Sustainable Healthcare In Medical Education: The Student Perspective

Author(s):  
Dhruv Gupta ◽  
Lahvanya Shantharam ◽  
Bridget Kathryn MacDonald

Abstract Background:It is now a General Medical Council requirement to incorporate sustainable healthcare teaching (SHT) into medical curricula. To date, research has focussed on the perspective of educators and which sustainable healthcare topics to include in teaching. However, to our knowledge, no previous study has investigated the perspective of both undergraduate and postgraduate medical students in the UK regarding current and future incorporation of SHT in medical education.Methods:A questionnaire was circulated to clinical year medical students and students intercalating after completing at least one clinical year in a London University. The anonymous questionnaire consisted of sections on the environmental impact, current teaching and future teaching of SHT.Results:163 students completed the questionnaire. 93% of participants believed that climate change is a concern in current society, and only 1.8% thought they have been formally taught what sustainable healthcare is. No participants strongly agreed, and only 5 participants (3.1%) agreed, that they would feel confident in answering exam questions on this topic, with 89% agreeing that more SHT is needed. 60% believe that future teaching should be incorporated in both preclinical and clinical years, with 31% of participants preferring online modules as the method of teaching.Conclusion: Our novel study has stressed the lack of current sustainable healthcare teaching in the medical curriculum. From a student perspective, using online modules throughout medical school presents an attractive method of incorporating sustainable healthcare teaching in the future.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sneha Barai

UNSTRUCTURED The UK General Medical Council (GMC) explicitly states doctors have a duty to ‘contribute to teaching and training…by acting as a positive role model’. However, recent studies suggest some are not fulfilling this, which is impacting medical students' experiences and attitudes during their training. As such, doctors have a duty to act as role models and teachers, as specified by the GMC, which it seems are not currently being fulfilled. This would improve the medical students’ learning experiences and demonstrate good professional values for them to emulate. Therefore, these duties should be as important as patient care, since this will influence future generations.


2009 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 102-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Gogalniceanu ◽  
E Fitzgerald O'Connor ◽  
A Raftery

The UK undergraduate medical curriculum has undergone significant changes following the recommendation of Tomorrow's Doctors, a report by the UK's General Medical Council (GMC). One consequence of these reforms is believed to be an overall reduction in basic science teaching. Many anatomists, surgeons and medical students have objected to the reduction in anatomy teaching time, the diminishing role of dissection and the inadequate assessment of students' knowledge of anatomy. Moreover, there have been concerns regarding the future of anatomy as an academic subject as well as the fitness to practise of junior doctors. Currently there is much debate as to whether the UK is experiencing a real or apparent crisis in anatomy teaching.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11
Author(s):  
Sadia Jabeen Khan ◽  
Md Humayun Kabir Talukder ◽  
Kazi Khairul Alam ◽  
Farhana Haque ◽  
Md Rezaul Karim

This descriptive type of cross sectional study was carried out to evaluate the attitude of undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh regarding selected areas of professionalism like honesty and confidentiality. Study period was from July 2017 to June 2018. Sample size was 837 undergraduates medical students of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th phase of MBBS course from four public and four non government medical colleges of Bangladesh. Convenience sampling technique was adopted in this study. Data collection was done by a modified structured situational judgment test (SJT) self-administered questionnaire which was adopted from general medical council (GMC) and by in-depth interview schedule of students. The data were then compiled and analyzed using SPSS Version 19.Among the study participants, 37.20% (310) and 62 .80% (537) were males and females respectively. Attitude towards the two most major issues of professionalism were good, mean score were above three in honesty. Mean score was below three in maintaining confidentiality. Result of the present study shows that female students had higher mean professionalism than male. Female students were better than the male students in regards to all two different professional issues and this difference is statistically highly significant (P=0.00). Mean score of professionalism of 1st phase students in all two issues were greater than the respondents of other three phases and this findings was also statistically significant. Medical undergraduates of Bangladesh have a good understanding of acceptable professional honesty but there is scope of improvement. Study recommended that these two issues of professionalism must be taught in the course of undergraduate medical education and should be incorporated in undergraduate medical curriculum with the details of learning outcome what we craving from a registered medical graduate so that learning can be turned into practice. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.11(1) 2020: 3-11


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Malpass ◽  
Kate Binnie ◽  
Lauren Robson

