Structure and Objectives

The World Federation for Medical Education was founded in 1972 and has its office in Copenhagen, Denmark where the president of the organisation - Dr Hans Karle - is. The federation serves today with the purpose of being an umbrella organisation for its regional associations for medical education, following the regional structure of the World Health Organisation. Three other institutions related to the field of medical education are also members of the WFME Executive Council.

The regional associations are:

• AMSA - Association for Medical Schools in Africa
• PAFAMS - Pan-American Federation of Associations of Medical Schools
• AMEEMR - Association for Medical Education in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
• AMEE - Association for Medical Education in Europe
• SEARAME - South-East Asian Regional Association for Medical Education
• AMEWPR - Association for Medical Education in the Western Pacific Region

The three institutions are:

• WHO - World Health Organisation
• WMA - World Medical Association
• IFMSA - International Federation of Medical Students' Associations

WFME aims at enhancing the quality of medical education world-wide, taking initatives with respect to new methods, new tools, and new management. It covers all phases of medical education (graduate education, specialist training and continuing medical education).

The general objective of WFME is "to strive for the highest scientific and ethical standards in medical education, taking initiatives with respect to new methods, new tools, and management of medical education".

Projects and activities:

WFME is undertaking a number of different activities, e.g. the Guidelines for the use of Information and Communication Technology in Medical Education. The most important project at present, though, is the formulation of:

International Standards in Basic Medical Education

This project has defined standards to outline minimum requirements of medical education institutions worldwide.

The project has three main intentions:

• to stimulate medical schools to formulate their own plans for change and for quality improvement in accordance with international recommendations
• to establish a system of national and/or international assessment and accreditation of medical schools to assure minimum quality standards for medical school programmes
• to safeguard practice in medicine and medical manpower utilisation, and its increasing internationalisation, by well-defined international standards of medical education

The standards are divided into two levels:

1. Basic standards - should be fulfilled by all institutions involved in ME
2. Standards for quality development - serves as an incentive for development and a leverage for improvement

Standards are defined in these two levels for each of the following areas of work and administration/planning of the medical school:

1. Mission and objectives
2. Educational program and principles
3. Assessment of educational outcomes
4. Students
5. Academic staff/faculty
6. Educational resources
7. Monitoring and evaluation of programs and courses
8. Governance and administration
9. Continuous renewal of the medical school

3rd World Conference on Medical Education

In March 2003 WFME is organising the 3rd World Conference on Medical Education in Copenhagen, Denmark. The theme for the event will be "Global Standards in Medical Education for Better Health Care".

The aim is to stimulate a "debate among decision-makers in medical education and health care about the complex question of introducing generally accepted global standards in medical education in order to promote the quality of health care delivery systems".

IFMSA in WFME:

Representation

At the WFME Executive Council (EC) meeting in Vienna in 1997 it was decided that IFMSA should be represented in the EC by its president for a period of 2-3 years for continuity's sake. Given the fact that turnover rate is rather high in IFMSA it was agreed that the IFMSA representative could also be a past-president.

The EC meeting in Copenhagen in September 2000 was the first time that IFMSA attended a WFME activity.

The present IFMSA representative on the WFME Executive Council is: Mats Sundberg.

Collaboration

The collaboration between IFMSA and WFME in the year 2001 was fruitful, first and foremost in relation to the IFMSA August meeting, where WFME contributed with valuable expertise to the roundtable discussions "Implementing International Standards in Basic Medical Education" and "Impact of Technology on Health Education". A concrete outcome of these discussions are two policy statements that will serve as a basis for IFMSA activities in these fields in the coming years. The workshop "Future of Medical Education" was organised under the patronage of WFME.

In its two annual General Assembly meetings and numerous international trainings and workshops IFMSA offers a good venue for the members of WFME to share their ideas with medical students, and to get direct input from the next generation of physicians.

IFMSA aims at working actively together with the regional associations for medical education in the future development of medical training, and the organisation wishes to be involved in the work of the regional associations to the largest extent possible.
 

The preparations for the "3rd World Conference on Medical Education" is a concrete example of ongoing collaboration between the two organisations. IFMSA has been invited as one of the collaborating partners in organising this important event, and will thus have the opportunity of participating in shaping policies and opinions in the very field that dominates our life as medical students and future doctors - namely our everyday medical education.

More information about WFME can be found on the web site: http://www.sund.ku.dk/wfme