Better training: KMU to incorporate new subject in curriculum of colleges

VC says behavioural sciences crucial for doctors to communicate effectively.

PESHAWAR:

Khyber Medical University (KMU) has planned to incorporate the subject of Behavioral Sciences in the MBBS/BDS curriculums of those medical and dental colleges of K-P that fall under its authority.

This was stated by KMU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Hafizullah while chairing a meeting of senior educationists and psychiatrists from various institutes and hospitals.

Participants were told that the objective of the new course was to ensure that students were completely trained for the biopsychosocial model of health care. It was stated that behavioral science principles would help students become active learners and allow them to communicate effectively with patients and their families.

According to the proposed plan, the course would be taught in the first and second years of MBBS/BDS programmes. The students would then be graded at the end of the year through a 100-mark paper that would consist of MCQs, SAQs, internal assessment and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).

Dr Hafizullah said reforms in the curriculum and examination process of MBBS/BDS were the need of the hour. He elaborated that behavioural factors were important for the treatment and prevention of almost all major diseases.

Earlier, the head of KTH’s Psychiatry Unit, Prof Dr Mohammad Sultan, gave a detailed presentation and answered the questions of participants. A committee was then formed under the chairmanship of Dr Sultan with the aim of getting feedback from all stakeholders and preparing a draft of the proposed curriculum.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2014.