The Malta Postgraduate Medical Training Centre (MPMTC) was officially launched on the 1st June 2008 with a view to provide clearly defined, directional and formulated training, as well as career pathways for postgraduate medical trainees and their trainers.
The aim of the MPMTC is thus to provide training and professional support for postgraduate medical trainees and their trainers in the various specialities in order to achieve and maintain high standards of practice and patient care. It is a challenge for the MPMTC to find ways to deliver excellent training programmes across all specialities in its sphere of influence, whilst continuing to support the delivery of high standards of service provision. The MPMTC sees these two outcomes as complementary and not contradictory.
The factors which served as a catalyst for the decision to create this entity include increased public expectations on accountability and transparency, the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), the drafting of the UEMS charter on medical specialty training and new working practices. These factors have resulted in the most significant transformation in the delivery of healthcare within living memory.
Particularly the introduction of the EWTD 48 hour week will have a detrimental effect on the quality of training, service delivery , patient safety and professional competitiveness unless remedial measures are adopted.
To mitigate these adverse effects the MPMTC is involved in improving the methods of training and introducing new appraisal and assessment methods, which are competence based. These solutions will be appreciated in the long term but must be fully resourced and backed by reliable statistical projections.
The MPMTC is well aware of the difficulty faced by trainers, who should be more formally identified and valued. In this respect it advocated training the trainers programmes leading to certification and proper remuneration.
The difficulties inherent in speciality training are aggravated by our geographical insularity, low catchment population and in some specialities a low birth rate, as well as limited resources. To counterbalance this we encourage international affiliations, connections and communications aided by the use of advanced technologies such as videoconferencing, telemedicine, virtual reality, e-learning and e-library. Some of these are already in use, others are in the pipeline. All this involves changes in attitude and method. Though admittedly, not all change results in progress, it is undeniable that there can be no progress without change.
We encourage out trainees to widen their horizon by training abroad for a period which varies according to the speciality.
The MPMTC encourages inter-disciplinary and even inter-professional collaboration. We believe that these interfaces provide the most fertile fields. Exploring them involves improving communication and networking all aimed towards the common endpoint, that is, providing high standards of care to patients and to develop abilities to be able to resolve present and future challenges.
So what are the functions of the MPMTC? These can be summarised as follows:-
- Supervise postgraduate training of medical doctors
- Provide educational and practical workshops
- Provide competence based, formative and summative appraisals and assessments
- Provide support and advice for trainees in all stages of their training till they are certified as specialists
- Act as advisory body on postgraduate medical training to government
- Collaborate with other professional institutions and bodies locally and internationally
- Assure feedback from all stakeholders in postgraduate medical training.
It is hoped that this website will be sufficiently informative and transparent.