International Congress on academic medicine shines bright with unprecedented success

The vision for ICAM was to bring together all those engaged in academic medicine, clinicians and scientists, learners to leaders, for an opportunity to meet, network, share ideas and learn from one another. Over 1,500 delegates joined both in-person and virtually from over 40 countries. Over the course of six days, delegates shared ideas, heard thought-provoking presentations, and celebrated milestones and achievements.

Congress objectives

1. To address emerging and global topics relevant to academic medicine.

2. To enable engagement with the academic medicine leaders, faculty, staff, learners, patients and the community.

3. To facilitate dialogue and promote collaboration within the international academic medicine community.

4. To foster mentoring, networking, and engagement to support innovation in medical education and health research.

5. To engage in discussions on the key areas of health education, medical education, health research, and intersectional social accountability.

6. To discuss academic medicine as a force for social justice and address interdisciplinarity and interprofessionalism, and international exchange as major approaches for achieving greater social accountability.

Opening ceremony and plenary | Mentorship matters

April 14, 2023 | 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Mentorship was the theme of the opening plenary session of the International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM). The dedication of mentors in providing support, guidance and inspiration is key to the success of all in academic medicine and should be recognized.

At this session, participants heard ideas not only about how best to make mentorship work but also about how to make mentorship matter to Faculties and become an important aspect of promotion and tenure at our universities.

At the end of this session, participants were able to:

1. Describe the impact of mentorship in academic medicine.

2. Maximize mentorship and sponsorship opportunities.

3. Consider how to better value mentorship in promotion processes.

Plenary: one health | Leadership and innovation in unprecedented times: the only way forward is “one health” for all

April 15, 2023 | 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM

One Health is an approach that recognizes that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment.

At the end of this session, participants were able to:

1. Explain the importance of the One Health concept to promote health for all.

2. Consider the essential role of academic medicine as a champion of One Health.

3. Determine how to apply One Health research and use the One Health approach in health professions education and health services.

Plenary: health workforce | Health workforce planning – from global to local

April 15, 2023 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Addressing health workforce issues is a challenge around the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), countries at all levels of socioeconomic development face, to varying degrees, difficulties in the education, employment, deployment, retention, and performance of their workforce. ICAM promoted a global conversation on health workforce planning with world-renowned experts.

At the end of this session, participants were able to:

1. Consider global health workforce trends and the implications of these on health workforce planning for public health and the WHO Sustainable Development Goal on good health and well-being.

2. Discuss interconnectedness between workforce training and admissions in the health professions.

3. Describe how to engage community in the development of competent health workforces to address health equity.

Plenary: planetary health | Academic health institution’s declaration on planetary health event

April 15, 2023 | 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

As health institutions throughout the world declare a code red emergency for the health of the planet, all academic health institutions are called on to take immediate action to both halt the negative impact of their activities on the planet’s natural systems, and to institute adaptive and regenerative measures, including through advocacy.

On April 15, 2023, the Academic Health Institutions’ Declaration on Planetary Health was officially unveiled at ICAM. The Declaration provides academic health institutions with an action plan to support implementation of planetary health education, research, and transition to climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems to build a healthy, sustainable, and just future for all.

At the end of this session, participants were able to:

1. Explain the responsibility that academic health institutions have to address the impacts of human disruptions to Earth's natural systems on human health and all life on Earth.

2. Identify tangible solutions and actions academic health institutions can immediately implement to both halt the negative impact of their activities on the planet’s natural systems, and to institute adaptive and regenerative measures, including through advocacy.

3. Recommend that their academic health institution commit to the Academic Health Institutions' Declaration on Planetary Health.

Plenary: generalism | In service to our communities and populations: generalism and whole person care

April 16, 2023 | 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM

Generalism is a philosophy of care distinguished by a commitment to the breadth of practice within each discipline and collaboration with the larger health care team in order to respond to patient and community needs.

At the end of this session, participants were able to:

1. Define how generalism supports their responsibility to address the needs of their communities.

2. Explore the complimentary roles of generalism and specialization in clinical practice and medical education.

3. Describe how generalism is a conceptual framework rooted in Whole Person Care and Social Accountability, that can apply to any clinical or training context.

Plenary: ableism | Systems of inequity: how ableism pervades health care and medical education

April 17, 2023 | 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Ableism describes any prejudice, bias, and discrimination directed toward people living with disabilities. Ableism has deep roots in the structures of our health and medical education systems.

At the end of this session, participants were able to:

1. Explain the lived experience of medical learners with disability and recognize the structural barriers they face.

2. Describe accommodations and how they lead to success.

3. Discuss how the Technical Standards limit accessibility of medical education.

Plenary: the hidden curriculum | Education and clinical care in a hyper-technological era

April 18, 2023 | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Humanism in health care refers to the idea that every person who is part of the health system is first a human being. How do we integrate new technologies into medical education while maintaining humanistic healthcare practice?

A dedicated plenary at ICAM invited participants to reflect on this question.

