Medical education has evolved to become a discipline in its own right. With demands on medical faculties to be socially responsible and accountable, there is now increasing pressure for the professionalisation of teaching practice. Developing a cadre of professional and competent teachers, educators, researchers and leaders for their new roles and responsibilities in medical education requires faculty development. Faculty development is, however, not an easy task. It requires supportive institutional leadership, appropriate resource allocation and recognition for teaching excellence. This guide is designed to assist those charged with preparing faculty for their many new roles in teaching and education in both medical and allied health science education. It provides a historical perspective of faculty development and draws on the medical, health science and higher education literature to provide a number of frameworks that may be useful for designing tailored faculty development programmes. These frameworks can be used by faculty developers to systematically plan, implement and evaluate their staff development programmes. This guide concludes with some of the major trends and driving forces in medical education that we believe will shape future faculty development.

The study was conducted to report on the scope and prevalence of occupational health related-problems experienced by dentists, dental therapists, and oral hygienists in their practice of dentistry. Background: Professional practice and dental training have many risk factors, and the dental team should be able to recognize these factors to protect themselves. The prevalence of conditions related to the musculoskeletal system, stress, percutaneous injuries, ears, and eyes are of concern. The dental team should also not forget hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV as risks in practice. Dental practitioners should protect themselves by self-recognizing risk factors and by maintaining proper working conditions. Methods: The study targeted all empirical research, case studies, and systematic literature reviews written in English. All articles selected were subjected to a data analysis process. Data were captured on an Excel spreadsheet and reported in a comprehensive table. Results: The literature addressing occupational health among dental practitioners included mainly crosssectional studies and review papers (2001-2016). Forty-nine studies were included in the review. Musculoskeletal disorders remain the most researched occupational health-related problems in dentistry. Eye protection compliance was low among practitioners. Percutaneous injuries especially among young dentists and students were still a concern. Conclusion: Occupational health-related problems are still prevalent in current dentistry practice, despite changes in equipment and surgery design. The reported prevalence of occupational related-health problems and other findings of investigative studies highlight the need for continuous professional education and a need to improve clinical practice aspects of dentistry curricula.

Sub-Saharan Africa(SSA) is the world region worst affected by physician migration. Identifying reasons why medical students wish to stay or leave Africa could assist in developing strategies which favour retention of these graduates. This study investigated the career intentions of graduating students attending medical schools in SSA to identify interventions which may improve retention of African physicians in their country of training or origin. Final year medical students attending nine medical schools in SSA were surveyed--students from four schools in South Africa and one school each in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. The response rate was 78.5% (990 of 1260 students); data from the 984 students who indicated they were remaining in medicine were entered into a database, and descriptive statistics were obtained. Most (97.4%) of the 984 responding students were African by birth. The majority (91.2%) intended to undertake postgraduate training; the top three specialty choices were surgery (20%), internal medicine (16.7%), and paediatrics (9%). Few were interested in family medicine (4.5%) or public health (2.6%) or intended to practice in rural areas (4.8%). Many students (40%) planned to train abroad. About one fifth (21%) intended to relocate outside sub-Saharan Africa. These were about equally divided between South Africans (48%) and those from the other five countries (52%). The top perceived career-related factors favouring retention in Africa were career options and quality and availability of training opportunities. Several factors were reported significantly more by South African than the other students. The top personal factors for staying in Africa were a desire to improve medicine in Africa, personal safety, social conditions and family issues. The top career-related factors favouring relocation outside Africa were remuneration, access to equipment and advanced technology, career and training opportunities, regulated work environment and politics of health care in Africa. Several of these were reported significantly more by students from the other countries as compared with South Africans. The top personal factors favouring relocation outside Africa were personal safety, opportunity for experience in a different environment, social conditions and greater personal freedom. The career intentions of African medical students are not aligned with the continent's health workforce needs. A number of interventions that warrant further attention were identified in this study.

