Oxford-Palestine (OxPal) partnership: evaluation of an online medical research fellowship aiming to build local research capacity

Background Innovative methods of delivering medical education across borders have the potential to further the development of healthcare capacity in austere environments. Medical students and doctors in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) face barriers to their education; whilst geographical, technological, and financial obstacles have limited the ability of institutions in high-income countries to share effective educational resources. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of an international partnership in meeting the expressed educational needs of Palestinian medical students and doctors, through a locally tailored research training online course. Methods A needs assessment was used to guide the design, format, topic and content of an interactive lecture course. It was delivered to medical students in the oPt by clinicians & scientists from the U.K. and U.S.A. through an online lecture platform. The programme was evaluated through questionnaires and focus groups. Results We found students’ greatest expressed need was for supplementary teaching on medical research. Students perceived interactive online distance-teaching, delivered by utilising excess tutor capacity at educational-resource rich institutions, as equal (22%, n = 20) or superior (76%, n=71) to local in-person alternatives. Conclusions We demonstrate a low-cost, replicable method of supplementing medical education, generating engagement and building healthcare research capacity in an austere environment. Other institutions can rapidly deploy this model to upscale outreach efforts and improve global medical education.