Medical school can be a stressful experience for students, resulting in stress-related mental health problems. Policy recommendations from the General Medical Council (GMC), the body responsible for improving medical education in the UK, recommend the use of mindfulness training to increase well-being and resilience to stress. Students participating in an eight-week mindfulness training between Autumn 2011 and Spring 2015 were invited to complete a free text survey at the end of their mindfulness course. In addition, six qualitative interviews were conducted lasting between 60 and 90 minutes. Interviews used a topic guide and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. We used the framework approach to analyse the data. Students reported a new relationship to their thoughts and feelings which gave a greater sense of control and resiliency, an ability to manage their workload better, and more acceptance of their limitations as learners. The small group context was important. Students described improved empathy and communication skills through building inner awareness of thoughts and feelings, noticing judgments, and developing attentive observation. The findings show how resiliency and coping reserve can be developed within medical education and the role of mindfulness in this process. We present a conceptual model of a learnt cycle of specific vulnerability and describe how MBCT intercepts at various junctures in this self-reinforcing cycle through the development of new coping strategies that embrace an “allowed vulnerability.”


2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Jackson ◽  
D. J. R. Evans

The General Medical Council states that United Kingdom graduates must function effectively as educators. There is a growing body of evidence showing that medical students can be included as teachers within a medical curriculum. Our aim was to design and implement a near-peer-led teaching program in an undergraduate medical curriculum and assess its acceptability among year 1 students. Students received six tutorials focusing on aspects of cardiac, respiratory, and blood physiology. Tutorials ran alongside standard module teaching. Students were taught in groups of ∼30 students/group, and an active teaching approach was used in sessions where possible. Using anonymous evaluations, student feedback was collected for the program overall and for each tutorial. The program was voluntary and open to all first-year students, and 94 (of 138) medical students from year 1 at Brighton and Sussex Medical School were recruited to the study. The tutorial program was popular among students and was well attended throughout. Individual tutorial and overall program quantitative and qualitative feedback showed that students found the tutorials very useful in consolidating material taught within the module. Students found the small group and active teaching style of the near-peer tutors very useful to facilitating their learning experience. The end-of-module written examination scores suggest that the tutorials may have had a positive effect on student outcome compared with previous student attainment. In conclusion, the present study shows that a near-peer tutorial program can be successfully integrated into a teaching curriculum. The feedback demonstrates that year 1 students are both receptive and find the additional teaching of benefit.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 415-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Ring ◽  
David Mumford ◽  
Cornelius Katona

Recognising the vast extent of psychiatric morbidity internationally and the burden of mental illness on people, communities and nations, the World Psychiatric Association and the World Federation for Medical Education have recently published global guidelines for developing core curricula in psychiatry for medical students (Walton & Gelder 1999). More locally, major changes are taking place in undergraduate medical education throughout the UK. These changes represent a response to the appreciation, both by medical schools and by the General Medical Council (GMC), of two major pressures in undergraduate education. The first is that students have been asked over the years to accumulate more and more factual knowledge while the knowledge base in medicine itself expands and changes more rapidly. The second is that both understanding of illness and delivery of care are developing an increasing focus on the role of the community and community support. These general pressures have led to a number of specific recommendations, initially put forward by the GMC in their document Tomorrow's Doctors (GMC, 1993). This document encourages the reduction of ‘core knowledge’ taught to medical students to 65% of what has previously been taught, together with the identification of special study modules (SSMs), which would fill the remaining time in the curriculum. These SSMs would allow students to explore areas of particular interest in greater depth than was previously possible.


2021 ◽  
Vol 94 (1119) ◽  
pp. 20201308
Author(s):  
Cindy Chew ◽  
Patrick J O'Dwyer ◽  
Euan Sandilands

Objective A recent study has shown that the averaged time tabled teaching for a medical student across 5 years in the UK was 4629 hours. Radiology has been demonstrated to be an excellent teaching source, yet the number of hours allocated to this has never been calculated. The aims of this study were to evaluate and quantify the hours allocated to radiology teaching in Scottish Medical Schools and to evaluate if they can fulfil requirements expected from other Clinical disciplines and the upcoming General Medical Council Medical Licensing Assessment (GMC MLA). Methods Data pertaining to timetabled teaching for Radiology in Scottish Universities were obtained from the authors of the Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey. In addition, University Lead Clinician Teachers were surveyed on the radiological investigations and skills medical students should have at graduation. Results Medical students in Scottish Universities were allocated 59 h in Radiology (0.3%) out of a total 19,325 h of timetabled teaching. Hospital-based teaching was variable and ranged from 0 to 31 h. Almost half (15 of 31) of Clinician Teachers felt that there was insufficient radiology teaching in their specialty. Thirteen of 30 conditions included in the GMC MLA were listed by Clinician Teachers, while 23 others not listed by the GMC were considered important and cited by them. Conclusion This study demonstrates that medical students do not receive enough radiology teaching. This needs to be addressed by Universities in collaboration with the NHS in an effort to bring up this up to line with other developed countries and prepare students for the GMC MLA. Advances in knowledge (1) There is insufficient time allocated in Medical Students’ curriculum to Radiology. (2) Radiology teaching in medical schools fall short of University Lead Clinician Teachers’ and GMC expectations of medical students at graduation.


