Jocelyne Morin-Nurse
Our healthcare professionals are often required to play multi-faceted teaching roles – nurses who explain particular processes to colleagues and supervise groups of students, or doctors who instruct resident physicians are just a few examples. Yet it is not always clear to healthcare professionals how to communicate a subject matter most effectively.
United in their effort to help resolve such ambiguity, the Faculties of Education, Medicine and Health Sciences launched a new graduate certificate last autumn to equip these health professionals with invaluable tools.
The graduate certificate in health professions education – offered in both English and French – is aimed at health professionals who wish to improve their teaching skills. The program, which can be pursued on a full-time or part-time basis, consists of five three-credit courses on topics such as teaching and learning, emerging technologies, assessment and program evaluation.
“These days, health professionals work more and more often in multidisciplinary teams,” explains Dr. Meredith Marks, Assistant Dean, Academy for Innovation in Medical Education. “By training these professionals under the same program, we encourage our future educators to become accustomed to working together. What’s more, by pulling on the resources of three faculties, we increase the scope of the program and bring a higher level of expertise to the table than any one of these faculties could on their own.”
Over the next few years, Dr. Marks and her group anticipate being able to introduce a Master’s and PhD program specifically tailored for healthcare professionals wishing to hone their knowledge and skills in medical education.
In the meantime, according to Dr. Marks, the graduate certificate provides a perfect opportunity to broaden the scope of a healthcare career by touching the lives of future healthcare professionals on the one hand, and by contributing to the future of these professions on the other hand.
“I did my own graduate work in a combined program similar to this one,” says Dr. Marks, “and I found that it was an excellent way to discover the view points of the other professionals you work with and to better understand the various issues at stake. Since this aspect alone provides a rare opportunity, it is well worthwhile to participate in this kind of program. With this broader connection to others involved in health professions education, the possibilities for creativity and innovation within our programs becomes limitless.”
