Medical Students as Health and Environmental Promoters

by Salma Galal, M.D.

Possible action for implementation

These activities can be further developed, either by integrating them within the medical education or by enhancing volunterism during medical education preferably with extra credits for those participating students.

1. integration within medical education

Health education and community participation are part of community medicine and public health curriculum in medical education. However, they are often taught theoretically. These activities can be made useful as part of the field work. The student or preferably a group of students can make their own project, present it and discuss it, then implement it under some supervision.

An appropriate simple orientation of students to these activities is needed for planning and implementing them. These last comprise health and environmental education, communication skills, patient interview, problem solving techniques, leadership, community involvement, development, planning, etc.

However, similar orientation to and promotion of voluntary activities of students among teaching staff (ten) as part of the medical education process is needed to enable their implementation on feasible ground and to include them as one mechanism of student evaluation. Incorporation of an integrated health education policy & strategy within clinical specializations and community medicine is favourable in order to shift away from hospital-based to rather patient-oriented and community-based areas. This approach can also be used later on during in-service training.

2. enhancement of student voluntarism

Although medical curricula is ‘overloaded’, as students complain, the students need to find time for special interests and parallel activities. Students can be motivated to apprehend health education in their own community among crucial messages in life. It is for some students a matter of interest. They have only to be guided according to the prevailing situation in their community. A relevant orientation and training programme -as mentioned before- is needed to prepare them for their self-initiated activity.

The process they go through in doing these activities -which may start with health education, goes through community participation and ends in community development- thus often enriching their experience, making them responsible for their community and maturing their personality. Parallel to the maturity of students personalities comes also the development of the community.

The following actions are suggested:

1. Students need training in different domains to access their community more consciously. A training programme has to comprise health and environmental education, communication skills, patient interview, problem solving techniques, leadership, community involvement, development, planning, ..etc.

2. The experience has shown that the enthusiasm of students has always attracted other students to do the same. The process they went through has to be propagated among students from other faculties. The capabilities of the youth can be made use of in their community.

3. In considering these activities as a parallel activity to medical education -or to other higher education- makes it a natural selection for volunteers. However, if these volunteering activities are accredited and students get additional special credit it could motivate more students.

   The Supreme Council of Universities, through the medical education sector may consider necessary steps for rewarding student community activities e.g. in giving them credit marks during undergraduate studies and while applying for postgraduate studies or in getting their employment position.

4. This experiment has to be published in form of a booklet or video-film and presented in seminars to different faculties and universities as well as to other interested entities for replicability.

5. Besides students, other groups like members of youth clubs, NGOs, or "child-to-child" can also try themselves in this domain. Detection of other potential health and environmental promoters in the community is necessary for the sake of sustainability.

6. Exchange of experience between different groups in an annual or biannual student conference organized by the student groups can enrich the process, create networks and accelerate the health promotion process.

7. This experiment can be presented also to physicians in pre-service training to present possibilities of health promotion.

For comments, suggestions, and feedback please email: heea_egypt@yahoo.com.