Welcome
Letter From The Editor
In this issue we are pleased to bring you the exciting news that Dubai Healthcare City will launch a world-class tertiary care teaching hospital. This story has been developing for several months, as faculty from HMI, health care leaders in Dubai, a team of architects from a top firm, and clinical and administrative experts from throughout the Harvard medical community have worked together to design every component of the University Hospital.
Feature Stories
Harvard Macy Institute kicks off 2008 program slate
As this article goes online, sixty educators representing institutions in 10 countries have arrived in Boston for the 2008 Program for Educators in the Health Professions. This two-part course, which reconvenes in May, brings together a wide range of professionals in medical education: directors of clerkships, residencies, individual courses, and fellowship programs; chairs of departments and curriculum committees; and of course deans. Since its inception in 1994, the course has drawn hundreds of faculty motivated by the challenges facing their institutions as well as by a strong personal interest in educating students.
Each participant undertakes a real project aimed at addressing an institutional issue; they are organized in project teams that collaborate throughout the life of the program—including in self-directed teamwork and communication that occurs when the course is not in session. Course co-director Elizabeth Armstrong, PhD, said the course draws upon those twin motivations to help the participants investigate their values and assumptions and reach across disciplines to learn how to improve health education. Once attended solely by physician-educators, the course now draws participants from fields such as nursing, pharmacy, and basic sciences.
“We are bringing together thinking from multiple schools at Harvard University to explore a consistent theme—that organizational change depends less on an influx of resources and more on a close and honest examination of organizational values,” said Armstrong.
Upcoming: Courses on assessment and leadership
The Harvard Macy Institute is currently accepting applications for two courses scheduled for this spring. In March, the Institute will hold its first ever residential course, the second offering of the Program for Comprehensive Assessment in Health Science Education. First held in 2007, this course will gather faculty and participants in a unique and inspirational setting to examine a key challenge facing academic institutions today. The course’s chief objective is to enable participants to design systems for assessment and evaluation that promote continual quality improvement at their home institutions. This is a results-oriented course that will incorporate a variety of teaching formats, combining useful theory and background learning with practical insights and experiences.
The course will emphasize a systems approach for assessment and evaluation in four areas:
- Student and resident learning and competencies
- Faculty teaching and educational scholarship
- Medical school curricula and residency programs
- Advancement of departmental and institutional educational missions
Participants will design an assessment system for their home institution which integrates evaluation information at multiple levels and optimally informs a continuous quality improvement process to further their institutions’ educational missions.
Measurable outcomes, reflecting institutional goals and priorities, will be defined and strategies will be designed to maximize the utility of assessment information gathered. 
This course will feature leading experts in the area of assessment, including faculty representing preeminent academic institutions like the Mayo Medical School and Harvard Medical School, and professional organizations dedicated to education excellence, such as the National Board of Medical Examiners, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
The course will be held at the White Oak Conference & Residency Center, located just 30 minutes north of Jacksonville, Florida. White Oak’s elegant conference center is an ideal venue for conferences and education programs, and the natural surroundings of White Oak’s 7,400 acres provide a sanctuary for learning and reflection.
In June, Armstrong will again team with Harvard Business School (HBS) professor Clayton Christensen to lead the Institute’s Program for Leading Innovations in Health Care & Education.
This popular annual program brings together senior faculty from Harvard’s schools of business and medicine to conduct interactive case discussions designed specifically to help leaders in academic medicine develop strategies for leading and managing systemic change.
The course is designed for faculty, including those in leadership positions in schools of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy, as well as medical education deans, department chairs, and curriculum committee chairs.
To learn more about the Harvard Macy Institute or to apply to one of its programs, visit the Institute’s website at www.harvardmacy.org.
More Featrured Stories
Dubai Healthcare City announces development of new University Hospital
Dubai Healthcare City has announced that it will launch the University Hospital, a 400-bed tertiary care teaching hospital that will be a regional hub for world-class patient care and continuous learning. In collaboration with Harvard Medical International, more than 30 health care professionals from top hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School and other institutions have participated in the planning and design of this new medical center. 
Wockhardt nursing initiative builds on momentum
Add the cross-network collaborative efforts of its nursing staff to the list of exciting undertakings helping to drive progress for this regional health care leader.
Human Resources teams play critical role in quality hospital performance
While most of the attention on hospital accreditation has focused on the delivery of patient care by the clinical staff, when the accrediting agency makes a site visit to survey performance, the hospital's Human Resources team must be prepared as well. HMI partner Hygeia Hospital is one institution working to meet this challenge.
Search
Featured HMI Website Content
HMI Academic Initiatives: Visit the HMI Main Website to learn more about the academic activities undertaken by our faculty and staff, including publications, resaearch, and teaching around the world.
PHMI Reader Survey
What global health topic would you like to learn more about?
Around Harvard
Charting the genetic landscape of lung cancer, studying the aging brain, and revisiting the risks and benefits of hormone therap. Also: a look at the top health stories of 2007, and other news and research from the Harvard medical community.