At the end of this session, participants were be able to:

1. Explain how healthcare professionals can integrate humanism and better communication with patients using newer technologies.

2. Describe how medical education can include learning to provide care in contexts that employ emerging technologies.

3. Outline how to include patients in the co-design of technology-based healthcare and education.

Academic health institutions’ declaration on planetary health

The future of our planet and the health of our global community is at a critical point. The Academic Health Institutions’ Declaration on Planetary Health, developed by Canadian and international medical education and planetary health experts, calls for immediate action to halt the negative impact that academic health institutions have on our natural systems and to implement adaptive and regenerative measures.

The importance of academic health institutions’ role in addressing the impact of climate change on health cannot be overstated. We are calling on all academic health institutions, relevant organizations, healthcare professionals, and concerned individuals to sign on and join us in the work towards achieving worldwide environmentally sustainable health systems.

The declaration is an action plan that details how academic health institutions can advance planetary health education, research, and advocacy. Together, we can make a positive impact on the health of our planet and global community.

To learn more and to sign the declaration visit: https://www.afmc.ca/initiatives/planetaryhealthdeclaration/

ICAM 2023: patients are included

Anna Karwowska MDCM FRCPC. Vice President, Education, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada

Lynn Ashdown MD, MMEd. Patient Partner Lead Advisor, AFMC

Fran Kirby MEd. Director, Member Services, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada

Including patient partners in continuing professional development (CPD) is becoming increasingly recognized as essential and beneficial for healthcare and healthcare professional education.¹ Patients are key stakeholders in the health care system and bring invaluable experience and expertise to CPD delivery.² CPD has been reluctant to partner with patients beyond inviting them to share their stories. To advance patient engagement in CPD, patients must be given opportunities to collaborate and contribute to the planning, designing and delivery of activities.¹ With this in mind, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) sought to partner with patients to develop the content for the medical education stream of the inaugural International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM). To our knowledge, ICAM 2023 is the first academic medicine conference, which includes medical education along the continuum, to engage a patient partner in the co-creation of the medical education content and to involve patient partners in the development and presentation of the medical education plenaries. In addition, we believe it is the first academic medicine conference to achieve Patients Included™ Status. The Patients Included™ Status provides conference organizers with a means of demonstrating that their events are committed to incorporating the experience of patients as experts in living with their condition while ensuring they are neither excluded nor exploited. To achieve this status, a conference must successfully meet all five of the Patients Included™ conference charter’s clauses: 1) patients or caregivers with experience actively participate in the design and planning and delivery of the event and appear in its physical audience, 2) travel/accommodation expenses for patients or carers participating in the advertised program are paid in full, in advance, 3) scholarships are sourced by the conference organizers, 4) the disability requirements of participants are accommodated, and 5) free access for virtual patients/carers.³

Dr. Lynn Ashdown, patient partner for the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), is a member of the ICAM Medical Education Scientific Planning Committee. This committee identified the topics for the plenaries (based on prior needs assessments), chose the speakers and developed the draft learning objectives. Dr. Ashdown ensured that the patient perspective was present throughout the entire continuum of ICAM planning and delivery. Patient partners were thoughtfully identified to speak at each plenary using existing networks. The conference team (including Dr. Anna Karwowska as Chair of the planning committee and Dr. Lynn Ashdown) worked with moderators, clinician speakers, patient partner speakers and their supports to review the learning objectives and modify them as needed based on their feedback. The team met regularly with all speakers in order to support planning of the plenaries. We acknowledged the vulnerability of the patient partners, and were aware of the need to ensure psychological safety. Clinician speakers, session moderators and the conference team outlined specific steps to mitigate any real and perceived risks for the patient partners. This included (but was not limited to) reviewing specific topics that might arise during the talks that might be sensitive, reviewing particular questions that patient partners were comfortable being asked by their clinician co-presenters and moderating the question-and-answer period.

The three plenaries proceeded successfully. As expected, the patient partners provided a previously unheard perspective that created ‘aha” moments and impactful educational opportunities for many audience members. Informal feedback from the patient partner speakers as well as conference attendees was overwhelmingly positive. A formal review of the evaluations is pending.

In addition to actively participating in the design and planning of the ICAM medical education content, patients and/or caregivers were supported to participate in the conference directly through a scholarship program. The scholarships contributed to travel costs, meals and covered on-site registration. We identified an AFMC staff member who was a key contact person and resource for all patients and caregivers attending the conference. We held a patient partner networking event, attended by clinicians, educators as well as patient partners during which there was a rich exchange of ideas, feedback suggestions for enhancing patient partnerships and participation at future ICAM conferences, which we intend to implement.

To evolve patient partnership in CPD, modelling from institutional leaders is required. AFMC is well positioned to set this example. We believe that deliberately partnering with patients in the planning and delivery of the medical education content for ICAM 2023 has added incredible value to the quality of CPD that was provided at the conference. We plan to continue to develop and evolve this initiative; we encourage other CPD providers to follow suit.