Content Standardization Workshop
CIRHT organized a Family Planning (FP) and Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) undergraduate medical curriculum content standardization workshop on March 8 and 9, 2017 in Addis Ababa, collaborating with CIRHT’s ten university partners to develop teaching tools that could be used throughout the country. 20 Ob-Gyn faculty and other relevant university representatives joined CIRHT staff.
The workshop was guided by rapid assessment findings of current, disjointed FP and CAC course delivery, leading to a rationale for standardization. When the CAC and FP syllabuses were assessed and reviewed, the assessment indicated gaps and inconsistencies in content, teaching and assessment methods, and the duration given to cover CAC and FP topics. A gap in practical skill training was identified as one of the major challenges in enabling medical students give quality service, which could be rectified with more time in skill labs and in clinics and wards.
The workshop developed a standard syllabus for CAC and FP teaching. The participants formed a framework and populated it with content including teaching materials and methods, presentations, case studies and videos, as well as the duration assigned for each topic.
The workshop also looked the new nationwide Ob-Gyn curriculum and its treatment of FP and CAC. One important addition to the academic exercise was the acknowledgement that value clarification and attitude transformation was an integral element in teaching CAC and FP , and ultimately in being able to offer quality service to patients and clients once the medical students begin to practice.
