Development of a Community Orientation Program (COP) as a Community-Based Medical Education method for undergraduate medical students: An experience from India

AbstractBackgroundIntraregional cultural and linguistic differences are common in the Low- and Middle-income countries. They must focus on innovative teaching for the undergraduate (UG) medical students to make them sensitive to the social and contextual determinants of health to achieve the health for all goal. The early introduction of community-based medical education could be a game changing strategy.ObjectivesTo describe the methods, evaluation, implication, and challenges of a Community Orientation Programme (COP) adopted for the Indian Medical Graduates (IMG). Methods: The COP was arranged for the first-year UG students, including the community and the local administration. The program was divided into phases like-initial preparation, theoretical sessions, field visits, group activities, data analysis, and dissemination of the findings. In this learner-centric, supervised educational program, the key aim was to focus on developing students’ communication skills, observation power and enhancing their motivation for learning new things through collaborative learning. A mixture of adult learning theories like behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, sociocultural theory, critical theory, and humanism included keeping the students’ needs, cultural differences, and varying motivational levels. A structured feedback mechanism from the students was developed to identify the gaps.ConclusionThe COP has provided a holistic learning framework for the students based on several complementary learning theories in the Indian context. It has touched upon most of the national- and institutional-level objectives envisioned by the regulatory body for the IMGs. All stakeholders should promote such programs and solve the challenges collectively.