scholarly journals 1167 A Cross-Sectional Study of Undergraduate Exposure and Teaching of Trauma and Orthopaedics in The UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_6) ◽  
Author(s):  
S M Choi ◽  
S Z Y Ooi ◽  
E C Carpenter

Abstract Aim Research has shown exposure to specialities as a medical student can have a great influence in choice of career. Exposure to potential mentors during this time also has an additive effect on career shaping of medical students. It is important to encourage interest in trauma and orthopaedics (T&O) to ensure the best candidates are selected. Our aim was to establish the compulsory duration of T&O teaching provided by all (non-new) medical schools. This study also aims to identify which other specialities were taught alongside T&O. Method Surveys were distributed to medical students in all 33 (non-new) medical schools, through surgical societies and colleagues met through courses, between June 2019- February 2020. The survey asked the total length of compulsory teaching of T&O in days, and how this was divided into pre-clinical or clinical teaching. Results Data for all 33 UK medical schools were collected. Only 7 medical schools taught T&O as a standalone subject. The other 26 medical schools combined T&O with other specialities, most commonly with Rheumatology (n = 16). The average total length of days of T&O teaching across medical school was 17 days (range 3-60). Majority of this teaching was given in the clinical years of medical school (n = 30). Conclusions Research has shown medical students require enough exposure to increase their interest in pursuing a particular speciality. Currently there is a huge variance on the number of compulsory teaching days for T&O.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Choi ◽  
Setthasorn Ooi ◽  
Eleanor Carpenter

Abstract Aims: Adequate exposure and teaching of Trauma and Orthopaedics (T&O) to medical students is fundamental in order to obtain sufficient knowledge and sustain their interest in T&O as a career. The primary aim is to assess the exposure and delivery of T&O at all medical schools in the UK. The secondary aim is to determine whether there are any associations between attending a particular medical school and having a strong interest in pursuing a career in T&O. Methods: To explore the primary aim, all 33 UK medical schools were investigated in the study, by means of a questionnaire distributed to medical students. This did not include ‘new’ medical schools, defined as those established from 2014 onwards. To investigate the secondary aim of exploring associations between students’ and alumni’s medical schools and their interest in T&O as a career, British Orthopaedic Training Association (BOTA) members were reviewed, using the General Medical Council register to identify the universities from which members had graduated. The authors have made the assumption that membership of BOTA signified an interest in T&O as a career. Results: Results were obtained for all 33 medical schools. The mean total teaching time specifically for T&O throughout medical school was 18 days, ranging from 3 to 60 days in total. 118 BOTA members were reviewed. No member of BOTA in the study had attended medical school in Keele, Liverpool, Plymouth or Lancashire. These universities taught below the national average number of days in T&O. Conclusions: There is a large national variance in the number of compulsory teaching days provided for T&O. The authors advocate medical schools to aim for at least the national average in duration of T&O of 18 days.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 238212052110727
Author(s):  
Sarah Choi ◽  
Setthasorn Ooi ◽  
Eleanor Carpenter

INTRODUCTION Adequate exposure and teaching of Trauma and Orthopaedics (T&O) to medical students is fundamental in order to obtain sufficient knowledge and sustain their interest in T&O as a career. The primary aim is to assess the exposure and delivery of T&O at all medical schools in the UK. The secondary aim is to determine whether there are any associations between attending a particular medical school and having a strong interest in pursuing a career in T&O. METHODS To explore the primary aim, all 33 UK medical schools were investigated in the study, by means of a questionnaire distributed to medical students. This did not include ‘new’ medical schools, defined as those established from 2014 onwards. To investigate the secondary aim of exploring associations between students’ and alumni's medical schools and their interest in T&O as a career, British Orthopaedic Training Association (BOTA) members were reviewed, using the General Medical Council register to identify the universities from which members had graduated. The authors have made the assumption that membership of BOTA signified an interest in T&O as a career. RESULTS Results were obtained for all 33 medical schools. The mean total teaching time specifically for T&O throughout medical school was 18 days, ranging from 3 to 60 days in total. 118 BOTA members were reviewed. No member of BOTA in the study had attended medical school in Keele, Liverpool, Plymouth or Lancashire. These universities taught below the national average number of days in T&O. DISUCSSION There is a large national variance in the number of compulsory teaching days provided for T&O. The authors advocate medical schools to aim for at least the national average in duration of T&O of 18 days.


2022 ◽  
Vol 35 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Duarte ◽  
Nuno Rua ◽  
David Gomes ◽  
Vasco Ricoca Peixoto ◽  
Daniela Azevedo ◽  
...  

Introduction: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has gained relevance as a method of prevention for HIV in certain people and settings. Following the publication of the guideline on PrEP prescribing in Portugal, we aimed to assess the knowledge of Portuguese Medical Students about PrEP.Material and Methods: An online survey was sent to Medical students of Portuguese Medical Schools. We conducted a descriptive analysis of the results and an analytic cross-sectional study to identify factors associated with “knowing about PrEP”, “having had one class about PrEP” and “identifying eligible groups correctly”.Results: Of the 796 students that responded to the survey, 64.6% were aware of what PrEP is. Of these, 34.44% acquired this knowledge during their training. Out of the total amount of respondents, 4.77% could identify correctly and completely the eligible groups for PrEP. As the training years went by, the probability of being aware of PrEP, having had one class about PrEP, and identifying the eligible groups correctly, increased. Of the sixth-year students, 43.48% had had one class about PrEP and among the students that were aware of PrEP, 28% identified what the eligible groups were. After adjusting for the school year, we found differences between Medical Schools regarding the outcomes. The association between the different ways of learning about PrEP and the ability to correctly identify eligible groups for PrEP was not statistically significant.Conclusion: The differences between Medical Schools could be harmonized through changes in the medical curricula that would allow this topic to be addressed more often.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. e039782
Author(s):  
Peter Grabitz ◽  
Zoe Friedmann ◽  
Sophie Gepp ◽  
Leonard Hess ◽  
Lisa Specht ◽  
...  

ObjectivesTo assess the quantity and evaluate the quality of policies and curricula focusing on conflicts of interests (COI) at medical schools across Germany.DesignCross-sectional study, survey of medical schools, standardised web search.SettingMedical schools, Germany.Participants38 German medical schools.InterventionsWe collected relevant COI policies, including teaching activities, by conducting a search of the websites of all 38 German medical schools using standardised keywords for COI policies and teaching. Further, we surveyed all medical schools’ dean’s offices. Finally, we adapted a scoring system for results we obtained with 13 categories based on prior similar studies.Main outcomes and measuresPresence or absence of COI-related policies, including teaching activities at medical school. The secondary outcome was the achieved score on a scale from 0 to 26, with high scores representing restrictive policies and sufficient teaching activities.ResultsWe identified relevant policies for one medical school via the web search. The response rate of the deans’ survey was 16 of 38 (42.1%). In total, we identified COI-related policies for 2 of 38 (5.3%) German medical schools, yet no policy was sufficient to address all COI-related categories that were assessed in this study. The maximum score achieved was 12 of 26. 36 (94.7%) schools scored 0. No medical school reported curricular teaching on COI.ConclusionsOur results indicate a low level of action by medical schools to protect students from undue commercial influence. No participating dean was aware of any curriculum or instruction on COI at the respective school and only two schools had policies in place. The German Medical Students Association and international counterparts have called for a stronger focus on COI in the classroom. We conclude that for German medical schools, there is still a long way to go.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiba A. A. Ali ◽  
Mohamed Alebeed ◽  
Yousuf Hasan Yousuf Bakhit

