Research Oriented Medical Education (ROME)
Research Oriented Medical Education (ROME) was an ICMR sponsored program started in 2010. The program essentially focused on conducting short duration, foundation research-methodology workshops and conferences in medical colleges all over India. The main purpose of the program was to expose the undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as the medical college faculty to various laboratory techniques so as to inculcate research aptitude at the very beginning of their careers.
Concept and Highlights of Activities of Institute:The success of the program is reflected through the huge number of benefitted students. During 2010-2015 the academy conducted a total of 23 UG foundation workshops, 07 regional research conferences, 17 hands on workshops on laboratory medicine (for PG), 04 specialized workshops (for UG) & 01 international workshop (for UG). Since its inception, the ROME program has reached and benefitted over 2000 medical students from different parts of the country.
ROME programs
Map showing cities where ROME program has been conducted during 2010-2015
Summary of the workshops.
Summary of the workshops held since the inception of ROME (2010 – 2015)
Impact of the workshops
Impact of the workshops was assessed through pre- and post-workshop MCQ tests (Fig . Number of students who obtained less than 50% marks was 66% and 20% in the pre and post workshop tests respectively. The picture was reversed for students getting A grade (>70% marks). Only 1.0% students could make the A grade in the pre-workshop test. This number increased 11 fold in the post-workshop tests (Fig. 2).
Each workshop in ROME program included a lecture series on current trends in science and technology along with special focus on giving hands-on experience of laboratory techniques.
With a view to extend the reach of the ROME program to far-flung and remote medical colleges, the academy has now started a new program called “Regional hubs for research oriented medical education”
