Speakers

Dr. Ming-Jung Ho, MD, Ph.D.

Prof. of Family Medicine, Georgetown University Medicine Center, USA

Speaker's Biography

Dr. Ming-Jung Ho is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Associate Director of Center for Innovation and Leadership in Education (CENTILE) at Georgetown University Medicine Center, and Director of Education Research at MedStar Health.

A native of Taiwan, Dr. Ho received an undergraduate degree in Biological Anthropology at Harvard University, a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and a doctorate in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford in the UK. Dr. Ho then returned to Taiwan and built an international reputation in medical education and professionalism. She moved through the ranks to become Professor in the Department of Medical Education & Bioethics, Assistant Dean for International Affairs, and Vice-Chair, School of Medicine at National Taiwan University College of Medicine.

Dr. Ho's research interest lies in the application of anthropology to medical education. She has published articles in Academic Medicine, Medical Education, Medical Teacher, and Advances in Health Sciences Education. Her research projects on cross-cultural professionalism have garnered awards from the Association for Medical Education in Europe, the Taiwan Association of Medical Education, and the National Science Council of Taiwan.

Topic

A SWOT analysis of medical school adaptations to COVID-19: 

A cross-national survey of deans in Italy, Japan, Korea and Taiwan

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced medical schools worldwide to transition online. While there are ample reports about medical education adaptations to this crisis from the perspectives of teachers and students, limited studies are evaluating the adaptations from the perspectives of medical school leadership. We conducted a study to address the above gaps in the literature by surveying medical school deans in Italy, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan on the following research questions: 1. What curricular adaptations have been made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? 2. What were the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the adaptations? 3. What are the lessons learned to be applied to the future?

Methods: We conducted an online survey of deans or associate deans of all medical schools in Italy, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Free text responses to the open-ended survey questions were analyzed using a qualitative thematic analysis approach. After the themes emerged, we used a SWOT analysis framework to group themes into four categories, then compared across countries.

Results: The response rates of the surveys are 33% for Italy (n=60), 58.5% (n=48) for Japan, 92.5% (n=40) for Korea, and 100% (n=13) for Taiwan. All four countries rapidly adapted curricula according to local governmental and hospital policies. Similarities in the strengths reported by deans include rapid curricular adaptations, rapid infection control, and collaboration with students. Common weaknesses are lack of faculty readiness in online education, limited human resources, and limited clinical clerkships. Opportunities deans shared are innovations in education, inter-institutional collaboration, and centralized anti-epidemic policies. Threats reported by deans across countries are hospital infection control measures, IT support for online education, and stakeholder relationships. Differences in stakeholders are observed when Japanese and Taiwanese deans reported parental involvement in medical education adaptations. While the majority of deans reported that they would like to continue integrating online education in the future, some Italian deans expressed the desire to return to the way medical education was conducted before COVID-19.

Discussion: Differences in SWOT analysis across countries reflect differences in national culture and should be considered when leading curricular adaptations. SWOT analysis on strength/opportunity-weakness/threat strategies offers lessons on how to overcome weaknesses and threats with strengths and opportunities. For example, we could leverage innovative online education in workplace learning in the context of reduced patient case exposures before the pandemic subsides. This study recommends that medical school leaders conduct SWOT analyses as early as possible to plan strategies to continue safe and quality medical education during COVID-19 and future crises.