Abstract
Objectives
There is a global shift toward competency-based medical education (CBME) to equip medical students with essential competencies required to meet healthcare needs. Syrian medical faculties lack a formal competency-based neonatology curriculum for undergraduate medical students. Therefore, our study aimed to develop a national consensus on the required competencies for undergraduate neonatology curricula in Syria.
Methods
This study took place at the Syrian Virtual University between October 2021 and November 2021. The authors used a modified Delphi method to determine neonatal medicine competencies. A focus group of three neonatologists and one medical education professional identified initial competencies. In the first Delphi round, 75 pediatric clinicians rated the competencies on a 5-point Likert scale. After formulating the results, a second Delphi round was conducted with 15 neonatal medicine experts. To reach an agreement, 75% of participants must score a competency as 4 or 5. Correlation coefficients were used to compare clinicians’ first Delphi ratings with experts’ second Delphi ratings. Competencies with a weighted response greater than 4.2 were considered essential.
Results
A list of 37 competencies (22 knowledge, 6 skills, and 9 attitudes) was identified after the second Delphi round, of which 24 were considered core competencies (11 knowledge, 5 skills, and 8 attitudes). The correlation coefficient for knowledge, skills, and attitudes competencies was 0.90, 0.96, and 0.80, respectively.
Conclusions
Neonatology competencies have been identified for medical undergraduates. These competencies aim to help students achieve the required skills and enable decision-makers to implement CBME in Syria and similar countries.
Significance
What is Already Known on this Subject? The transition to competency-based medical education (CBME) begins with identifying the competencies. International competencies are well established in the neonatology curriculum. Syria has no formal competency-based neonatology curriculum for undergraduate medical education (UGME).
What this Study adds? This study established a national consensus on the competencies of the neonatology curriculum for UGME in Syria. The authors hope these competencies can be generalized to all countries with similar cultural backgrounds and community health needs as Syria. They can be employed as the first step in those countries’ transition to CBME.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the use of ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI, for refining and proofreading small portions of the Discussion section in this paper.
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IZ is the principal researcher collected focus group and Delphi technique data. MD supervised the study. Both IZ and MD participated in designing the study, data analysis and interpretation, writing the manuscript and revising it before submission. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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has been granted from the ethical committee at the Syrian Virtual University No. 517/0, dated 26/4/2022.
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Verbal consent was obtained for focus group participant while Delphi technique participant consent was obtained through social media and confirmed and documented in the electronic questionnaire introduction. The Syrian Virtual University ethics committee approved the procedure for verbal consent as participating focus group was voluntarily and presents no risk of harm to subjects and involves no procedures for which written consent is normally required.
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Zoukar, I., Dashash, M. Using a Modified Delphi Method for Identifying Competencies in a Syrian Undergraduate Neonatology Curriculum. Matern Child Health J 27, 1921–1929 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03719-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03719-z