WFME Standards for Educational Programmes: Tutors Perceptions in Pakistan

Introduction: Medical education has seen enormous transformation worldwide in recent decades. There have been concerns that doctors from South East Asia (SEA) are not adequately trained to meet healthcare challenges of the day. This study was designed to find the status of ‘Educational Programmes’ in public medical schools in Pakistan compared to World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) basic standards using tutors’ perspectives. Method: This was a non-interventional, questionnaire-based research. Questionnaires were sent to 326 tutors from 19 of a total of 23 public medical colleges in Pakistan. The response rate was 54%. Results: We found the medical education system to be compliant with WFME Basic Standards in four subareas of Area 2- Educational Programmes. These were ‘Scientific Foundation’, ‘Role of Basic Biomedical Sciences’, ‘Behavioural and Social Sciences and Medical Ethics’ and ‘Role of Clinical Sciences and Skills’. The system was found partially compliant with WFME minimum standards in two subareas of Area 2, namely, ‘Curriculum Models Instructional Methods’ and ‘Curriculum Structure, Composition and Duration’ but non-compliant in two subareas of Area 2, namely, ‘Programme Management’ and ‘Linkage with medical practice and Health System’. Conclusions: The study provides a level of understanding of the standards of medical education in Pakistan on a national level. Studies with potential of digging deeper, probably backed with better resources than ours will be required to have a comprehensive understanding of the medical education system in Pakistan.