Improving medical education in Georgia

Since soviet times the medical education in Georgia has been based on a didactic, teacher-directed rather than a learner-directed education. The lack of clinical practice for students presented challenges when they transitioned to medical practitioners. Since 2009, JSI project, funded by USAID, has been providing technical assistance to medical education institutions countrywide through trainings of medical faculty on curriculum development, advanced methods of teaching and student evaluation techniques. The project supported Tbilisi State Medical University (TSMU) in operating a clinical skills teaching center (CSTC) and introducing the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) methodology.  In 2014, TSMU hosted its first OSCE in ob/gyn for fourth grade students. Students’ knowledge, clinical and communication skills were tested at six exam stations.  Of 262 students, 99% passed the threshold score of 50%.  Following the OSCE, project conducted four focus groups with students to evaluate their perceptions of new teaching methods used for ob/gyn course and the OSCE.  According to the study results, the majority of students had positive attitudes towards the case-based, role playing, group discussion teaching strategies. They acknowledged that they had enough opportunity to practice their clinical and communication skills during practical sessions that gave them confidence to apply acquired knowledge and skills in actual practice. Students also underlined a sense of achievement that they felt when they passed the OSCE and admitted that the OSCE was the best experience leading to their effective learning. Over the next five years, TSMU is planning to fully integrate the OSCE into the medical curriculum.