South Africa (SA) has a growing multilingual and multicultural population of approximately 55 million people, and faces service delivery challenges due to a shortage in skilled health professionals. Many health care facilities still depict distinct racial and ethnic characteristics that date back to the apartheid era, and there are reports of racial intolerance or preferential treatment at some facilities. There is limited literature in South Africa on cultural competence or on how to train health professionals to provide culturally competent care. This paper describes a study conducted to gain a better understanding of final year medical students’ perceptions regarding concepts related to cultural and linguistic competence in the SA healthcare setting. An exploratory, cross-sectional, analytical study used a questionnaire to collect data from final year students at the medical school. The demographic profile indicated considerable diversity in the respondents for languages spoken, ethnicity and religion. Responses indicated a level of cultural awareness and, according to the Cross Framework, a position of cultural pre-competence. This position was supported by the majority expressing high levels of agreement with the items deemed to indicate responsiveness: a desire for cultural competence to be promoted in the medical curriculum and for professional development to improve delivery of services and support to linguistically and culturally diverse groups. No significant association was found when analysing the latter item against demographic grouping variables. However, although not significant, a diminishing trend emerged in the rankings of monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism, suggesting that the ability to speak more than one language could possibly be a facilitating factor in acquiring cultural competence. In response, it is recommended that specific learning objectives be included in the medical curriculum. Understanding of concepts related to both individual and institutional cultural competence would improve insights into their relevance in responding to the challenges related to culture in SA healthcare. Further research in teaching cultural competence is recommended. In order to respond to local needs, this should include research at a community level to analyse patients’ perspectives and satisfaction with the cultural competence of healthcare providers and organisations serving the SA public.

Improved research ability is a core competency to achieve in health professionals. The Selectives is a three-year, longitudinal, community-based programme within the undergraduate curriculum which aims to develop research capacity in all medical students during the prescribed curriculum. In relation to the programme, the authors describe the types of studies conducted by students, conditions that facilitated their learning, how the experience improved students’ knowledge of research and public health and their development of reflective learning practices. A cohort of 212 students completed the Selectives Programme in 2014, and 69 (32 %) completed an anonymous online evaluation thereafter. Data collected include students’ perceptions of the research component of Selectives; its impact on their knowledge of research and a documentary analysis of their research protocols and posters. Ethical approval for the ongoing evaluation of the Selectives was sought and obtained from the institutional Biomedical Research Ethics Committee. During Selectives, 75 groups of 2–4 students conducted research studies of primary health care problems in community settings. Each group is assessed on their presentation of research findings as a scientific poster. The Selectives facilitated learning for the majority of the cohort. Students reported positive learning experiences about the research process, including ethics; protocol writing; data processing; dissemination of findings and results; and their use in informing a health promotion intervention. Students reported having gained a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses through reflective learning from this academic activity. The Selectives is scheduled adjacent to the students’ mid-year vacation. This scheduling together with the placement in the students’ home community minimizes travel and accommodation costs associated with working outside the academic teaching platform and therefore makes it a cost-effective model in a low resource context. The Selectives has proven beneficial to develop a range of generic and practical research competencies for a full cohort of students enrolled in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The Selectives research process is integrated with learning about population health and the social determinants of health in a primary health care setting.

In problem-based learning (PBL) curricula, first-year students need to adapt to a new learning environment and an unfamiliar new pedagogy. The small-group tutorial potentially offers a learning environment where students can become self-directed learners, collaborating with other group members to achieve individual and group learning goals. At the end of the first six-week theme in a relatively new PBL curriculum, new medical students were canvassed about coping with PBL (self-directed learning; content; time management; resources) and the value of the small-group tutorial, the latter of which is currently being reported. Almost 84% of students (n = 178) responded. The benefits of participating in small groups were categorized into three domains—cognitive, affective and social—as identified from student responses. Results were analysed in terms of gender and prior educational experience (secondary school vs. prior tertiary educational experience). For almost 94% of students, the small-group tutorial provided a conducive learning environment that influenced their personal development (i.e. tolerance, patience) and socialization into the faculty. Significantly more males indicated that they had developed social skills, while more school-leavers (matriculants) than mature students felt more receptive to the views of others. More mature students claimed to have made friends. Irrespective of some conflicting opinions in the literature, the present results suggest that the PBL tutorial may be important in facilitating student socialization into a new and unfamiliar academic environment, particularly when the pedagogy differs markedly from their past educational experiences. Through interacting with fellow students from diverse origins who hold different views in the intimate setting of the small group, students felt that they had not only increased their knowledge but had also developed personally and socially. It is proposed that the small group may be useful for integrating a diverse population of students into a new academic environment.