Editorial

First medical specialties in Sancti Spíritus with higher accreditation status

0000-0003-3111-0432Lizandro Michel Pérez García^{1  *} 

¹Clínica Estomatológica Provincial, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba.

The Cuban National Health System has made efforts to achieve the necessary qualification of its human resources; this has been present since the beginning of the Revolution through the training of professionals who are not only scientifically and technically prepared, but also through the consolidation of ethical and political-ideological values that have been translated into the results obtained in the field of health. ¹

Postgraduate specialty constitutes an organizational form of academic training and is aimed at updating, deepening, improving or broadening work competence for specialized professional performance and innovation in the inherent settings required by a job or related jobs, the solution of specific problems of the profession in correspondence with the needs of production and services, as well as the economic, social, technological and cultural development of the country. ²

According to the National Accreditation Board (NAB), the quality of postgraduate education is considered as the integration of social relevance and academic excellence, as part of the continuous improvement strategy defined in the evaluation and certification systems; it is evident when the processes of self-evaluation, external evaluation and accreditation are developed, all these stages of an integral system recognized as the management for the continuous improvement of the quality of higher education. ³

In January, 2019 the Ministry of Higher Education approved the Accreditation System for Postgraduate Specialties (ASPE) and its basic documents: Quality Pattern, Evaluation Guide and Evaluation Regulations, thus constitute a necessity to obtain one of the higher categories of accreditation: ⁴

1. Qualified Programme

2. Certified Programme

3. Excellence Programme

To credit a programme with one of these categories endorses the positive impact of the specialty, both nationally and internationally, offers public recognition of the accreditation category granted, attributes relative autonomy in its operation and recognizes the professional prestige of its teaching staff. ³

During this process, six variables are evaluated: relevance and social impact, faculty, students, infrastructure, curriculum and work setting, ⁴ each of them includes a system of indicators that allows an inside look at the entire training process of the resident.

In February 2020, the report signed by Dr.C. Marcia Esther Noda Hernández, NAB Executive Secretary, was received, granting higher accreditation categories to the first medical specialties in Sancti Spíritus that conducted their external evaluation process from 9 to 13 December 2019.

In agreements 31, 32 and 34 of the 44^th session of the NAB, it was unanimously decided to grant the category of QUALIFIED PROGRAMME to the Neonatology specialty and CERTIFIED PROGRAMME to the Gastroenterology and Imaging specialties. Among the main strengths are the recognized tradition of undergraduate and postgraduate academic teaching at the University, updated curricula relevant to social needs, high percentage of professors with the category of II Degree Specialists and main professor, high participation of professors with presentations at events at different levels and obtaining multiple recognitions. The majority of the initial enrolment of residents participates in scientific events, defends their specialty completion work according to the academic calendar expected for edition, has access to scientific and technical information and is highly satisfied with the quality of the infrastructure and furnishings of the teaching and work settings. However, it is necessary to improve some aspects that were identified as weaknesses: insufficient average number of publications of the professor’s scientific results, as well as the lack of visualization of the results of the application of the impact monitoring evaluation methodology.

This experience constitutes the first result of the implementation of the Methodological Strategy for the management of the accreditation process of postgraduate specialties at the Sancti Spíritus University of Medical Sciences and has motivated the completion of the self-evaluation report for six other medical specialties and two stomatology ones.

REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS

1.  Endo Milán J, Sosa Morales D. Acreditación de las especialidades: reto para la comunidad académica de las universidades de ciencias médicas. Edumecentro [Internet]. 2020 [citado 20 Abr 2020];12(2):1-7. Disponible en: Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/edu/v12n2/2077-2874-edu-12-02-1.pdf 1.

2.  Cuba. Ministerio de Educación Superior. Resolución No. 140/19. Reglamento de la educación de posgrado de la República de Cuba [Internet]. La Habana: MES; 2019. [citado 20 Abr 2020]. Disponible en: Disponible en: https://www.mes.gob.cu/es/resoluciones 2.

3.  Surós Reyes EM. El Sistema de Evaluación y Acreditación de Especialidades de Posgrado: garante de calidad universitaria. Edumecentro [Internet]. 2017 [citado 20 Abr 2020];9(4):254-61. Disponible en: Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/edu/v9n4/edu22417.pdf 3.

4.  Cuba. Junta Nacional de Acreditación. Resolución No. 10/19. Sistema de Evaluación y Acreditación de Especialidades de Postgrado (SEA-EP). La Habana: MES; 2019

Received: December 07, 2020; Accepted: December 19, 2020

^*Autor para la correspondencia. Correo electrónico: [e-mail]

No existe conflicto de interés en esta investigación.