meet these demands has led to the introduction of a system of training self-sponsored medical students alongside Government-subsidised students. One other public university has started a medical school. The pressure to increase the number of schools and students in the absence of increased resources poses a particular challenge to the country.

Distant peer-tutoring of clinical skills, using tablets with instructional videos and Skype: A pilot study in the UK and Malaysia

“…It is also important that good techniques are developed in order that optimal patient care is achieved. Our programme may be of particular benefit to developing countries, where funding constraints and emigration of experienced healthcare workers means providing individual feedback to students on their examination technique is often not possible (Ndetei et al 2010;Bowen et al 2012;Keynejad et al 2013). Without dedicated teaching and individual feedback, students may be learning poor techniques, or be unsure of how to conduct certain features of examinations.…”

“…Due to the problems faced in training healthcare professionals in developing countries, there have been multiple calls for a coordinated effort to promote global medical education and for partnerships to be established with universities who have access to ''greater funding and more manpower'' (Crisp 2007;Ndetei et al 2010). Newcastle University in the UK established an international branch campus, NUMED, in Johor, Malaysia in 2008 to provide undergraduate degrees in Medicine, MBBS (Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia 2013).…”

“…This has caused a disproportionate number of students compared with staff, leading to fewer contact hours and less one-to-one teaching (Ndetei et al 2010;Aggarwal & Sharma 2012). The lack of trained clinical teachers in developing countries has further been compounded by the migration of highly skilled doctors and healthcare professionals to more affluent countries (Willis-Shattuck et al 2008;Ndetei et al 2010). This means that there are few experienced and trained healthcare professionals available to teach students (Troy et al 2007).…”

“…Various challenges face medical education in developing countries. Constraints on government budgets have resulted in reduced funding for medical education in many countries, meaning that universities are forced to take on more fee-paying students in order to supplement government grants (Ndetei et al 2010). This has caused a disproportionate number of students compared with staff, leading to fewer contact hours and less one-to-one teaching (Ndetei et al 2010;Aggarwal & Sharma 2012).…”

“…Constraints on government budgets have resulted in reduced funding for medical education in many countries, meaning that universities are forced to take on more fee-paying students in order to supplement government grants (Ndetei et al 2010). This has caused a disproportionate number of students compared with staff, leading to fewer contact hours and less one-to-one teaching (Ndetei et al 2010;Aggarwal & Sharma 2012). The lack of trained clinical teachers in developing countries has further been compounded by the migration of highly skilled doctors and healthcare professionals to more affluent countries (Willis-Shattuck et al 2008;Ndetei et al 2010).…”