Academic staff perspectives on delivering a shared undergraduate medical module on three transnational campuses: Practical considerations and lessons learned

Abstract

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) was among the first medical institutions to establish a global education community which now provides high-quality transnational health professions education aligned across three locations: Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia. The successful implementation of a shared modularized curriculum in this context can be complex and challenging. Here we describe our insights, gained from a decade of working together as shared module Academic Leads to deliver a system-based medical module to an international student cohort. The themes covered are some of the areas where we consider our joint deliberations have led to improved outcomes for the delivery and assessment of the module, which may be helpful to academic staff embarking on similar module sharing experiences.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the following colleagues for their helpful comments: Prof Hannah McGee, Prof Aidan Bradford and Prof Tracy Robson.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria P. Morgan

Dr Maria Morgan, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular & Cellular Therapeutics, RCSI Dublin Faculty of Health Sciences where she contributes to all aspects of medical education including curriculum development, accreditation, teaching and assessment. She teaches molecular medicine, pharmacology and biochemistry, on both the Direct and Graduate Entry-Medicine programs.

Warren Thomas

Dr Warren Thomas, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Warren moved to Malaysia in 2015 and joined the Perdana University RCSI School of Medicine where he is Academic Lead in Physiology and Junior Cycle Teaching Director.

Fiza Rashid-Doubell

Professor Fiza Rashid-Doubell, PhD, is the Lead in Health Professions Education at RCSI Bahrain. Her areas of expertise in medical education include higher education transitions, student success and retention and the use of technology in teaching medicine.