Education India Project #14455

Helping medical students become better doctors

by QMed Knowledge Foundation

Summary

In India, medical/health sciences students waste precious hours as they are not taught structured online searching & referencing skills. These are skills needed for good research and for evidence based healthcare services. QMed teaches these skills to students as well as professionals of health sciences. Our courses are online and they learn at their pace. They also get mentoring sessions. We now aim for accreditation of our courses so that all in the health sector learns these vital skills.

$75,000
total goal

$12,809
remaining

371
donors

5
monthly donors

33
fundraisers

8
years

Challenge

Healthcare delivery needs to be based on best practices in the world. Searching online resources is a daunting task. Members of the governing bodies of the country, themselves being untrained, have not included "correct searching methods" in the curriculum. The current teachers, librarians & professionals - not trained in this task - cannot teach these to students; so healthcare providers may not retrieve the best available evidence. Patients thus may not be treated based on the best evidence.

Solution

This project will help medical students, residents and teachers understand the importance and the correct scientific ways of searching for the best available evidence. Teachers and librarians will guide students better, and students who learn these skills today will teach the same to students of tomorrow. Online modules of these courses will ensure reaching out to a wide audience across the country. Students and doctors will save a lot of time and give patients better evidence based care.

Long-Term Impact

By empowering students, librarians and health professionals with strong search skills, there will be a huge improvement in their research activities. Research output in India will increase and be evidence based. The investments made by libraries and research bodies for access to research resources, will be well utilized. Doctors and students will have lot more time for patients and for themselves. The community will get healthcare services based on best global practices