Progress on Global Reform

 

Newsletter 
June 2012
In this issue
Nigerian Academy of Science Launches Commission Report
Interprofessional Education Reform Under Way at American University of Beirut
South African "Innovation Collaborative" Presents Reform Plans
Significance for Nursing of the Lancet Commission Report

Dear Colleague,

 

Progress continues in debating and adapting recommendations of the Lancet Commission report to the needs of regions and individual nations. Calls for changes in the way health professionals are being educated are also emanating from the individual health professions themselves.

 

Nursing has long advocated for interprofessional and collaborative practice. Issued around the same time as our report was "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health," a joint effort of the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Under the leadership of Dean Afaf Meleis, who was also a Lancet report Commissioner, the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing in conjunction with the School of Medicine hosted a symposium in April to examine as models some highly-functioning interprofessional teams who are already transforming healthcare delivery. Dr. Meleis also wrote "Education of Health Professionals for the 21st Century and Its Significance for Nursing" (see story below) in a publication of the Global Network of WHO's Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery Development.

 

Another of our former Commissioners, Prof. Huda Zurayk, also has initiated interprofessional education reform at her institution, the American University of Beirut, in Lebanon. Their faculties of Medicine, Health Sciences and Nursing are collaborating to improve the education of health professionals and, from 13-15 March 2012, selected faculty from each of the three schools met in a workshop to pursue reform ideas.

 

You can also read more in the stories below about a May workshop held at the Nigerian Ministry of Medicine to disseminate and discuss the Lancet report results in terms of local applicability.

 

Please note that we have added Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HealthPros21) and Twitter ( https://twitter.com/#!/HealthPros21) pages to our communications outreach. Please consider "liking" or "following" us for the most up to date news of our endeavors. Or visit our website at www.healthprofessionals21.org.

 

 Best regards,

signatures 

Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard School of Public Health and Commission Co-chair 

 

Lincoln Chen, President, China Medical Board and Commission Co-chair

Nigerian Academy of Science Launches Commission Report

The Nigerian Academy of Sciences held a workshop on 17 May 2012 to promote national dialogue about health professional education reform among key stakeholders. It is one of seven countries selected for workshops by the InterAcademy Medical Panel's (IAMP) as part of its effort to disseminate the Lancet Commission report recommendations to its member medical academies. The other countries with workshops planned include Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Sweden. The meeting was considered a good first step in ensuring inter-professional collaboration and helpful in the ongoing effort by different institutions to revise their training curriculum. Read more.

Interprofessional Education Reform Under Way at American University of Beirut 

The faculties of Medicine, Health Sciences and Nursing at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, are continuing their collaboration to improve the education of health professionals. Especially selected faculty from each of the three schools met in a workshop from 13-15 March 2012 to pursue reform ideas on interprofessional education, one of the Lancet report's main recommendations that was endorsed as a priority educational reform for Lebanon at their national launch of the report's findings on 18 May 2011. Many ideas emerged for next steps, including a task force on curriculum to explore joint courses for students. Read more.

South African "Innovation Collaborative" Presents Reform Plans

A South African partnership--one of four "innovation collaboratives" selected by the U.S. Institute of Medicine's Global Forum--is developing competencies for transformational and shared leadership on health teams. They are also focusing on the design and implementation of competency-based interprofessional skill-building for teamwork in community and primary healthcare settings. Their plans were presented at the Global Forum inaugural meeting in Washington, DC, in March by Prof. Marietjie de Villliers, Professor in Family Medicine and Deputy Dean of Education on the Faculty of Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa. The South African partnership consists of Stellenbosch University, University of the Western Cape, and University of the Free State. Read more.

Significance for Nursing of the Lancet Commission Report

Afaf Meleis, Dean of University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing, urged nurses to "take a leadership role in promoting teamwork and collaboration" and to help "ensure the implementation of the Lancet Commission recommendations." A story about this article and a link to the publication in which it appeared, that of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery Development, can be found on our website by clicking on: Read more.

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