A contestant checks the temperature of a bottle during the child nutrition portion of the Second

Clinical Thinking and Skills Competition of International Medical Students, held at Dalian

Medical University in Northeast China's Liaoning province, Oct. 13, 2018. [China Daily/Xu He]

"We must train international medical students to become qualified doctors, which is not only crucial for their countries' medical profession, but also can help promote the Belt and Road Initiative," a medical education expert said.

Chi Baorong, professor of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, made the remark on Saturday during the Study in China — The Second Clinical Thinking and Skills Competition of International Medical Students, held at Dalian Medical University in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Chi also is the chief arbitrator of this competition. She said life matters, and doctors confront life, so medical education must be serious and meticulous.

"The international medical students behaved well and operated normally during the competition," she said. "Students' progress has well-reflected the quality of teaching."

The competition course is divided into preliminary and final sections, covering subjects of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, infection and emergency treatment. All students participating have completed studying cardiopulmonary resuscitation, abdominal punctures, child nutrition, dressing changes, clinical thinking, patient-centered care and standardized clinical operations.

Chi said the international medical students were unhurried, acting according to standards of clinical medicine and showed an excellent spirit of caring during the treatment.

"Through the competition, the clinical skills of international medical students will be improved, and the development and sharing of international medical education will be promoted under the background of the Belt and Road Initiative," she said.

"The competition gives international medical students the opportunity to learn skills important in their future, especially how to work with teammates," said by Chutimon Singkiao, a Thai student representing Dalian Medical University in the competition, "I hope this competition can keep going every year and more international students can have the same opportunity like us."

The competition was jointly organized by the China Association for International Education and Dalian Medical University. Participating were 120 clinical medicine undergraduates from 28 countries who are studying clinical medicine in 30 universities in China.

"We saw 120 students taking part in the competition, while beyond the mat, thousands of students were doing exercises. It's meaningful to improve the quality of medical students' education through competition," Chi said.

In 2017, China had about 489,200 international students from 204 countries and regions.

Liu Jinghui, the association's president, said the number of international students with university internationalization and the association's initiation of the Study in China Series aims to improve the quality of international education in clinical medicine and increase the enthusiasm of international students studying in China.

As the foreign student influx continues to rise, the government has to strike a balance between ensuring that the quality of education provided is not being sacrificed for the sake of increased enrollment, she said.

The Ministry of Education first published in English the Interim Provisions for Quality Control Standards in Undergraduate Medical Education for international students in 2007.

Over the past 11 years, medical schools in China have had to be assessed for their educational quality, which determines whether the schools qualify to accept international students to study medicine as part of the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery) program.

Dalian Medical University is one of the qualified universities to undertake the MBBS program.

Guan Youfei, vice-president of Dalian Medical University, said there are more than 1,000 foreign students at Dalian Medical University, whose enrollment covers 110 countries and regions on five continents.

"Our university is well-experienced in organizing a clinical medical competition," he said, as the university just successfully held the 9th National Clinical Skills Competition for Chinese Students from Colleges and Universities of Higher Medical Education this May.

"The equipment used in the competition basically comes from domestic enterprises, through which, we also want to help the internationalization of domestic enterprises under the Belt and Road Initiative," he added.

Contestants "perform" abdominal punctures on a model during the Second Clinical Thinking

and Skills Competition of International Medical Students, held at Dalian Medical University

in Northeast China's Liaoning province, Oct. 13, 2018. [China Daily]

An overview shows students performing various medical functions during the Second Clinical

Thinking and Skills Competition of International Medical Students, held at Dalian Medical

University in Northeast China's Liaoning province, Oct. 13, 2018. [China Daily]

(Source: China Daily)

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