title: Capacity building toward evidence-based medicine among healthcare professionals at the university of medicine and pharmacy, ho chi minh city, and its related institutes.
abstract: Research capacity development enhances a country's ownership of activities aimed at strengthening its health system. In Vietnam, continuing medical education (CME) is attracting increasing attention with the establishment of legal and policy frameworks. During 2010-2013, the Japan International Cooperation Agency funded a research capacity building project targeting physicians in Ho Chi Minh City. The project had been developed in four previous courses that were conducted in collaboration with Fukushima Medical University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMP). The project succeeded in obtaining accreditation as the city's CME course. A total of 262 physicians attended three courses that have a divided set of research competencies. Following the Kirkpatrick Model for evaluating the effectiveness of training programs, we confirmed the participants' positive reaction to the courses (Level 1 evaluation), their perceived increase in knowledge and confidence in research skills (Level 2 evaluation), and application of learned knowledge in their practice (Level 3 evaluation). Presented here is a step-by-step scaling-up model of health research capacity building. Strategies for the further expansion include: further capacity building of instructors; responding to clinicians' specific needs; building a recruiting system with authorization; and improving the Level 3 training evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Program evaluation consultant, Hanoi, Vietnam; ; # Co-first author.
authors.forename: LE Thi Quynh
authors.initials: le TQ
authors.lastname: Nga
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan ( agoto@fmu.ac.jp ); ;  Takemi Program in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; ; # Co-first author.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam;
authors.forename: Tran The
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Trung
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Unit and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam;
authors.forename: Nguyen Quang
authors.initials: NQ
authors.lastname: Vinh
authors.affiliation: Ho Chi Minh City Medical Association, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Nguyen Thy
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Khue
keywords: Capacity building; Evidence-based medicine; Research training; Vietnam