Fit for the future? The place of global health in the UK's postgraduate medical training: a review

Hall, JA; Brown, CS; Pettigrew, L; Malik, ANJ; Watson, J; Topiwala, A; McGregor, L; Ramsay, R

All 11 curricula contained numerous generic competencies where a global health perspective and/or international experience could be advantageous. These mostly related to caring for migrant or culturally different patients (e.g. maintaining an awareness of and having respect for 'socio-cultural contexts' in the assessment and management of patients, or communicating with patients whose first language is not English). There was brief reference in The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) curriculum to EU law, international conventions, international patient or professional organizations and to the prevalence of conditions in the UK in comparison to other European countries, however having knowledge of these was not an explicit learning outcome. Achievement of some competencies, such as RCPCH's awareness 'of child health exploitation issues including child prostitution, child labour and children in combat … and the effects of armed conflict on child health' or The Royal College of Pathologists' (RCPath's) 'impact on health of armed conflict, natural disasters and other social upheavals', would clearly benefit from a global perspective or international experience. Arguably all specialties, not just paediatrics, would benefit from an understanding of the role of the World Health Organization (WHO), and from an awareness of the global burden of disease.