Abstract Background: The fear of neuroscience by medical students is a global issue known as neurophobia which has been detected in medical schools from both developing and developed countries. It may contribute to the decreased number of neurologists that is already found to be low globally and augment the growing burden of neurological disorders. This study aimed to evaluate this issue among Sudanese medical students.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students from 8 medical schools using an online form questionnaire and responses were collected. Results: A total of 338 responses with 90.4% response rate were collected. Neurology was reported as the most difficult subject to learn (mean ± SD = 3.88 ± 0.90)(P< .01),the second least subject in drawing up differential diagnosis(3.32 ± 1.07) )(P =.000), the third least regarding confidence in clinical examination (3.23 ± 1.24)(P =.000),the third poorest quality of teaching (3.12 ± 1.26)(P =.000), and the third favorite subject as a career option (3.41 ± 1.4)(P > .004).Neuroanatomy was the biggest contributor to the difficulty of neurology (have a very large or large contribution by 51.5% of students) and More/Improved peer discussions were the most factor that could improve neurology teaching (mean ± SD = 3.47 ± 1.39). students perceive a career in neurology to be associated with good travel and research opportunities and poor job satisfaction and work/life balance. ability to make a significant difference in a patient’s life was the most factor encouraging students to chase a career in neurology (21.6%of students) and job satisfaction was the most discouraging factor (20.7%). On performing logistic regression, caring for a friend or relative suffering from neurological disease and increased confidence in knowing exactly what neurologists do were found to have a significant effect on increasing the possibility of pursuing a career in neurology (P =.01 and P< .005 respectively).Conclusion: Students’ perception of neurology is almost the same worldwide and didn’t change over decades in contrast to the growing burden of neurological diseases and population aging. So, a lot of work should be done globally to investigate and manage this issue.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Mohammad Arif Kamarudin ◽  
Shah-Abas Muhamad Md Shah ◽  
Noor Aisyah Somkam Ismail ◽  
Teh Pui Yen ◽  
Aini Syahirah Shamsul ◽  
...  

Mentoring is a relationship between mentors and mentees focused on the career success and advancement of mentees. It is crucial to review and evaluate the mentoring system in place in any given institution to identify potential issues. This study aimed to ascertain the perception of mentors and mentees towards mentoring system at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). This cross-sectional study involved 382 UKMMC medical students from Year-2 to Year-5, and 35 UKMMC lecturers. Data were collected by sending validated questionnaires through Google Forms to all 819 students via the Facebook groups of UKM medical students. The questionnaires for mentors were distributed to all 78 lecturers through their respective emails. Both mentors and mentees showed positive perceptions towards the mentoring system with a total score of 110/144 (76%) and 51/64 (80%), respectively. Year-2 and Year-3 mentees showed higher perception compared to Year-4. Mentees supervised under pre-clinical mentors and female mentors had higher perceptions compared to clinical mentors and male mentors. Respondents reported suggestions for improving the content and structure of the mentoring system, the need for additional training of mentors (especially on how to approach the mentees), retaining the same mentors and mentees pairing throughout the mentees’ education, and reviewing the assessment method. The study findings may help further in improving the mentoring system of UKMMC. Mentoring is a challenging task. Medical schools must assign mentoring due importance in regular training for all levels of mentors by welltrained trainers. The implementation of awards and incentives for institutional mentors may motivate them further.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hope ◽  
David Kluth ◽  
Matthew Homer ◽  
Avril Dewar ◽  
Richard Fuller ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Due to the diverse approaches to medical school assessment, making meaningful cross-school comparisons on knowledge is difficult. Ahead of the introduction of national licensing assessment in the UK, we evaluate schools on “common content” to compare candidates at different schools and evaluate whether they would pass under different standard setting regimes. Such information can then help develop a cross-school consensus on standard setting shared content. Methods We undertook a cross-sectional study in the academic sessions 2016-17 and 2017-18. Sixty “best of five” multiple choice items were delivered each year, with five used in both years. In 2016-17 30 (of 31 eligible) medical schools undertook a mean of 52.6 items with 7,177 participants. In 2017-18 the same 30 medical schools undertook a mean of 52.8 items with 7,165 participants for a full sample of 14,342 medical students sitting common content prior to graduation. Using mean scores, we compared performance across items and carried out a “like-for-like” comparison of schools who used the same set of items then modelled the impact of different passing standards on these schools. Results Schools varied substantially on candidate total score. Schools differed in their performance with large (Cohen’s d around 1) effects. A passing standard that would see 5% of candidates at high scoring schools fail left low-scoring schools with fail rates of up to 40%, whereas a passing standard that would see 5% of candidates at low scoring schools fail would see virtually no candidates from high scoring schools fail. Conclusions Candidates at different schools exhibited significant differences in scores in two separate sittings. Performance varied by enough that standard setting approaches that produce realistic fail rates in one medical school may produce substantially different pass rates in other medical schools – despite identical content and the candidates being governed by the same regulator. Regardless of which hypothetical standards are “correct” as judged by experts, large institutional gaps in pass rates must be explored and understood by medical educators before shared standards are applied. The study results can assist cross-school groups in developing a consensus on standard setting future licensing assessment.


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