Medical Students Pit Knowledge at Global University Medical Challenge

The International Medical University hosted the Global University Medical Challenge (GUMC) in conjunction with the International Medical Education Conference (IMEC-2018) held on 13-15 April 2018.  The Challenge was conducted for the first time at IMU,  bringing together medical students from around the world to share their ideas, knowledge and experience, as well as to build new friendship and network to enhance their future careers. Its sub-committee was led by A/Prof Nilesh Kumar,  and supported by vetting committee members consisting of academics from IMU and other Malaysian universities. One of the highlights at the IMEC-2018 this year, GUMC was co-organised and sponsored by GEMx (Global Educational Exchange in Medicine and the Health Professions), GEMx®, a sister organisation of ECFMG. ECFMG is an international organisation pioneering student engagement in international collaboration. In spite of the difficulty level of the competition (almost all clinical and pre-clinical subjects covered), twenty teams from 15 universities (4 International Universities and 11 Malaysian Universities) joined this competition.

Participating Universities

The first two rounds were conducted  in the PBL rooms on 14 April 2018 with two groups being arranged into 10 teams in each group. In this round, students were required to answer 20 USMLE questions (from Step 2 mainly and partly from Step 1) in each round using Socrative app. The competition was fierce as a national vetting committee from different universities across Malaysia had ensured that the level of questions are reflective of assessment of varied competency among different clinical disciplines.

Eight teams (Colombo, USM1, Chulalngkorn, Taylor’s, USIM, NUS-1, USM 2 and our very own IMU Team A) scored high in Round 1 and 2 and entered into the semifinal round. Semifinal and final rounds were arranged in a typical quiz format with 3 clinical rounds of OSPE and OSCE based questions, 1 pre-clinical round and final buzzer round. These rounds were held at the IMU auditorium with IMEC participants taking an active part in ‘Audience Quiz’. Dr Arun Kumar, Head, Division of Pathology hosted the quiz and had active engagement from the participants and audience. All exhaustive ten rounds were well-attended. The rounds particularly the buzzer one created many anxious moments for the students,  answering difficult clinical decision-making questions in front of the audience and judges from IMU (A/Prof Yushak), MAHSA (A/Prof Ganesh) and QUIP A/Prof Mamunur (QIUP). There were moments when the teams were fighting within fraction of seconds to think about decision making in complex clinical conditions and pressing the buzzer to answer first. The four teams which entered into the finals were (Chulalngkorn team from Thailand, Taylor’s University from Malaysia, University of Colombo team from Sri Lanka and USM Team A from Malaysia). The final round saw a fierce competition among the Thai team, Taylor’s team and the team from Colombo.

Feedback from the winners and participating teams during the rounds was that they had never experienced such demonstration of technology in assessment of medical quizzes. Teams in the semifinals and finals were also impressed with the meticulous and attractive arrangements in the auditorium. These participants all agree that the round the clock and dedicated service of the student-helpers truly amazed them.

Complied by A/Prof Nilesh Kumar, Chair of GUMC, IMEC 2018