Accreditation key
In order to enable the continued movement of our people, governments of the region recognise that there is a need to standardise and strengthen the regional accreditation systems.
This was the comment of Senator Harcourt Husbands, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, during the second day of the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) Capacity Building Workshop held at The Courtyard by Marriott. He continued that the CAAM-HP is an important part of this process and in this era, the region’s vision was to meet the challenges in a competitive world.
“We understand that our survival is in coming together to ensure that in the field of medical education, we offer well designed curricula and that each of our schools can be ready to meet the agreed upon standards of accreditation,” said Husbands.
He added that this would signal to the world that those educated in the region’s medical schools are globally recognised and internationally ready in their chosen medical field or profession.
President of the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME), Professor David Gordon gave the first presentation on ‘A Global Perspective on Medical Education and Accreditation’ where he explained the complexities of the accreditation process and the role of his organisation in assisting accreditation agencies with monitoring medical school in a more comprehensive way to ensure legitimacy and quality. The WFME is a globally recognised organisation which has partnered with the World Health Organisation and their guidelines “recommend establishing accreditation that is effective, independent, transparent, and based on criteria specific to medical education".
The workshop is being held between March 19-22 and started officially yesterday. Other presenters were from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, Senior Vice President, Business Development & Operations, Ms. Lisa Cover and Member of CAAM-HP and Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, Professor James McKillop. The Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) is the legally constituted body established to accredit medical, dental, veterinary, nursing and other health professions programmes leading to professional degrees required for practise in CARICOM member states. Another role of the CAAM-HP is to assess programmes in the Caribbean countries outside of the CARICOM framework as requested. To date, 13 CARICOM member countries have signed the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions.