Collaborative Development and Implementation of a Hybrid Virtual Surgery Clerkship Curriculum in a Vietnamese Medical School

Abstract

Objective

To collaboratively develop a hybrid virtual curriculum for a medical school surgery clerkship within an emerging medical university in Vietnam.

Design

A hybrid virtual surgery clerkship curriculum was collaboratively developed by Vietnamese and American surgeons as part of an international partnership between their respective universities. A set of 25 virtual lectures with associated materials were created and deployed in tandem with live, in-person review and skills sessions. Student quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods were developed and deployed to allow continuous iteration. A 6-month course was deployed to develop surgical faculty into effective teachers.

Setting

The curriculum was deployed at VinUniversity College of Health Sciences, the youngest medical university in Vietnam. It was developed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Each cohort of 12 students in the surgical clerkship will participate in the curriculum.

Conclusions

The development of this hybrid surgical clerkship in Vietnam leveraged local resources and expertise with those available remotely. Lessons learned are directly applicable to future collaborative curriculum development efforts at other emerging medical schools.