Farhan Vakani

Three-level quality assessment of a dental hospital using EFQM.

PURPOSE This article aims to measure quality by applying the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model at three different participation levels, in a Karachi teaching university dental hospital. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The case study assessed the eight EFQM model excellence concepts as benchmarks for providing quality services: results orientation; customer focus; leadership and constancy of purpose; management by processes and facts; people development and involvement; continuous learning, innovation and improvement; partnership development; and corporate social responsibility. This study was conducted at Hamdard University Dental Hospital (HUDH), located in Karachi - part of the largest privately-owned university in Pakistan. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with internal stakeholders at three levels (management, faculty and student). FINDINGS Continuous learning, innovation and improvement; partnership development; and corporate social responsibility were satisfactorily represented. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS The EFQM assessment was limited to a single university dental hospital, hence findings cannot be generalized. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The article highlights that it is envisaged that this exercise will bring about a positive change in attitude and will stimulate institute staff to kick start the self assessment process and implement measures leading to better quality practices, thus establishing a continuous quality improvement cycle.

Content audit of drug advertisements in Pakistan.

A sample of 120 drug advertisements was drawn by nonprobability convenience sampling from among the stalls of 50 pharmaceutical companies participating in an exhibition in Karachi, Pakistan. 23 belonging to the NSAID drug group were selected and evaluated on whether they met guidelines for ethical advertisements as laid down in the Drugs Act, 1976. Only 5 out of the 23 advertisements met at least 14 out of 16 criteria for ethical advertisements as given in the Drugs Act, 1976.

How to gain consensus from a group of non‐experts – an educationist perspective on using the Delphi technique

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to build an understanding of how to bring about change, improve relationships, facilitate knowledge creation and sharing, and support coherence and sense‐making among clinical faculty with little or no background in medical education.Design/methodology/approach – In this process the conventional Delphi approach was used, as it was believed that it would help in gaining the most reliable agreement of opinions of a diverse group of faculty members in the shortest time.Findings – The paper finds that the instructional and assessment tools and approaches that were being used were mostly traditional. The challenge was to get them to a consensus as most of the faculty/teachers were unsure about replacing the traditional approaches which were “time tested” to newer “evidence‐based” methodology. This paper demonstrates that four features – namely, anonymity, iteration, controlled feedback and cumulative statistical group response – are the key contributory factors to movin...

CME that impacts most physicians: a survey

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to objectively assess the best type of continuing medical education (CME) activity that makes the most impact on the physicians’ behavior in changing their practices and to derive future needs for planning effective CME activities.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a survey. A questionnaire was designed, pilot‐tested and administered in a CME session to all the health physicians of a private medical university in Sind province of Pakistan. The questionnaire incorporated seven core items that assessed the impact of different types of CME activities on the physicians. The respondents rated the impact of CME based on their competence, performance, patient care processes and management on a five‐point Likert scale. Respondents’ responses in terms of type, committed time, usefulness, sponsorships and settings were also analyzed.Findings – A total of 194 health physicians completed the questionnaire (response rate=100 per cent); 56 per cent of the responses ...

The learning needs of physicians: should it be formal or informal assessment?

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to explore how learning needs of physicians are best achieved when planning for appropriate continuing medical education activities.Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the informal types of needs‐assessment as opposed to formal types when identifying the learning needs of physicians.Findings – This paper projects how informal types of needs‐assessment probe more deeply into the opinions and perceptions of physicians, thus complementing with formal methods when planning appropriate academic activities.Research limitations/implications – Informal types of needs‐assessment show promise in deriving a physicians individual learning needs, but has limitations as the educational activities proposed and undertaken would not necessarily benefit a larger group and, as they are usually unshared, would result in unimpressive utilization of educational resources.Practical implications – Although the method of informal needs‐assessment is noteworthy, when planning...

Simulation: Changing the professional character of continuing medicale ducation

Recognizing the limited use of simulation in continuing medical education (CME). The purpose of this account is to support implications for simulation technology in CME using evidence from studies in undergraduate and graduate medical education. After reflecting upon the factors that contributed to simulation’s limited use in CME, this paper will inform providers and physicians about the potential and realized benefits of using this technology for life-long learning.

Do academic institutions need more than verbal disclosures to control and resolve conflict of interest in continuing education

Conflict of interest is in its essence, conflict of faithfulness and disloyalty to human relationship. Circumstances create a conflict of interest, when an individual has an opportunity to affect continuing medical education content about products or services of a commercial interest with which he/she has a financial relationship. Academic institutions hold a huge responsibility in role modeling and must place a higher priority in following and complying to the conflict of interest policies for the well-being of the public than on individuals’ personal or proprietary interest. The purpose of this account is to bring into discussion the ways other than verbal disclosure to manage conflict of interest in continuing education by academia.