Medical Education Training Department facilitates professional development and excellence by actively promoting continuous education using innovative and effective educational techniques.The major role of the department in teaching is to help equip the faculty with the necessary abilities to undertake effectively their roles as medical teachers. An important role of this department is to encourage faculty members wanting to focus on teaching and development as future medical educationists. This is done by ensuring these faculty members are given the necessary exposure to the field.

Specialized resources for teaching and focus on educational research are essential to the continued development of medical education as a discipline.

The study of medicine is exciting, but also challenging. The Department is committed in assisting students to develop required skills to deal with stress and other difficulties. The Mentoring Program during the first year of the course is one such initiative in this direction wherein the faculty teaching first year students acts as mentors.

The strong Medical education Department comprising of 20 core members, aims at grooming students as doctors who will contribute to society through proper medical care. This is done through serious emphasis on teaching, research and research training. The infrastructure includes a lecture hall, audio visual lab, display rooms, interactive boards, charts, etc.

Objectives of Faculty Development Programmes

• Orient new and entry- level faculty to the vision and philosophy of the institution as well as basic principles and methods of Teaching / Learning / Evaluation through an “Orientation TLE Workshop”.
• Reinforce TLE skills of faculty who attend the above program through a series of “Alumni meets” so that the teacher is able to fulfill “12 Roles of a Good Teacher“.
• Capacity Building of Faculty for Educational Research and improving student learning by identifying faculty development needs of mid and top level faculty and then design faculty development programs or workshops for them so that they become capable of discharging their responsibilities as ” Teaching Scholars” or “Academic Administrator” and “Improving the Institutions learning environment”.

Objectives of Training Programmes (UG and PG)

UG Level:

• To facilitate learning of UG students by conducting “Fresher’s Orientation” programme. This programme includes making students aware of their learning behavior, the importance of note taking, time management and other topics important for their personal and professional development

PG Level:

• To improve capacity of PG students in Pedagogy. TLE as well as facilitating learning through”Residents as Teachers” approach.

Objectives of Programmes for Personality development

• To make faculty aware of their own personal & professional development needs as well as the need to work effectively in teams through a workshop on Human Resource Development using the “Seven Habits of Effective People” framework of Steven Covey. To orient interns toward development of their personality, importance of working in teams as well as career development options through “Workshop on HRD for CRRls”.

Strengths of the Department of Medical Education at PSG

• Has been a functioning MEU since 1988, much before MCI made it mandatory for Medical Colleges to have a MEU and conducting programmes every year since then
• Good infrastructure for conducting interactive sessions, internet access and video conferencing as well as state-of-the art skills lab and research center.
• Faculty from more than 25 colleges in India and in the neighbouring countries (Nepal, Malaysia and Iran) have received their training in Medical education at our center
• Regional Training center of the State (The TN Dr.MGR Medical University) for OSCE/OSPE
• Faculty from the MEU of this institution have been invited to conduct Medical Education and faculty development workshops in others Medical colleges:
  • In the state (Coimbatore Medical College & Savitha University)
  • In neighbouring countries (Nepal at PAHS & KIST; Medical Colleges in Iran)
• Large pool of Faculty Trainers who have received special training in medical education:
  • At WHO’s National Teacher Training Centers (more than 20 faculty)
  • At Department of Medical Education in University of Illinois at Chicago, USA (two
    faculty completed six-month-Long International Fellowship in Medical Education)
  • At Stanford University (one Faculty completed a year-long International Fellowship in Medical Education here)

• Have guided eighty education Innovation projects in more than 25 medical colleges in the region
• Hosted National Conference in 2005 – Vision 2020: Towards Global Standards in Health Sciences Education. Will be hosting the Fourth National Conference on Health Professions Education (NCHPE) 2012 and the Second International SEARAME Conference on Social Accountability of Medical Schools in September 2012.
• Will be functioning as The Secretariat (2012 to 2015) of SEARAME a WFME’s Regional Association for Medical Education of the WHO-SEARO member countries in South-East

DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES & ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE MEU IN THE PAST

• Teacher Training Course for faculty started in 1988
• Symposium on Curriculum Planning in 1989
• Workshop on Teaching / Learning from 1991
• Workshop on Teaching / Learning /Evaluation (TLE) from 1995
• Orientation Programme for Self directed learning using Problem Based Learning
  Approach in 1996, 1999 & 2002
• Workshop on Research Methodology since 1996
• Workshop on Imparting Clinical Skills 1999 & 2006
• Workshop for Faculty on Human Resource Development (since 1997)
• Workshop for Interns on Human Resource Development (Soft Skills)- 3 per year
• Workshop on Integrated Teaching in 2000
• Workshop for Freshers: Enhancing Learning Skills
• Workshop of TLE Workshop Alumni to identify Advanced Training Needs in 2008
• Advanced Workshops for Faculty who previously attended TLE Workshop in the past
  every year since 2008 (Alumni Workshop Series)
  • Alumni Workshop series 1: Instructional Development
  • Alumni Workshop series 2: Learning Facilitator
  • Alumni Workshop series 3: Assessor & Giving Feedback
  • Workshop on Mentoring for Faculty Mentors
• The TN Dr. MGR Medical University Zonal Training center for OSCE/OSPE for Medical Colleges in West Zone of Tamilnadu state since 2011
• Workshop on Student Assessment for Senior Faculty 2011
• Workshop for Faculty on Teaching Excellence to identify criteria excellence in 2011
• Workshop on Education Research for Faculty in 2011