Serving and Engaging Society

Faculty of Medicine

Social Accountability

Social Accountability is: "The obligation of medical schols to direct education, research and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community, region or nation that they are mandated to serve. The priority health concerns are to be identified jointly by governments, health care organizations, health professionals and the public” ─ (World Health Organization 1995)  

Voices of Social Accountability

This video shares the experiences of leaders in social accountability demonstrating the real impact of engaging with communities to enhance medical education and improve health outcomes.

Dalhousie Medicine is

Committed to meaningfully engaging with, and being socially accountable to, its diverse, internal and external stakeholders. In striving to meet its education, research, patient care, population health and advocacy mandates, the medical school actualizes this responsibility through the integrated, practical application of the following four social accountability lenses to its deliberations, decisions and actions:

  • Equity
  • Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural Responsiveness
  • Community Engagement and Partnering
  • Justice-Fairness and Sustainability

Dal Medicine Social Accountability Statement

Social Accountability Committee

Established in 2013, the Social Accountability Committee provides advice and recommendations on current and future research, education and operational needs to meet the social accountability mandate within the Faculty of Medicine.

Committee Co-Chairs (2021-2022) are:

  • Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed
  • Dr. Irene Sadek

SA Terms of Reference (PDF)

For more information please contact gho@dal.ca

 

Social Accountability Guiding Documents

Defining and measuring social accountability of medical schools, WHO (1995)

Social accountability: A vision for Canadian Medical Schools, Health Canada (2001)

Caring for a common future: Medical schools’ social accountability, Woollard (2006) Medical Education

Global consensus for social accountability of medical schools, 2010

The CARE model of social accountability: Promoting cultural change, Meili et al., (2011) Academic Medicine

Social accountability: The extra leap to excellence for educational institutions, Boelen & Woollard (2011) Medical Teacher

Framework for Socially Accountable Health Workforce Education, THEnet (2011)

Producing a socially accountable medical school: AMEE guide no. 109, Boelen et al., (2016) Medical Teacher