Postgraduate Training Network for Research in Reproductive Health

Tutor training in Shanghai - Questions and answers - Internet meeting 5.14.2004 - 5.19.2004 - Images from Shanghai

Postgraduate Research Training in Reproductive Health

Fudan University, Shanghai

Course Report

organised by

The Fudan University, Shanghai
The Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER)
The UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special Programme for Research in Human Reproduction, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, Family and Community Health Cluster World Health Organization (WHO/RHR)
The International Association of Maternal and Neonatal Health (IAMANEH)

in collaboration with

The Department of Health of the Canton of Geneva
The Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University and
The Geneva Medical Association

Participants

There were 17 participants from 7 different Provinces attending the Postgraduate Research Training on Reproductive Health in Fudan University, Shanghai (See Table 1. List of Participants).

Course lay-out

The course was structured in a 1 week’s course on research methodology and 1 week’s course on reproductive health, followed by a 3 weeks’ distance learning course.

Lectures

The Research Methodology course was structured around the following topics: evidence based reproductive health practice, types of epidemiological study, community interventions, methodological issues on the use of anthropometry for evaluation of nutritional status and on the measures of maternal morbidity/mortality, strategies for data analysis of different types of epidemiological study, systematic review, critical appraisal of research reports, ethical aspects in research, and economic and program evaluation. The Reproductive Health course was structured in eight modules, including: basic pathophysiological principles, genetics, family planning, infertility, gynecological endocrinology, genital infections/sexually transmitted infections and cancers, and obstetrics. The lecture schedule can be seen in Table 2.

The speakers were the staff from Fudan University, especially from the School of Public Health and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. More than 24 speakers and tutors were involved in the program. The speakers and the tutors of the project can be seen in Table 3 and Table 4.

Facilities

Throughout the course, all students had access to the computers in the Network Center of Fudan University. Accessing to internet and database, such as medline and ovid, enabled them to conduct the literature search, bibliographic review and paper preparation. Basic training on the use of internet, medline and powerpoint was provided. The medical library of Fudan University was available to the participants and professional help from librarians could be obtained if necessary.

Exams

In order to obtain the certificates, participants have to meet two requirements:

• a bibliographic review on a topic of their interests, under the supervision of a tutor, including a 15 minutes’ oral presentation.

• a multiple choice test (60 questions)

Accommodation

The participants out of Shanghai stayed at Xiyuan Hotel located in the campus of Fudan university.

Feedback

After 2 weeks’ lecture delivery, an anonymous survey on the feedback of the lectures was done among the participants. The survey involved the evaluation of the lectures’ five areas, including scientific base, importance, usefulness, clear expression and teaching material preparation. The results showed that more than 70% of the participants gave the scores of 5 (the score could be from 1 to 5) and 21%~26% of the participants gave the scores of 4 in these five areas. That means the participants were generally satisfied with the lectures. When we calculated the average score of the evaluation, we saw the average score was 4.64 (std=0.47). The average scores had no significant difference among the lectures, except one (that is introduction of sociology in the average score of 3.93). From the further data analysis, we noticed that the relatively low average score of the lecture on introduction of sociology was mainly because of the participants’ giving the low score in the three areas (importance, usefulness and clear expression of the lecture). This information will guide us to modify the courses in the future.

Table 1.  List of Participants

Table 2. The lecture schedule

Part 1. Research Methodology (2004-05-10 - 2004-05-14)

Part 2. Reproductive Healt (2004-05-17 - 2004-05-21)

Table 3. Speakers

Table 4. Tutors’ Arrangement

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Edited by Aldo Campana,