Innovative clinical curriculum of international standards introduced by Royal College of Surgeons - Medical University of Bahrain

The ceremony consisted of two main parts with the formal launch of the new Clinical Curriculum taking place on the first day and the official induction of the students taking place on the second day with a White Coat Ceremony followed by the recitation of the Professional Declaration.

The new Clinical Curriculum, also known as the Intermediate Cycle (IC), is a special program of international standards aimed at introducing students to the basic skills in medicine and surgery, clinical competencies and personal and professional development systems. The new curriculum will be delivered through workshops and seminars hosted jointly between visiting professors from the RCSI headquarters in Dublin and the Bahrain Defense Force Faculty and Ministry of Health participants.

"The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and all of its constituent institutions including the Medical University of Bahrain, continuously strive to offer the best, most innovative and most up-to-date methods of medical education in the world.

'The new Clinical Program is an ideal course to help students acquire the basic skills in medicine and surgery, introduce them to essential clinical competencies and provide them with the systems for personal and professional development (PPD)," said Dr. Sameer Otoom, Director of the Intermediate Cycle for RCSI-MUB.

"The unique world-class curriculum will be delivered with the help of consultants and doctors from the BDF Hospital and the Ministry of Health (MOH), who will help the students get a feel for real life medical scenarios," he continued.

The launch of this new course will also see the introduction of a new exam format - the Team Objective Structure Clinical Examination (TOSCE).

A visiting RCSI-Dublin team of faculty consisting of Professor Cathal Kelly - Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences, Professor Seamus Screenan - IC Director, Dr. Colette Barry - Director of Clinical Competencies and Denise O'Mara - IC Administrator are currently in Bahrain to conduct workshops for the IC students and ensure the new exam structure is put into place.

"Similar to all of RCSI's constituent universities, students at the Medical University of Bahrain receive the same examinations as those at the RCSI headquarters in Dublin to ensure that the quality is of the same high standards. Frequent visits from the RCSI-Dublin staff will ensure that this new exam format meets the same strict criteria," added Dr Otoom.