Introduction:
In this newsletter, amongst many topics, there are valuable updates on Assessments, information on GP placements and some changes to these which you should be acquainted with, some recent staff and student achievements.
In this newsletter:
- Assessment & Feedback Update
- INSPIRE Intercalators Conference
- Student Achievements
- Staff Achievements
- Primary Care Placements
- Conferences and Events
What’s new?
Assessment & Feedback Update
Dr Andrew Blythe Director of Assessment and Feedback
All information about assessments and feedback for students and staff is stored in one place: the Assessment and Feedback section of the Medical School website. You won’t find this information anywhere else so please look at this website regularly. In particular please look at the part entitled Information for Students and Staff www.bris.ac.uk/medical-school/staffstudents which has a tab for each year. For each year you will find
- The Management of Marks document – this outlines the structure and rules for the exams
- A summary of all the feedback that you will be given during the year
- The dates of the exams
- The dates on which marks will be released on Blackboard
Below this you will find more detailed information about individual assessments.
We are now three months into the implementation of the new assessment and feedback strategy. This strategy aims to reduce the burden of assessments and puts much greater emphasis on feedback. The logbooks, portfolios, projects and presentations that you are asked to complete during each unit have been designed to help the teachers give you feedback, whilst ensuring that you are prepared for the end of year exams. Last year students in year 4 said that they found the portfolio for Perioperative and Critical Care particularly helpful. This year more units have portfolios or logbooks like this. The logbook for Psychiatry for example requires students to record case based discussions, their reflections on clinical activities and feedback from patients.
Another new initiative is the formative assessment in Year 2. In January students in Year 2 will sit a single best answer paper and a spot test; these tests have been created to help students gauge their progress.
Students in Year 4 are getting practice at doing 2 OSCE stations during each unit. All 8 practice OSCE stations are available to view on the Assessment and Feedback section of the medical school website. We hope to give all students some more practice at doing OSCE stations during the revision fortnight. In April all students in Year 4 will also get an opportunity to do a mock Prescribing Safety Assessment on which they will get feedback.
If you want to find out more about the Assessment and Feedback Strategy and the Code of Practice for Assessments you will find this on the website. If you have particular questions about this please write to Andrew.blythe@bristol.ac.uk.
Finally, good luck to all our students in Year 5. They have completed the first components of the Clinical Competence Assessment and are getting ready for the Finals written exams.
INSPIRE Intercalators Conference – Faculty
The first National INSPIRE Intercalators’ Research Conference was held in Bristol in October. Attendees were from all over the UK, with 150 students coming from Cardiff, Exeter, Plymouth, Sheffield, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge as well as Bristol. The delegates were mostly medical students, but dental and veterinary medicine students attended as well. The conference was opened by Prof George Banting, Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Science, and the keynote speech was by Dr Tony Pickering, academic, anaesthetist and joint INSPIRE lead. He spoke about how his intercalated degree became a springboard that enabled him to get more research experience as a student, which as his career progressed made it easier to get grants. It was interesting to get a long-term perspective on how intercalation can start off an academic career.
The bulk of the day involved short presentations from previous intercalators in a series of themed programme talks. The main themes were: Cancer, Immunology and Infection; Cardiorespiratory, Endocrine and Neuroscience; and Epidemiology, GP and Global Health. Delegates were able to choose which stream they attended, enabling them to tailor the conference to specific interests they had. We were also able to vote on the quality of the presentations, with prizes for the winners
Lunchtime included the poster session, which was also divided into similar streams. Presenters had two minutes to summarise the main points of their project and were then questioned by a facilitator and their fellow students. Prospective intercalators were also given the opportunity to attend a series of talks from a wide range of intercalation programme leads from across the South West.
The final part of the day involved young clinical academics talking about their career so far following intercalation. Specialties included veterinary practice, core surgical training, GP training and medical leadership, so there was something for everyone. The speakers talked about opportunities they’d taken, challenges they’d faced when getting clinical and academic jobs, decisions to change career paths completely, and what they were thinking of doing next. Several students commented that it was reassuring to hear that they did not need to have a career plan set in stone in order to succeed in academia!
The conference was closed with a prize giving by our Dean, Professor Jonathan Sandy, and there was no evidence of hometown bias in the voting with awards being made to students from across the country including to our own Sebastian Green. This was followed by a wine reception hosted by Medics Wine Tasting and the opportunity to network with the senior academics who had attended the conference. Many people used the opportunity to ask questions about academic foundation programmes across the country, and get advice on how to improve their presenting skills.
Previous Global Health intercalator Anna Taylor (Year 4), commented: ‘It was great to have the opportunity to display some of my dissertation research; creating and presenting a poster is a really useful career skill for all medics, whether or not they are considering an academic career. It’s also really exciting to see what other students did – there was a fantastic variety of subjects represented!’
Cellular & Molecular Medicine intercalator Andy Jones (Year 4), added: ‘The variety of projects presented formed an impressive array of student-produced research. The event served as an excellent introduction into the world of conference presentation and was very informative about what to expect post-intercalation and where it might lead you. The opportunity to meet intercalators from other universities gave greater insight into how student research is conducted nationally and the story of the serendipity seen in an academic career was a relief to many of the delegates!’
