MEDICAL EDUCATION
Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME)
Our mission is to enable medical students to attain an optimal professional and personal development, to reach their full potential as future doctors for better health care worldwide.
OUR VISION
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to be the frame in which medical students worldwide contribute to the development of medical education. Students convene in SCOME to share and learn about medical education in order to improve it as well as benefit the most from it on a personal and professional basis.
Projects
"BREAKING THE SILENCE"
From October to November 2017, SCOME worked with the Centre for Sign Linguistics & Deaf Studies (CSLDS) to raise awareness of the difficulties that the deaf community face in healthcare among our medical students. A group of 21 medical students from both universities and years 1 to 3 participated in a fure week programme consisting of basic sign language lessons tailored for medical students and sharing sessions. After those four weeks of meeting up every Saturday morning, the participating students learned a lot from their sign language teacher and speakers. We hope to expand the number of participants this upcoming year so more medical students can learn from these valuable opportunities in order to help their future patients.
DEATH CAFE
In Hong Kong, death is often seen as a taboo. We may be scared of discussing the topic, or find it difficult to approach it. However, it is inevitable for everyone to face death in their lifetime and it is even more common for medical students and doctors to witness deaths. Hence, Death Cafe was held as an opportunity for medical students to openly discuss the topic of death with one another, under the facilitation of experienced 'Death Cafe' host Ms. Pearl Tse. Participants gathered under a relaxing atmosphere to talk and savour on cakes and tea. Death Cafe is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. This event aimed to increase awareness and diminish the taboo surrounding death by allowing open discussions on the concept of dying.
MENTAL HEALTH MONTH
SCOME organised a series of three projects in March to promote and raise awareness for mental health among the medical students and the local public. This encompassed 3 Doctor Dogs Days hosted at HKU, CUHK and the Prince of Wales Hospital; a crisis negotiation workshop and an online video campaign.
DOCTOR DOGS DAY
It is noticed that mental illness has become an increasingly serious concern for many in recent years; medical students are especially vulnerable to mental health issues due to high stress level during pre-clinical and clinical years. Therefore, in order to improve medical students’ mental health, SCOME has invited Dr. Dogs who have been proved to lower humans’ heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels from Animal Asia to come to both medical schools in Hong Kong during exam period. In addition, leaflets promoting mental health, sponsorship products and home-made cookies were also distributed to participants. Hopefully, medical students’ mood could be boosted after the event.
CRISIS NEGOTIATION WORKSHOP
Suicide has become an increasingly concerning issue among Hong Kong society. In light of this, SCOME collaborated with the Police Negotiation Cadre of the Hong Kong Police Force, to host a crisis negotiation workshop. This workshop equipped medical students with valuable communication skills in the case of instances of crisis. The workshop was followed with a series of role play activities enabling medical students to put their knowledge in to practice.
ONLINE VIDEO CAMPAIGN
Mental health has been a hushed topic for many in Hong Kong leading to a tendency for many to internalise such thoughts. In efforts to debunk such social stigma, SCOME directed a series of 6 videos of which provided insight into different areas of mental health including mental illness as a medical professional, stress amongst medical students, and others.