@article{Samuels_Rojas-Luengas_Zereshkian_Deng_Moodie_Veinot_Bowry_Law_2020, title={Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Global Medical Student Partnership program in undergraduate medical education}, volume={11}, url={https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cmej/article/view/69339}, DOI={10.36834/cmej.69339}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Background: </strong>The Global Medical Student Partnership (GMSP) is, a medical student-led international initiative to promote accessible Global Health learning. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the GMSP program in meeting its learning objectives.</p> <p><strong>Methods: </strong>Canadian and international medical student pairs met online monthly (January-May 2018) to discuss global health-related medical cases. Students then reviewed cases with local GMSP peers and faculty experts. A mixed-methods study was performed to evaluate whether the objectives of the program had been achieved. 26 of 32 (81.3%) students completed a questionnaire, and 13 (40.6%) also participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze students’ perspectives on skill development through GMSP.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>GMSP students agreed or strongly agreed that international collaboration and communication skills were more important to them following program participation (92.3%, 92.3% respectively). Many expressed that after GMSP, they knew more about their healthcare system, practices abroad and how to solve complex health issues (92.3%, 84.6%, 61.5% respectively). Qualitative data showed GMSP improved students’ communication and presentation skills, provided a foundation for international relationships, fostered appraisal of diverse health systems, and furthered students’ understanding of health advocacy.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings demonstrate that GMSP met its original objectives by providing students with opportunities to engage in international collaborations and to further develop their skills in advocacy, communication, and health-systems research. This program may be an important addition to medical education as it makes use of technology and peer-to-peer exchange to enable global health learning.</p>}, number={6}, journal={Canadian Medical Education Journal}, author={Samuels, Hannah and Rojas-Luengas, Vanessa and Zereshkian, Arman and Deng, Shirley and Moodie, Jenna and Veinot, Paula and Bowry, Ashna and Law, Marcus}, year={2020}, month={Oct.}, pages={e90-e98} }