“the systematic collection of information about the activities, characteristics, and outcomes of programs to make judgments about the program, improve program effectiveness, and/or inform decisions about future program development.”
(Patton MQ. Utilization-focused evaluation: The new century text. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997)
Key purpose to improve practice is the broad purpose of program evaluation
Programs to be evaluated at SZMC
Undergraduate and postgraduate medical, nursing and allied education programs conducted at SZMC are being evaluated through a comprehensive and holistic approach of collecting data about program input, processes and output, along with perceptions and experiences from all stakeholders. The data is gathered during and towards the end of academic session of each program and reports generated. These reports are reviewed by ‘Program Review Committee’ nominated for each program with an objective to improve program implementation and recommend changes in curriculum to the University, regularly after 5 years.
QEC is using the forms approved and shared by HEC and the university for program evaluation. Feedback, perceptions and experiences shared by current students, graduating students, alumni, faculty and administration are documented and recorded through purposely designed e-forms available on the website of SKZMDC and SZMC along with the signed reports and surveys from administration and head of departments etc.
Program review
Review of a program can act as a quality control check. Reviews are not just an informative report, rather they can be an integral part of the mechanism to connect disciplines to the Institutional mission. It provides an overview of the services offered and needed and generate a comparison for triggering improvement action.
At SZMC program review reports are generated and discussed on annual basis for undergraduate courses but for postgraduate courses it is done after 5 years and is linked to improvement in students’ learning outcomes for each program.
Program Review Steps:
- Identify program goals and objectives
- Understand and map the process covering ‘who, what, when, where, why and how’ elements
- Collect relevant data about the program from stakeholders (interview, survey/forms) and conduct the review
- Analyze the data and develop appropriate recommendations
- Implement changes in the program
- Evaluate the impact of the changes
Program Review Committees:
- For Undergraduate programs: The ‘Curriculum Committee’ for UG programs will be serving as the ‘Program Review Committee’. The composition will be same as suggested by PMC (Pakistan Medical Council).
- For Postgraduate programs: There will be separate committees notified by the competent authority and they will review the programs every 5 years, recommend changes in curriculum document, improve curriculum implement in the light of review report analysis and finally measure the impact of the changes through periodic surveys and stakeholders’ feedback.
-
- Medical and Allied Programs Review Committee (MD, FCPS, MCPS, Clinical Diplomas)
- Surgical and Allied Programs Review Committee (MS, FCPS, MCPS, Clinical Diplomas)
- Masters, MPhil and Diploma Program Review Committee
- PhD Program Review Committee
Data Collection for Program Evaluation:
Direct measures – Papers, assigned projects, and exams performance are direct measures that are often used to measure the degree to which our students learned the program content.
Indirect measures – These are the perceptions, opinions, attitudes etc. about a program.
