Further propaganda from Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine?

Once again I think there are questions to be asked about the openness and balance of statements from Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Faculty of Medicine.

My post on February 1st 2018 made clear the reasons for my doubts about the openness and balance of an article from the Faculty of Medicine published on the blog of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). See –

Propaganda from Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine

There was an announcement on June 11th 2018 about a recent formative accreditation of the medical education program and details of the next formal accreditation later in 2018. See –

https://www.med.mun.ca/Medicine/Communications/News-at-Medicine/June-2018/Dean%E2%80%99s-notes-June-11,-2018.aspx

However it was only three years ago on June 19th 2015 that the Faculty of Medicine announced an apparent successful accreditation outcome and that the next full accreditation visit would be during the 2020/2021 academic year. See –

http://www.med.mun.ca/Medicine/Communications/News-at-Medicine/June-2015/Memorial-receives-top-marks-for-MD-accreditation.aspx

The Doctor of Medicine (MD) program at Memorial is jointly accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) and the United States-based Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME).

The 2015 announcement about an apparent successful accreditation and the date for the full accreditation visit in 2020/2021 seems to be at variance with the 2018 announcement of the next formal accreditation visit later this year. This situation raises at least three questions –

(1) Was the announcement by the Faculty on June 19th 2015 open and balanced?

(2) Have the accreditation agencies changed the date for their visit due to concerns about the quality of Memorial’s MD program particularly in the light of the allegations of bullying, intimidation, harassment and sexual harassment which are currently under investigation?

(3) Should the announcement by the Faculty on June 11th 2018 have been more open and balanced?

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About Iain Robbe

I am a medical practitioner (MB, BS, 1980; MRCS, LRCP, 1980) registered with the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic I have reactivated my licence to practise and I am providing telephone support to vulnerable elderly to assist them during the pandemic. I remain active as a Clinical Medical Educationist participating in a number of projects with the universities of St Mary’s and Dalhousie in Nova Scotia and Mount Allison in New Brunswick, inter alia, and separately with three of the veterinary schools in the UK. My focus is on teaching and research in professionalism, ethics, and communications, and particularly the influences of vernacular architecture on the creation of positive learning experiences in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. I have the degree of Master in Public Health from the University of London (1985) and the degree of Master in Medical Education with distinction from the University of Wales (2001). The guiding principles in my practices are based on andragogy and humanism, and the prime ethical principle of autonomy for the individual and in population health.

2 thoughts on “Further propaganda from Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine?

  1. Following my post on June 28th 2018 about this subject, I noticed that the Faculty of Medicine have changed the news item about the next formal accreditation visit(1) from 2018 to 2021. Separately I have learnt that the associate dean for undergraduate medical education thinks the next formal accreditation visit will be in 2021.

    The change of date in the link could be in order to correct a typing error.

    However, a former associate dean in community health and humanities in the Faculty of Medicine, who remains employed at MUN, and the dean of medicine have stated that the joint accreditors, the CACMS and the LCME, have decided the period between accreditation visits is too long and so they have introduced an interim accreditation visit.

    There is therefore dissonance between on the one side, the changed text in the news item and the understanding of the associate dean for undergraduate medical education, and on the other side, the understandings of the former associate dean in community health and humanities, and the dean of medicine.

    The issue might not appear to be important but it does reinforce the need to ask questions about the openness and balance of statements from Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine.

    Also, the question remains about whether the accreditation agencies have considered changing the date for their visit due to concerns about the quality of Memorial’s MD program in the light of the allegations of bullying, intimidation, harassment and sexual harassment in the Faculty of Medicine?

    (1) https://www.med.mun.ca/Medicine/Communications/News-at-Medicine/June-2018/Dean%E2%80%99s-notes-June-11,-2018.aspx

  2. Pingback: Tolerance of bullying and harassment at Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine | Dr Iain J Robbé

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