REPORT OF THE 4^th MILITARY HEALTH COURSE ON METHODOLOGY AND MEDICAL WRITING

The 4^th Course in medical writing and clinical methodology of the Military Health Corps was held from 4^th to 8^th April 2016 at the Military Health Services’ school (EASSA) in Tunis. This course is recommended by the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) and organized by Tunisian General Directorate of military health (DGS) with the partnership of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis.

This year, the course was composed of two simultaneous sessions in both French and English languages, with some joint conferences held in plenary sessions. It was designed to encourage the medical publishing in national and international journals and to increase the chances of acceptance of submitted manuscripts.

This course targeted 52 learners including 9 participants from seven ICMM country members: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Jordan, Mauritania, Palestine, Qatar and Sudan. Tunisian participants were from the military health service and the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis. The teaching committee was composed of Tunisian military and civilian Faculty members and enhanced by the participation of international speakers from USA and France who shared their experience in medical writing in both francophone and Anglophone sessions.

The course provided, to the participants, an opportunity to learn about epidemiological studies and research protocols and the use of SPSS statistics’ software and data analysis. It enhanced knowledge about different types of scientific papers, medical writing techniques according to IMRAD plan, and the use of bibliography research on internet and references’ transcription with Zotero software.

The scientific program of the course included theoretical lectures and workshops divided on 33 hours for each session. The training was interactive. Each session was conducted by a speaker helped by facilitators. Group works were conducted in writing exercises. The francophone session comprised 21 conferences and 9 workshops. The English session included 17 conferences and 8 workshops.

At the end of the session, the course participants will be monitored by the teaching committee to assist and encourage them to continue the effort until article publishing. The success of the 4^th course and the increasing number of registration demand can only reinforce the organizing committee and develop the course under the aegis of the ICMM and with the partnership of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis.

The opening ceremony was chaired by the Surgeon General of Tunisian Armed Forces, Brigadier General (Pr) Mondher YEDEAS and attended by many guests, among them, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis. He presented the opening conference about plagiarism. The closing ceremony, also chaired by the Surgeon General, was an opportunity to hand the course certificates to the participants.

The organizing committee thanks all the scientific partners who have helped to make this event an international course. We also thank the participants for their attentions, inputs and motivation and for the level of the exchange brought during all this event.

International Medical officers from ICMM members’ states are kindly invited to take part to the next session of the course held in Tunis during the period from 3 to 7 April 2017.