Conceptualising social accountability as an attribute of medical education.
South Africa
medical education
professional identity formation
social accountability
Journal
African journal of primary health care & family medicine
ISSN: 2071-2936
Titre abrégé: Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med
Pays: South Africa
ID NLM: 101520860
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
18 Feb 2020
18 Feb 2020
Historique:
received:
31
07
2019
accepted:
17
12
2019
revised:
14
12
2019
entrez:
5
3
2020
pubmed:
5
3
2020
medline:
21
11
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Health professionals need to be both person- and community oriented to improve population health. For educators to create socially accountable physicians, they must move learners from understanding social accountability as an expectation to embracing and incorporating it as an aspect of professional identity that informs medical practice. The aim of this article was to assess the degree to which medical students, preceptors and community mentors understand the concept of social accountability. The setting is the KwaZulu-Natal Province in Durban, South Africa. Using an observational design, we surveyed 332 participants, including the first- and sixth-year medical students, physician preceptors and community mentors. Whilst most respondents understood social accountability as requiring an action or set of actions, it was defined by some as simply the awareness one must have about the needs of their patients, community or society at large. Some respondents defined social accountability as multi-dimensional, but these definitions were the exception, not the rule. Finally, most respondents did not identify to whom the accountable party should answer. Whilst the development of professional identity is seen as a process of 'becoming', the ability to define and understand what it means to be socially accountable is not a linear process. Assessment of this progress may start with comprehending how social accountability is understood by students when they begin their education and when they are graduating, as well as in knowing how their educators, both clinical and community, define it.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Health professionals need to be both person- and community oriented to improve population health. For educators to create socially accountable physicians, they must move learners from understanding social accountability as an expectation to embracing and incorporating it as an aspect of professional identity that informs medical practice.
AIM
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this article was to assess the degree to which medical students, preceptors and community mentors understand the concept of social accountability.
SETTING
METHODS
The setting is the KwaZulu-Natal Province in Durban, South Africa.
METHODS
METHODS
Using an observational design, we surveyed 332 participants, including the first- and sixth-year medical students, physician preceptors and community mentors.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Whilst most respondents understood social accountability as requiring an action or set of actions, it was defined by some as simply the awareness one must have about the needs of their patients, community or society at large. Some respondents defined social accountability as multi-dimensional, but these definitions were the exception, not the rule. Finally, most respondents did not identify to whom the accountable party should answer.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
Whilst the development of professional identity is seen as a process of 'becoming', the ability to define and understand what it means to be socially accountable is not a linear process. Assessment of this progress may start with comprehending how social accountability is understood by students when they begin their education and when they are graduating, as well as in knowing how their educators, both clinical and community, define it.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32129649
doi: 10.4102/phcfm.v12i1.2213
pmc: PMC7061228
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Observational Study
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
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