Introduction
Social Accountability is an approach to addressing inequities in healthcare – the contract that medicine has with society. Boelen and Heck (1995) define the concept of Social Accountability for WHO as: “the obligation of the faculty to direct their education, research and service activities toward addressing the priority health concerns of the community, the region, or nation they have the mandate to serve.” This definition emphasizes that health professions education institutions should improve on ways to educate health professionals in the knowledge and skills relevant to their work that will have a positive impact on people's health and be change agents for a more efficient, equitable, and sustainable health system.
In this course, learners will be introduced to the basic concepts of Social Accountability as applied in Health Professions Education. Learners will also be exposed to case studies of socially-accountable interventions around the world and their associated evaluation metrics.
Educational approach
The course is conducted fully on PAHO/WHO’s virtual Moodle educational platform (Virtual Campus for Public Health - VCPH).
Teaching resources and virtual platform tools will be used to improve meaningful learning linked to theoretical and practical performance through user-responsive content and activities that will allow progress through the different modules of the training program.
Course purpose
To introduce learners to the concept of social accountability, as applied to health professions education institutions. This is achieved through clarifying misconceptions of social accountability terminology, sharing examples of socially accountable interventions and introducing learners to the Indicators for Social Accountability Tool (ISAT).
It is expected that learners will enrol for the Social Accountability in Health Professions Education TUFH Academy once completing this online course. The TUFH Academy on Social Accountability is a comprehensive, synchronous course offered by The Network: Towards Unity for Health. Facilitators for this course are carefully selected with a strong background and expertise in social accountability in health professions education.
Through ongoing learning and practice, we envision a community of leaders in health professions education institutions empowered to implement and continuously evaluate Social Accountability in their locality through the use of the Indicators for Social Accountability Tool (ISAT) and other metrics.
Target audience
This training is primarily meant for faculty, accreditors, and health policy evaluators working in or with health professions education institutions; however, students and other advocates for Social Accountability may benefit from this training as well.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Explain the concept of Social Accountability in the context of health professions education in the light of the WHO definition and the Global Consensus for Social Accountability;
- Analyze the values of Social Accountability and the interrelationship between these values in different health systems in the context of the social accountability partnership pentagram;
- Evaluate the role of stakeholders in health professions education as presented by the social accountability partnership pentagram;
- Analyze the social obligation of health professions schools and the strategic directions to guide health professions schools to become socially accountable;
- Explain the critical contextual domains and sub-dimensions that enable Social Accountability interventions and actions; and
- Apply different frameworks and indicators for monitoring and evaluation of Social Accountability.
Duration/Workload
The course is assigned a total of 8 hours, including the estimated time to complete the units and module assessments.
Course Structure
- Module 1: Broad Overview of Social Accountability in Health Professions Education Institutions
- Module 2: Values of Social Accountability
- Module 3: Current Directions for Socially-Accountable Interventions
- Module 4: Measuring Social Accountability in Health Professions Education