Education

The PGME EC has developed a course of lectures and tutorials for all the residents in the first two years of training (R1, R2.) Attendance at these core lectures is mandatory for Year 1 and 2 residents and all programmes are required to release these residents for this purpose. The lectures are delivered by faculty with relevant expertise and are spread over two years.

The core lectures aim to introduce the residents to aspects of medical care essential to the practice of all specialties. The topics range from safe blood transfusion practices to fluid and electrolyte balance and pain relief and also cover areas such as bioethics and professionalism.

Expanding on the core lectures the PGME EC has designed a series of eight modules for all residents from Year 1 to 4. Each module consists of five or six workshops on each theme, spread over four years. Some of the themes are Evidence Based Medicine, E-learning, and Research. In a year the module will take up to 20 hours of work. Again protected time is made available for residents to take part in these mandatory workshops.

Graduation

All PGME programmes of AKU conform to the requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan and are approved by it. All the residents aim to obtain the fellowship of the College during their residency and most do.

Flexible training

Many doctors are constrained by their individual circumstances and cannot undertake full-time postgraduate education. To try to ensure access to this education for such doctors, AKU's PGME programmes offer the flexible training option. This allows the selected individuals to train part-time in a way that lets them have time to look after their other responsibilities. A switch to full-time training can be made at an agreed-upon time. Not all programmes offer this option and the time limits set by the CPSP have to be kept in mind. Paediatrics and Anaesthesiology already have had doctors taking advantage of this opportunity and other departments are available as well.