Medical students are tomorrow’s doctors. Graduates of University Medical & Dental College (UMDC) must make the care of patients their first concern, applying their knowledge and skills in a competent, ethical and professional manner and taking responsibility for their own actions in complex and uncertain situations.
Outcomes of UMDC graduates have been adopted from WHO ‘Five Star Doctor’ and further two competencies were added on suggestion and recommendation of PMDC for undergraduate curriculum. These competencies of ‘Seven Star Doctor’ have been endorsed by PMDC in its curriculum, which says that a graduated physician should be a:
We recognize and expect that our graduates will have achieved these competencies described in the “Outcomes for University Medical & Dental College (UMDC) Graduates”
Our graduate would be able to provide standard treatment to aliments. They must ensure that the treatment is of the highest quality. In addition to providing individual treatment, they should understand social, mental and physical needs of the patients based on psychosocial model of health. A doctor must serve all patients regardless of ethnic, racial, religious and economic ability of patients. The doctor must ensure that a full range of treatment will be dispensed in ways that are complementary, integrated and continuous. There is special emphasis on women’s health education & research.
They will have to take decisions that can be justified in terms of efficacy and cost. They have to choose the most appropriate and the best decisions for their patient. And they have to know the negative and the positive impact for the decision they have been taken. The decisions taken must be the best decisions according to the existing condition.
Our graduate would be a good communicator in order to persuade individuals, families and the communities to adopt healthy lifestyles. Communications skills are essential for medical practice. It is a backbone over which lot of areas of patient care rests such as, first contact patient interviews, probing for associated and additional problems, counseling the patient, explaining treatment options, its complications and advising follow-up. It is also necessary for explaining risks to the patient, counseling in case of bereavement or mishap, providing information about a surgical procedure its complications, taking an informed consent.
Our graduate would be a good community leader. Leadership and management skills are required to ensure the provision of high-quality patient care. Clinical quality depends on inter-professional teamwork, and therefore, leadership and management skills are needed at all levels. Our medical graduates are expected to have skills to deal with and resolve conflicts, learn to share leadership, prepare others to help and replace them, take mutual responsibility and discuss their performance.
Our graduate would have managerial skills. This skill is very essential for a doctor, because they have to manage, for example, the administrative management of patients, the redemption of prescriptions, etc. Those things are often considered trivial, but if not handled properly, it will complicate the job. This skill would enable them to initiate exchanges of information in order to make better decisions, and to work within a multidisciplinary team in close association with other partners for health and social development.
Our graduates would have essential research skills. Healthcare decision-making is largely reliant on evidence-based medicine and understanding and using scientific methods is an essential skill to acquire for our medical graduates. It is essential to inculcate critical thinking and reasoning skills and to develop a positive attitude among medical students towards scientific research from the beginning of their medical career. In this context, research projects during undergraduate studies, not only foster analytical thinking and self-directed learning skills among students, but also improves their oral and written communication skills. Furthermore, these projects play a role in producing physicians who are better equipped to evaluate and apply new knowledge to their profession.
Medical knowledge, skills, and social requirements for patient care are quickly changing, thus, medical doctors are anticipated to be life-long learners to provide effective care for the patients. Lifelong learning can be characterized as “continuously supportive process which invigorates and empowers medical students to obtain all the knowledge, attitudes and skills”. We inculcate this competency of lifelong learning in our graduates through self-directed learning (SDL) skill.
Copyright 2024 UMDC.