SPLIT SYMPOSIUM

May 27 and 28, 2024

CROMed-USA and School of Medicine Split:

“Exploring Partnerships in Medical Education”

Symposium Manifesto:

This manifesto outlines the short-and long-term goals to enhance medical education in Croatia, focusing on improving internal processes and establishing a unified and standardized approach across all medical schools.

Short-Term Goals (1-2 Years)

Achieve Internal Improvements by Starting the Following Projects:

  1. Organize a workshop on standardized assessment of knowledge and critical thinking skills for medical students at each level of their medical education. This workshop will be organized in collaboration with Dr. John J. Norcini, PhD, President and CEO of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER(r)).

  2. Organize a workshop focused on management of change in collaboration with Professor Janet Grant, Director, Centre for Medical Education in Context [CenMEDIC], UK.

  3. Organize a workshop on assessment of operations and processes at the Ophthalmology Department Hospital Center Split, in collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology.

  4. Explore the need for an Office for Medical Education within each medical school and teaching hospital.

  5. Explore Implementation of Fundamental Medical Skills (FMS) in the core curriculum, following the University of Zagreb's implementation in their six-year curriculum, under the leadership of Prof dr. sc. Vesna Degoricija, dr. med.

  6. Continue developing the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) program under the leadership of Prof. dr. Ljubo Znaor, dr. med.

  7. Establish the Society of Croatian Medical Educators by 12/31/2026.

  8. Recognition by WFME (World Federation for Medical Education) is important for the future but is not currently our primary goal.

Long-Term Goals (2 Years +)

Support the Society of Croatian Medical Educators Initiatives:

  1. Organize an annual symposium on medical education in Croatia in collaboration with newly formed Society of Croatian Medical Educators.

  2. Form subsections within the Society, such as:

                        Section for Medical Curriculum Development

                        Section for Assessments and Quality Control

                        Section on Simulation and AI in Medical Education

                        Section on Research in Medicine

                        Section on Compensation for Teachers in Medicine

Section on Continuous Medical Education for educators

 

Sections of the Society would focus on:

  1. Work on establishment of a common core curriculum and assessment of knowledge and critical thinking skills across all medical schools in Croatia (Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, Split, and Catholic University).

  2. Standardization of assessments in clinical medicine knowledge and critical thinking skills across Croatia at graduate and postgraduate levels.

  3. Training and designation of dedicated educators for simulation labs.

  4. Work on formation of Simulation centers.

  5. Structure physician/medical educators' time to allow for protected time for clinical work, teaching, and research. Currently, these areas are combined without specific attention to each.

  6.  Explore ways to combine responsibilities currently split between the Ministry of Health (hospital responsibilities) and the Ministry of Education (teaching responsibilities).

  7.  Define the role of teaching hospitals in medical education.