2021 ◽  
pp. medhum-2020-012127
Author(s):  
Neepa Thacker ◽  
Jennifer Wallis ◽  
Jo Winning

Numerous medical schools have been updating and modernising their undergraduate curricula in response to the changing health needs of today’s society and the updated General Medical Council competencies required for qualification. The humanities are sometimes seen as a way of addressing both of these requirements. Medical humanities advocates would argue that the humanities have a vital role to play in undergraduate medical education, allowing students to develop the critical tools required by the 21st-century clinician to deliver the best person-centred care. While we endorse this view, we contend that such training must be taught authentically to have maximal impact. This article arises from a collaboration between Imperial College London and Birkbeck, University of London, which aimed to embed the humanities into Imperial’s undergraduate medical curriculum. Here, we use a teaching session on graphic medicine and narrative as a case study to illustrate how the humanities can be a powerful tool for students to explore professional clinical complexity and uncertainty when taught in a transdisciplinary way. In this session, uncertainty operated on several different levels: the introduction of unfamiliar concepts, materials, and methods to students, transdisciplinary approaches to teaching, and the complexities of real-life clinical practice. Further, we argue that to manage uncertainty, medical students must cross from a scientific training based on positivist understandings of evidence and knowledge, to one which foregrounds multiplicity, nuance, interpretive critical thinking, and which understands knowledge as contingent and contextually produced. In facilitating such learning, it is crucial that the teaching team includes experts from both medical and humanities fields to scaffold student learning in an intellectually dynamic way, drawing on their disciplinary knowledge and wide range of personal professional experiences.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43
Author(s):  
Al Dowie

Confidentiality has a pre-eminent status in the medical curriculum for ethics, law, and professionalism because it does not depend on prior clinical learning or scientific knowledge, and it provides students with the opportunity to engage in the work of self-formation in professional practice from the very beginning. The historical tendency to romanticise medical professionalism, and confidentiality in particular as a symbol for this, was able to thrive in previous eras as a result of uncertainty around the boundaries of disclosure. To some extent echoes of this romanticism can still be heard today in rhetorical appeals to the Hippocratic tradition despite the development of detailed clarification in frameworks of law, standards, codes, professional regulation, and guidance from the second half of the 20th century. This paper considers two iconic portrayals of medical professionalism from the romantic period of the Victorian past, contrasting that era with the present-day environment of normative codifications. While ethics is commonly approached in an intellectual mode as a discussion of theory, a purely cognitive understanding is deficient on its own since learning in professional ethics must by definition be reified as sets of practices. The shift to the clinical accountability of today means that practices are of central importance to the undergraduate medical curriculum, not least in the area of confidentiality, for which the General Medical Council guidance sets the UK agenda for medical educational approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment, before students repeat the Hippocratic Oath at graduation as they embark on their future careers as doctors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Finnegan ◽  
Victoria Gauden

Professionalism is a concept at the heart of good medical practice. Ensuring that medical students develop and display professional behavior is crucial, both to ensure that their early encounters with patients are safe and appropriate, and to help guard against difficulties in their future practice. As part of its role as the UK's medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC) sets the standards that doctors need to follow as well as overseeing UK medical education and training. This includes providing guidance on student professional values and fitness to practice, which it does in partnership with the UK Medical Schools Council (MSC). To inform policy development in this area, the GMC carried out a survey of student professional values between December 2014 and January 2015. This article expands on and discusses a report about the survey, produced and published on the General Medical Council (GMC) website in 2015.1 The results of the survey are presented here. A total of 2,501 students responded to the survey, giving their views on the level of acceptability of 16 different scenarios. These results were analyzed by gender, year of study and entry route to medical school. While medical students responded overall in ways that indicate an understanding of professionalism, the results have highlighted some areas to focus improvements on, and differences between groups of students may be helpful to medical schools in planning how and when to teach certain aspects of professionalism.


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