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ANU Medical School Management Structure and Committees: March 2008

ACTion Committee (Assessment, Curriculum and Teaching Committee)

The ACTion Committee is responsible to the Dean and the Faculty. All other committees associated with educational matters in the ANU medical program, eg. Theme Committees, Block Committees, Indigenous Teaching Committee and the Years 3&4 Committee report to this committee. Secretarial support to the ACTion Committee is provided by the Dean’s office. Meetings are held once a month on the ANU campus.

Delivery of the curriculum is dependent upon the organisation of the whole teaching program for which the ACTion Committee takes responsibility. The Committee has evolved from the Interim Curriculum Committee and is responsible for the design of the course. As the course unfolds the Committee will also take on the responsibility for overseeing the assessment process. We believe that it is extremely important that assessment is in harmony with the rest of the curriculum, as it will drive the curriculum.

The ACTion committee is chaired by Professor David Ellwood, Deputy Dean of Medical School.

Themes Committees

Medical Sciences Committee

The role of the Medical Sciences Committee is to ensure that the medical sciences (anatomy, histology, embryology, physiology, neuroscience, biochemistry, pharmacology, immunology, pathological processes, genetics and behavioural science) are adequately covered within the curriculum and that the coverage reflects recent concepts in all these disciplines. The Committee does not develop the curriculum but reviews the contributions from the Block Committees. The Medical Sciences Committee will report inadequacies that it detects to the ACTion Committee, MEU and to the relevant Block Committees.

A question of difficulty in relation to the medical sciences is what does ‘adequately covered’ mean? At the time of graduation a medical student must have a broad knowledge of many disciplines, and therefore cannot possibly have the depth of knowledge that a student of just one discipline might have. Therefore, the Medical Sciences Committee has taken the view that the teaching emphasis must be on fundamental concepts and principles in each discipline. Students will repeatedly revisit these concepts in different contexts and thus build an understanding of how to apply fundamental concepts in new settings.

The Medical Sciences Committee will also rationalise the balance between the various disciplines for the practical sessions, working with suggestions from the Block Committees.

The Medical Sciences Committee is chaired by Professor Rosemary Martin, Associate Dean (Curriculum and Admissions) of the Medical School.

Clinical Skills Committee

The main role of the Clinical Skills Committee is to develop the clinical skills curriculum. The Committee will also be responsible for selecting the staff, teaching space and facilities, and ancillary resources required to implement the curriculum. The Committee consists of 16 members, representing the main clinical disciplines. There is also a medical student, a resident medical officer, and the current clinical skills coordinator on the committee. The Committee meets every second week.

The Clinical Skills Committee is chaired by Associate Professor Ashley Watson.

Population Health Committee

The purposes of this Committee are to develop the curriculum for population health in the Medical School ; and to develop the assessment for population health in the Medical School.
Canberra is a location with rich resources with regard to population health at an individual and institutional level. Thus, an important role for this committee is also to develop local networks to allow the optimal delivery in population health, including student placements in public health institutions.

The Population Health Committee is chaired by Dr Gillian Hall.

Professionalism and Leadership Committee

The primary purpose of the Professionalism and Leadership Committee is to develop a sustainable curriculum and assessment in this discipline. The overall aim is to develop a systematic of understanding in the principles of medical ethics, law and human rights leadership integrated within the problem-based learning system. Representatives on the committee reflect the wide range of professional interests relevant to this theme and facilitates their involvement.

The Professionalism and Leadership Committee is chaired by Dr Thomas Faunce.

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Block Committees

There are seven Block Committees, one for each of the blocks within the first two years of the course.

Each Block Committee has responsibility for the development of introductory teaching in their system/discipline area, with a particular focus on the relevant medical sciences. Block Committees meet regularly, generally post minutes on the Medical School web site, liaise with Theme Committees and report to the ACTion Committee. Each has developed learning aims and objectives for their blocks and an overview material that should be covered. The Block Committees have also individually and collectively met with the Theme Committees to facilitate the seamless integration of important theme issues into a given problem. Specific theme sessions are, however, organised by the Theme committees.

As a result of this process, a map of all the problem-based learning cases and related teaching topics over the first two years was presented to the February Faculty workshop for comment and review. The current map is provided in Attachment; despite being incomplete and likely to undergo further refinement, it does provide a strong indication of the content of the first two years of our teaching program.

