History of the Behavioural Sciences Stream

In the 140 year history of the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, many changes have taken place in the curriculum in keeping with the development in medical knowledge, technology and teaching methods. 
In the late 1980’s a retrospective analysis of the existing curriculum showed that there were many deficiencies in terms of skills and competencies needed for a health care professional to meet with the needs of the society.  For instance; communication skills, personal development, medical ethics were left for the medical students to learn by themselves or learn by observing other staff members, which was not ideal. The doctor- patient relationship has been subject to much scrutiny by the public and the media for its inability to satisfy the needs of a patient other than to treat illness. This was a time when medical schools around the world had also recognised the need for the behavioural sciences to be incorporated into the MBBS curriculum.  It was needed to produce a generalist doctor to work in a primary health care setting with knowledge, skill and attitudes for health promotion and illness prevention as well as treatment of illness.So, many academic staff members got together to review and re-orient the process of medical education and make the necessary changes.  As a result, a new curriculum was formed and the Behavioural Sciences Stream was introduced to the newly revised curriculum in 1995 for the first time.
The contents and objectives of the stream were based on the requirements of the new curriculum as formulated. Accordingly a list of skills and competencies to be imparted by the Behavioural Sciences Stream to the medical student was identified. Based on these objectives and competencies the various situations a doctor encounters during his/her life time were identified and working problems were formed. For example a doctor’s interactions would be with patients, the patients' families, the community, other health care personnel and administrative personnel and the problems he/she would face would be taking consent, breaking bad news and handling crisis etc.
The stream occupied 13 terms of the 5 year medical course spanning over 16 terms. The teaching/ learning activities were mainly based on small group discussions and role plays which were designed to address the various working problems that were identified. Lectures, debates on controversial topics and supervised student seminars were also used. Academic staff from all disciplines and departments as well as non medical personnel like sociologists, communication and management experts contributed to these activities.
Student assessments were conducted by means of a series of structured questions based on the doctor-patient interaction shown via audio visual material and structured essay questions which tested the student's theoretical knowledge and its application in daily practice.
Formal evaluation of the Behavioural Sciences Stream was done by means of administering semi- structured questionnaires among students and teachers and informal evaluation by means of verbal feedback from teachers. The Behavioural Sciences Stream was also evaluated during curriculum evaluation carried out by external experts such as Prof. Raja Bandaranaike (2005), Prof. Majorie Davies (2006), and quality assuarance review (2007).
Professor Micheal Hubert, who pioneered the Behavioural Sciences Stream at International Medical University – Malysia, also carried out an informal evaluation of course contents of BSS on the request of Dr. P. Galappatthy, and submitted a detailed report. 
The attitude of staff and students towards the Behavioural Sciences Stream has been positive.
The initiation of the curricular reforms and the introduction of the Behavioural Sciences Stream to the medical curriculum was made possible due to the efforts of staff members such as Professor Saroj Jayasinghe, Professor Colvin Goonaratne, Professor Lalitha Mendis, Professor Nalaka Mendis, Professor Lal Jayakody, Professor Hemamali Perera and Dr.Raveen Hanwella.
 The founder chairperson of the stream was Professor Colvin Gooneratne(1995-2002) while the convenor was Dr. Hemamali Perera. Following a long tenure of service as chairperson by Dr. Priyadarshani Galappatthy (2006 to 2010), the current chairperson is Prof. Wasantha Gunathunga, while the convenor is Dr. Gominda Ponnamperuma.

Chairpersons and convenors of the Behavioural Sciences Stream since 1995

Chairpersons

1. Professor Colvin Goonaratne (1995-2002)
2. Dr. Raveen Hanwella (2002-2006)
3. Dr. Priyadarshani Galappatthy (2006 to 2010)
4. Prof. Wasantha Gunathunga (2010 to date)

Convenors

1. Dr. Hemamali Perera (1995-1998)
2. Dr. Raveen Hanwella (1998-2002)
3. Dr. Priyadarshani Galappatthy (2002-2006)
4. Dr. Sunera Fernando (2006)
5. Dr. Piyanjali de Zoysa (2006-2009)
6. Dr. Gominda Ponnamperuma (2009 to date)