Beyond “Teach a Man to Fish”: Communal Meta-cognition as the Key to Sustainable Professional Development.

Authors

  • Ken Foster West Parry Sound Health Centre - surgeon, Northern Ontario School of Medicine - assistant professor

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15566/cjgh.v1i1.12

Keywords:

third world, developing countries, medical training, medical, professional development, communal metacognition, power distance

Abstract

Improvement in the quality of aid and development in a community requires a feedback loop within the community, known as “communal meta-cognition.” This is relevant to medical education in resource-poor countries and is illustrated with the author’s own surgical experience.  The usual source of truth is unquestioned allegiance to established wisdom rather than the dynamic state that comes through the feedback loop of asking questions, most importantly of one’s self.  Some elements of what this might look like in a medical education context are illustrated.

Author Biography

Ken Foster, West Parry Sound Health Centre - surgeon, Northern Ontario School of Medicine - assistant professor

small town general surgeon after overseas career of two decades.  assistant professor at NOSM

References

Frenk J, Chen L, Bhutta Z, Cohen J, Crisp N, Evans T et al. Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world. The Lancet. 2010 Dec 4; 376 (9756): 1923-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61854-5

Hofstede, G. Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; 2001.

Steinhardt LC, Waters H, Rao KD, Naeem AJ, Hansen P, Peters D. The effect of wealth status on care seeking and health expenditures. In: Afghanistan, Health Policy & Planning. 2009; 24:1-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czn043

[i]dependent lens. [internet] Motherland Afganistan. [posted 17 Jan 2007; cited 12 June 2014 ] http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/motherlandafghanistan/qa.html

Easterly, W. The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009.

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster); 1996. [p.116].

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Published

2014-06-19

How to Cite

Foster, K. (2014). Beyond “Teach a Man to Fish”: Communal Meta-cognition as the Key to Sustainable Professional Development. Christian Journal for Global Health, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.15566/cjgh.v1i1.12

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014): A Christian Approach to Global Health: Past, Present and Future

Section

Commentaries

License

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