Quality Development in Medical Education: A global perspective

The World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) will hold its next World Conference in Malmö, Sweden, from 14-16 November 2012.

This Conference will be a manifestation of the ongoing close cooperation within WFME of the six world-wide associations for medical education, together with several other organisations, particularly WHO, the World Medical Association, the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations and the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates with the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research, and the University of Copenhagen and Lund University.

The programme of the Conference can be found here

The Conference will focus on five main topics:

Three are global projects led by WFME:

• The global role of the doctor in health care
• Standards for all levels of medical education
• Quality development and promotion of accreditation of medical education

WFME is a partner in the other two themes:

• The future role of the medical school
• Social Accountability in Medical Education

All of these topics are currently being developed by WFME and its partners. During the Conference they will be discussed and further developed, as a foundation for dissemination through local and regional conferences, publications and other reports.

The Conference also includes a workshop on the development of Postgraduate Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development, discussion of the new Swedish MD programme (of particular interest to delegates from Nordic and other European countries), and poster sessions.

The global role of the doctor in health care is led by a WFME Task Force. The Conference will discuss the draft final report prepared by this Task Force. The related project on the future role of the medical school is the subject of the Association of Medical Schools in Europe (AMSE) conference to be held in Padova, Italy, on 7 – 10 June 2012.

WFME has led in development of standards for all levels of medical education, discussed in detail at the last World Conference of WFME. This Conference will in particular consider the proposed revision of the standards for Basic Medical Education, and the joint ORPHEUS – AMSE – WFME project to develop standards for the PhD degree in biomedicine.

Quality development and promotion of accreditation of medical education are fundamental to the work of WFME. The Conference will particularly focus on the role of standards in quality development, and on the process of contributing to the development of world-wide systems of accreditation.

WFME is a partner in the Global Consensus on Social Accountability in Medical Education project, which will be discussed, particularly in relation to the other themes of this Conference.

The ASPIRE project, the Medical Schools Programme for International Recognition of Excellence in Education of the Association for Medical Education in Europe will also be discussed: it relates to many of the main themes of the Conference.

A poster session will be arranged. Submissions of abstracts reporting work related to Quality Development in Medical Education from institutions and individuals are welcome and encouraged.

Malmö is easy and quick to reach from Copenhagen airport, by train over the bridge from Denmark to Sweden. The Conference venue is situated within 5 minutes walk from Malmö central station. Nearby hotels will be available. A social programme for participants and accompanying persons will be arranged. The Conference Organiser is Destination Öresund, and further details about registration and abstract submission for the Conference are found on the Conference 2012 pages.