A peer evaluation of the community-based education programme for medical students at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences: A southern African Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) collaboration

Background. The University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZCHS), Harare, which has a long tradition of community-based education (CBE), has not been evaluated since 1991. An innovative approach was used to evaluate the programme during 2015.Objectives. To evaluate the CBE programme, using a peer-review model of evaluation and simultaneously introducing and orientating participating colleagues from other medical schools in southern Africa to this review process.Methods. An international team of medical educators, convened through the Medical Education Partnership Initiative, worked collaboratively to modify an existing peer-review assessment method. Data collection took the form of pre-visit surveys, on-site and field-visit interviews with key informants, a review of supporting documentation and a post-review visit.Results. All 5 years of the medical education curriculum at UZCHS included some form of CBE that ranged from community exposure in the 1st year to district hospital-based clinical rotations during the clinical years. Several strengths, including the diversity of community-based activities and the availability of a large teaching platform, were identified. However, despite the expression of satisfaction with the programme, the majority of students indicated that they do not plan to work in rural areas in Zimbabwe. Several key recommendations were offered, central to which was strengthening the academic co-ordination of the programme and curriculum renewal in the context of the overall MB ChB curriculum.Conclusion. This evaluation demonstrated the value of peer review to bring a multidimensional, objective assessment to a CBE programme

Interaction of Continuing Professional Development; Organizational Culture and Performance in Health Service Organizations: a Concept Paper

Whereas Continuing Professional Development (CPD) has been acknowledged as a tool for improving performance through updating and widening of professionals' knowledge and skills; there is no concrete evidence to support this claim. Recent studies on this subject have either shown contradicting evidence or remained utterly inconclusive posing an empirical dilemma. This paper posits that CPD is highly context-dependent and therefore best supports performance where a positive organisational culture plays a moderating role. The paper aims to provide a framework that can be used to analyse the interplay between CPD; organisational culture and performance. It is argued that for CPD to support performance there is need for a culture that is adaptive and receptive to learning; change; innovation and performance improvement

Some Reasons for Manuscript Rejection by Peer-Reviewed Journals

Apart from errors in the fundamentals of writing a clinical research paper; things that mitigate against manuscript acceptance by highly rated journals include: lack of objective; irrelevantand unimportant subject matter; questionable and flawed methodology; lack of originality and inadequate ""packaging"" of the report.The delay in the turn-around time of many articles is due to the authors themselves; and not necessarily due to the assessors or the Editorial Board