Formación profesional y su acreditación en medicina, un paradigma en garantía de la fe pública / Professional training and accreditation in medicine: a paradigm to sustain public confidence

Sustaining quality control of learning programs for health professions has become a central issue in university systems, under the pressure of an unexpected merging of new medical schools in Chile, during the last decade, and the massive arrival of other Latin American physicians. Accreditation of institutions and programs represents valid safeguards used in most countries where professional training processes take place. Due guarantee of its quality is required to assure proper health care to people. The authors provide specific arguments to support systematic evaluation and accreditation processes, as those introduced in our country to fulfill the requirements of a high level medical practice

Autorización para el ejercicio profesional médico en Chile: experiencia de la comisión de reválida de la Escuela de Medicina de la Universidad de Chile período 1984-1999 / Medical practice licensing in Chile: experience of the re-valuation committee of the medical school of Universidad de Chile, 1984-1999

We report the experience of the re-valuation committee of the University of Chile Medical School, in the period 1984-1999. This experience is relevant to the licensing processes in Latin America. We report the political, legal and regulatory backup and the academic criteria used to esatblish different evaluation methodologies. We also communicate the main results obtained. Factors such as the country and University conferring a title, nationality and length of service of the applicant, influence in the percentage of licensure exammination approval. Some modifications to the licensure process should be incorporated but, the overall results obtained, fully justify the existence of this licensure committee

Acreditación de títulos profesionales e instituciones formadoras: el caso de Chile / Acreditation of professionals and teaching institutions: the case of Chile

Accreditation has acquired special relevance for the habilitation of professional practice, considering the proliferation of teaching institutions, the variety of training programs and the increasing amount of professionals requiring accreditation or revalidation of their titles. The internationalization of professional activities requires global and uniform accreditation procedures to avoid inequalities in evaluation of different professionals coming from abroad or from Chile. In the scope of medical practice, these concepts acquire special relevance, considering the appearance of new medical schools in the last decade and the increasing number of foreign physicians that need to revalidate their titles. In the period between January 1996 and September 1997, 192 foreign physicians applied to revalidate their titles and only 55 were approved. Therefore, the establishment of and effective evaluation system will correct deficiencies in the accreditation process and will promote the revision of training programs and the progress of teaching institutions. The organisms that will require to be accredited must be confident that this action will improve the quality of Chilean professional training

Evaluación del apoyo afectivo en estudiantes de medicina con la prueba de Apgar de Smilksteina / Assesment of effect support in students of medicine through Smilkstein's Apgar tests

La evaluación rápida del apoyo afectivo individual es necesaria y útil en la práctica médica. Esta se ha hecho, en adolescentes, aplicando el Apgar Familiar y el de las amistades de Smilkstein. El presente trabajo mide, con estos instrumentos, el apoyo familiar y de las amistades en estudiantes de medicina, quienes por su sistema de estudio se ven sometidos a una fuerte presión curricular. Ambos Apgar se aplicaron a 499 alumnos correspondientes al 90,7% del total de 550 de la División de Ciências Médicas Occidente de la Universidad de Chile. El 39,1% de ellos eran menores de 21 años (n = 195) y el 40% (n = 200) eran mujeres. Las encuestas se realizaron entre Octubre de 1986 y Mayo de 1987. El Apgar satisfactorio (8 puntos o más) se encontró en el 59,9% de los casos encuestados en AF y AA. El intermedio (4-7 puntos) fue 32,3% en el Apgar familiar y 35,5% en el Apgar de las amistades. El bajo (-4 puntos) fue 7,8% en Apgar familiar y 4,6% en Apgar de las amistades (Diferencia significativa). El Apgar familiar bajo fue 9,4% en hombres y 5,5% en mujeres. El Apgar familiar bajo fue más frecuente que el Apgar de amistades bajo en cinco de los siete cursos y dos cursos destacaron por tener más de 10% de Apgar familiar bajo. Las mujeres tuvieron frecuencia significativamente más alta de Apgar de amistades satisfactorio. En total de 499 estudiantes un 19,2% tuvo Apgar familiar inferior a 6 puntos; cifra significativamente menor que la encontrada en adolescentes del área Oriente de Santiago. Se post