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The 4th UCMD Online ICHPE registers over 1,350 attendees, hosts 26 speakers

Proceedings streamlined live in 10 medical colleges

College Report

As coronavirus outbreak continues to shutter businesses and disrupt everyday life for billions of people around the globe, massive annual conferences are also switching to the online mode. Thus, the 4th International Conference on Health Profession Education (ICHPE) was held virtually between October 17th and 22nd, 2020. The biggest annual academic event on Health Profession Education in Pakistan was organized by the University College of Medicine and Dentistry (UCMD) in collaboration with the University of Lahore, Society of Medical Educationists (SOME) and with support from the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) and Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE).

The conference themed on “Training Tomorrow’s Doctor: Team up!” was preceded by 15 pre-conference workshops which were attended by over 350 participants. The main conference day attracted 1000+ registered attendees joining through the Zoom link while innumerable others, watched the sessions live on Facebook.

This mega academic platform, hosted 12 international and 14 national renowned speakers who actively took part in the pre-conference workshops and the well-loaded scientific programs including two plenary sessions, two symposia and numerous panel discussions. The event was also streamed live in 10 Medical Colleges within and outside Pakistan.

Prof. Ronald Harden (UK), Prof. Olle ten Cate (Netherlands), Prof. Lynn Monrouxe (Sydney), Prof. David Taylor (United Arab Emirates) and Prof. Hossam Hamdi (UAE) talked about “Is the COVID-19 pandemic a catalyst for meaningful change in how we train tomorrow’s doctors?”, “Entrustable professional activities in health professions education– An international perspective”, “Professional identities and teams”, “Building health professions education research capacity at a distance” and “Lessons learned from implementing online health professions education: Implications to post COVID-19 education” in the plenary first session respectively.

Topics including “Preparing inter-professional lifelong learners”, “Investing in people: A sustainable and equitable approach for health professions education”, “Faculty development the key to developing the future generation of effective practitioners” and “The use of artificial intelligence in the assessment of medical students, residents, and practicing physician” were briefly discussed in the second plenary session by Dr. Lawrence Sherman (NY, USA), Prof. Dr. Vishna Devi Nadarajah (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Dr. Dujeepa Samarasekera (Singapore) and Dr. Jack Boulet (Chicago, USA) individually.

In the first symposium which focused on the “Challenge of assessing the students online”, Dr. Masood Jawed (Karachi), Prof. Dr. Rehan Ahmed Khan (Pakistan), Dr. Muhammad Saiful Bahri Yusoff (Malaysia) and Dr. Usman Mahboob (Peshawar) spoke on: “Online assessment: The tools”, Scope of assignments and open book exam in undergraduate medical education”, “Challenges of online assessment and their solutions” and “Future of online assessment: Lessons learned from COVID-19 experience” respectively.

The second symposium centered on “Blended Teaching & Learning” with topics such as: “Blended learning: Best practices and lesson learnt”, “The evolving role of departments of health professions education in blended learning environment”, “How to adopt blended learning in the undergraduate integrated medical curriculum”, and “Engaging students in blended learning”. These were presented by Prof. Dr. Mahwish Arooj, Prof. Dr. Gohar Wajid, Prof. Dr. Rahila Yasmeen and Dr. Ahsan Sethi respectively.

Prof. Dr. Shahid Mahmud Malik (Pro-Rector Health Sciences, UOL), Prof. Dr. Idrees Anwar (Rawalpindi), Prof. Dr. Lubna Baig (Karachi), Prof. Dr. Moghees Baig (Dean, UCD-UOL), Dr. Amir Burney (Yorkshire), Dr. Muhammad Tariq (Karachi), Prof. Dr. Junaid Sarfaraz (Rawalpindi) and Prof. Dr. Gulfareen Waheed (Lahore) discussed the “Role of Medical Teachers in Teaching Clinical Skills Online” as panelists. Yet in another panel, Prof. Dr. Rehan Ahmed Khan (Pakistan), Dr. Ahsan Sethi (Peshawar), Dr. Sumera Badar Ehsan (Faisalabad), Dr. Brekhna Jamil (Peshawar), Mr. Muhammad Adeel Riaz and Ms. Humna Anis shared ideas on the “Meaningful Student Involvement”. 

The presence of students along with the seasoned medical educationists in the panel discussions, provided the much needed student perspective on the topics selected.

While concluding this maiden online ICHPE, Prof. Dr. Mahwish Arooj (Principal UCM & Chairperson, Organizing Committee) appreciated the speakers, members of the organizing committee and the participants for their contributions towards the success of the conference. She also announced 2nd to 4th, November 2021 as the dates for the upcoming 5th ICHPE.

The University of Lahore, through UCMD, conducted the maiden ICHPE conference in 2014 under “Health Professions Education: The Change Imperative” as its theme. The 2nd and 3rd conferences were held in 2018 and 2019 with “Emerging trends in 21st century” and “Student Centered Education: Missing piece in the preceptor’s belief” as themes respectively.

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