K.Vijayakumar
Prof & HOD, Community medicine ,Medical College, Kozhikode-673008,Kerala,India
E- mail: communitymedicine@gmail.com



Medical education should address the health needs of the society in which it develops. The emphasis should be given to the problems, which the physicians are likely to face in their career. With the impact of modern communication and science many of the local health issues pose a threat to become global. Consequently the medical education, which addresses the local needs, cannot forget the global situation as well. It is in this context that many of the developed countries have taken initiatives in global health as an important focus of medical education [1]. On the other hand medical education in many of the developing countries fails to respond to the prevailing local health issues and the products are not equipped enough to address these issues. However there is a silver lining in this scenario also. Initiatives have taken shape to bring in and integrate this type of logic in medical education [2, 3]. Many institutions support and develop local health research as part of medical education.

Most of the health problems of the developing countries require approaches different from that of the developed. The traditional medical education system, which oriented towards the developed communities, often fails to address this situation. Obviously newer approaches and newer initiatives have to be brought in. It is in this context that rearing of new professionals and training them to address these issues helps us to succeed. Young medical students are often at an advantageous position, in that, since they are not fully trained in the traditional way they will be in a position to bring in innovative initiatives [4].

In some of the medical schools, these principles are accepted and put to use. The renewed interest in the evidence-based medicine is a pointer in this context. But almost all these initiatives are in clinical medicine. Learning and teaching of Community Medicine is yet to pick up the trail [5].

Learning epidemiology and Community medicine in Indian context is far from interesting, to put it in a mild way. Consequently we get a generation of young graduates who are not so positively oriented to public health or to issues in the protection and promotion of the health of the population. This situation is compounded by the presence of a distinguished faculty, majority of who are not in a position to motivate the students or impart any skill among them, for a variety of reasons. Acquisition of knowledge takes place primarily through reading of books, thanks to the efforts of the students themselves. This results in diminished interest of the medical students in community medicine. Even the knowledge acquired from textbooks is primarily oriented towards medical care in developed nations. Therefore the students fail to comprehend and analyse the health problems seen around them. This leads to a further failure on their part, even after graduation, to initiate any intervention to contain the health problems of the society in which they live. This is one of the factors contributing to poor health management system in India.

Problem Solving for Better Health (PSBH) is a movement launched with an objective of helping students in medical colleges to have a critical view of the problems and develop approaches towards the prevailing health issues around them [6]. Most often the students themselves are seen to develop a programme to either to evaluate the issue or even to intervene, wherever indicated. This was an amazing experience to all concerned. The programme in Medical College, Kozhikode was started in 2003, in which more than 50 projects are completed till date. All the completed works need special credit because they were carried out with conviction and commitment of undergraduate medical students. The students themselves selected even the types of projects, with proper guidance. This process helped them to work in groups and also to develop the communication skills both verbal and written. This led to an increase of academic interest of not only the students but also even the faculty. Hitherto un- attended areas of public health started getting addressed. The spread of topics in breadth and depth, were entirely due the students themselves. The academic interest of the campus itself got a booster effect with 200 medical students searching for different types of medical information. Almost all the faculty and postgraduate students of every department helped their younger colleagues in their new endeavor by giving sufficient support and guidance. The result was spectacular. Students started to develop an enthusiasm for studying epidemiology and Community Medicine. More over, many of them got enchanted with sub specialties like neurology, gastroenterology and cardiology with newer perspectives and vision.

Abstracts of 18 such studies are being presented here, with the addition of three completely formatted texts. Obviously, most of them are not any breakthrough works of science. But, all of them are the products of committed brains pursuing scientific approach with newer initiatives. We are proud to present glimpses of what we have accomplished at Medical College, Kohikode, and the premier medical institution of Northern part of Kerala. It has to be remembered that Kerala is only a tiny Indian state, which forms just over one percent of the land mass of India, a country with one billion people. These abstracts point to the immense scope of such medical explorations and their implications in the field of health care.

We acknowledge the services of the college authorities that have helped us to sustain the programme even during difficult times. All of the sister departments have helped us generously. It was through such a combined effort that the programme has reached at this stage. Above all, I appreciate and acknowledge the sincere efforts of my beloved students in getting the projects completed. We the faculty , and the students also acknowledge and appreciate the subjects in each completed project that were not just materials for methods, but human beings with emotions, life and vitality.

Reference

1.Catherine Bateman, Tim Baker, Elske Hoornenborg, Ulrika Ericsson, Bringing global issues to medical teaching, Lancet 2001; 358: 1539–42
2.Undergraduate and Medical Student research. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center URL: http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/ed/research/med/default.htm  accessed on 29/01/05
3.Zier K,Stagnaro-Green A. A Multifaceted Program to Encourage Medical Students' Research. Academic Medicine (2001) 76: 743-747
4.John A Spencer, Reg K Jordan, Learner centered approaches in medical education, BMJ 1999; 318:1280-1283
5.Stone D.H., Public health in the undergraduate medical curriculum – can we achieve integration? Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, February 2000, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 9-14(6).
6.URL: http://www.dhfglobal.org/psbh/psbh_1.html accessed on 29/01/05


 

This is a non-peer reviewed article. Accepted for publication on Feb 2,2005 Cite as: Vijayakumar K Problem Solving for Better Health Calicut Medical Journal 2005;3(1):e2 URL: http://www.calicutmedicaljournal.org/2005/3/1/e2 RELATED Proceedings of the Calicut Medical College Student Research Conference 2004 Calicut Medical Journal 2005;3(suppl1)