Teaching sessions in each week include:

• Problem based learning sessions
• Up to 5 lectures
• Medical Science practical
• Alternating Population Health and Professionalism and Leadership theme sessions
• Clinical skills session one day per week at a clinical site

Block Committees and problem coordinators have been provided with resources to assist in the development of the range of teaching materials required in problem-based learning: the tutor guide template, patient data sheet, and lecture and workshop templates for each problem. Draft materials produced by each block are commented on by the Medical Education Unit and are being made available on the Medical Curriculum Development Site (internet) for faculty comment. An iterative cycle of further development, is managed by the Medical Education Unit, with the final approval through the ACTion Committee.

Year 3&4 Committee

The Year 3&4 Committee is responsible for the development and delivery of Year 3 and 4 curriculum, as such its membership mainly includes clinical staff.

The committee is co- chaired by Associate Professor Drew Richardson and Associate Professor Graham Reynolds.  

        
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Indigenous Teaching Committee

Indigenous health issues in the ACT and surrounding region are very different from those in the remote areas of Australia but they are no less important and reflect the same problems of poor access to, and utilisation of, mainstream medical services. In recognition of this the Medical School has established an Indigenous Teaching Committee with the following terms of reference:

• to provide advice to the ANU Medical School regarding the content and method of delivery of the Indigenous Health curriculum; and
• to provide advice on other relevant Indigenous issues e.g. entry criteria for Indigenous medical students, support for prospective and current students.

The Committee reports to the ACTion Committee but has input to the Medical Education Unit and Block Committees as required.

Examiners Committee

The Committee:

• Reviews and refines assessment program,
• Formally determines student eligibility to sit summative examinations
• Reviews Block blueprint and determines assessment focus (in conjunction with Block committee)
• Reviews and approves assessment questions
• Oversights standard setting results and any necessary question revision
• Approves examination timetable and arrangements
• Approves marking arrangements
• Reviews results and item performance
• Recommends results to the Dean for approval

Professor Cathy Owen, Director of MEU chairs this committee.

Social Foundations of Medicine Framework Committee

The Social Foundations of Medicine framework addresses the social and cultural foundations of health, sickness and healing. The overall aim is to enhance understanding of major conceptual issues in the study of biomedical knowledge and practice, and the nature of medical systems. The framework encourages students to reflect critically on the socio-cultural construction of disease and illness, and the ways in which physical and social suffering are embodied. Social Foundations of Medicine draws on the disciplines of critical medical anthropology, medical history and medical sociology.

Discussions were held with a number of key individuals both within the Faculty and more broadly with appropriate discipline areas within the University. This has led to the establishment of a sub-committee of the ACTion Committee, the Social Foundations of Medicine Committee.

Dr Christine Phillips is the Chair of this committee.

Rural Committee

Although most of rural teaching will occur in Years 3 and 4 of the course we plan to utilise some rural sites for Year 1 and 2 and therefore we have initiated a Rural Committee. In addition, extensive planning must be done to develop a Rural and Community Clinical School and it is important that a group begin the detailed planning as early as possible. Through the Rural Committee, the Medical School will develop appropriate integration of the educational and research activities with key stakeholders in the region. The roles of the Rural Committee are to:

• ensure that the curriculum reflects rural and remote issues
• to oversight the development and maintenance of a rural network which supports the delivery of quality learning experiences and research opportunities for students and faculty staff in rural and remote locations.

The Rural Committee is chaired by Associate Professor Amanda Barnard, Associate Dean (Rural and Community).

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Student Affairs Committee

The Committee provides a forum for staff and students to discuss issues that concern the School and/or students, to foster a close interaction and contribute to the School’s policy development and better student support.

The Chair of this committee is Professor Cathy Owen, Director of MEU.

Professional Behaviour Committee

The following are the Terms of Reference of the ANU Medical School Professional Behaviour Committee:

• To determine standards for students’ professional behaviour in the MBBS course, in consultation with the Course Committees, the MBBS Curriculum Executive Committee, the student body and these guidelines;
• To provide counselling and the opportunity for remediation to any student whose professional behaviour is assessed as unsatisfactory but not amounting to misconduct, to monitor the student’s behaviour during the period of remediation and to provide the student with feedback at the end of that time;
• To report to the MBBS Examinations Board of the Medical School as necessary, on students whose behaviour has been assessed as unsatisfactory but not amounting to misconduct and the outcome of the counselling and remediation process and, in the case of students who continually or repeatedly demonstrate unsatisfactory behaviour, to recommend failure in the relevant topic;
• To refer to the Dean of Medicine for action under the Discipline Rules any student whose behaviour has been assessed as unsatisfactory and amounting to misconduct;
• To refer any students to the Disability Services Office as required; and
• Proceedings will be regarded as confidential to those persons involved in them.

The Chair of this Committee is Associate Professor Amanda Barnard, Associate Dean (Rural and Community).

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