From the prospective intercalator perspective Jess Lynch (Year 2) commented: ‘Prior to attending the INSPIRE conference I was unsure of whether I wanted to put my medical degree on pause for a year to obtain a BSc/BA. However the conference really opened my mind up to the various opportunities of intercalating. For instance, I was completely unaware of the possibility to intercalate at another medical school or that intercalating between my third and fourth year presented the option of being able to work towards a Masters. Speaking to the academics of Bristol University, I was overwhelmed by the range of intercalating courses I could find right on my doorstep. Ranging from courses in biochemistry, bioethics, global health and even childhood studies, there is something for everybody.
By speaking to students who had already intercalated, I learnt that intercalating gave them a year to focus on something that was not directly medically related, which was really refreshing. Many students reported that intercalating had given them skills in research, data acquisition and presentation. These skills helped them to present a research project for the INSPIRE conference.
The conference offered the opportunity for students to really start thinking about intercalation. Being able to talk to the various course leaders in person and not through a prospectus really makes a difference when deciding whether to intercalate. Moreover, the huge range of options from across the various medical schools in science based courses to arts means that there is something that can appeal to nearly everyone.’
The day was a wonderful opportunity to display the research being done by medical students, and to inspire future intercalators to get involved in research themselves.
Thank you to Dr Tony Pickering, Dr Liz Coulthard, Elle Chilton-Knight and Kay Russell for their key roles in organising the conference!
Student Achievements
Our congratulations to Harrison Carter who was invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in acknowledgement of the work he has done in his role as UK Medical Student Co-Chair at the BMA. He has also been re-elected as the student chair to serve a third term which is the first time that this has happened in the history of the BMA. Seen here on the right with co-chair Charlie Bell.
Congratulations to Zoe Bush and Rosie Huxley (both Year 5 students) who presented a poster at the Royal College of General Practitioners Annual Conference in Glasgow: titled ‘Profiling usual care for patients with multi-morbidity in the 3D Study“, it focussed on their experience of working with the 3D Study’s process evaluation team to establish what normal care was for patients with multiple long-term conditions in the general practices enrolled in the study. Having worked with the team at the Centre for Academic Primary Care for 3 weeks, headed by Professor Salisbury, it was a great achievement to have the poster accepted for the conference, and Zoe and Rosie greatly enjoyed their time in Glasgow discussing their findings.
Congratulations to Anna Taylor who won the Royal College of Psychiatrists Medical Student of the Year Award 2015
The annual Royal College of Psychiatry Awards mark the highest level of achievement within psychiatry, and are designed to recognise and reward excellent practice in the field of mental health. Anna is a fourth-year medical student at Bristol University with a first class intercalated degree in global health. She has conducted studies in the UK and the USA in areas such as mood disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, suicide and domestic violence. She is also involved in teaching, curriculum development and student representation at a local and national level. Above she is seen receiving her award from Professor Sir Simon Wessely, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists who said: Anna is an outstanding medical student. The Bristol Psychiatry Society clearly blossomed during her Presidency, and her legacy includes short films highlighting psychiatry as a career. Anna’s research portfolio is impressive. As an educator, she has developed a workshop that has been integrated into the University’s medical curriculum. We look forward to welcoming Anna to our profession, and hope that she will be a leading psychiatrist in years to come.”
Anna Taylor was also lucky enough to be awarded a Royal College of Psychiatrists Pathfinder Fellowship.
Staff Achievements
Congratulations to Dr Peter Fletcher who was awarded a fellowship to the Academy of Medical Educators. Dr Fletcher was until recently a long standing academy dean of Gloucestershire academy and is now the deputy academy dean. He has had a key role in the development of the academy system, he is chair of our Medical Education Committee (MEC) and has contributed greatly to the development of the new undergraduate curriculum (to start in 2017).
Get help with writing Remember, If you’d like some help, if you want to improve your writing skills or talk about the way to structure a piece of writing, or you’ve been getting disappointing marks and want to understand why and what you can do about it you can book a confidential, free, one-to-one session with the writing fellows: find out more here: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biomedical-sciences/study/rlf-writing-fellow/
News from the Academies
Get involved…
Art Exhibition and competition – “In the eyes of the beholder”
Following the success of the medical art exhibition on anatomy and pathology earlier this year, North Bristol Academy is pleased to be able to host the second art in medicine exhibition in 2016.
Theme: “In the eyes of the beholder”
Date of event: Thursday 11th – Sunday 14th February 2016
Venue: The Gallery at The Island, Old Bridewell police station, Nelson Street, Bristol, BS1 2LE
Who can submit artwork?
Medical and dental students from Bristol University are welcome to submit their artwork for display and competition. Students will need to register to take part in the event by signing up to this link by 19th December:
Further details will be sent after registration. The deadline to submit artwork is 1st February 2016.
What artwork can be submitted?
Students are eligible to enter if drawing is not one of their strengths. We are encouraging the submission of a variety of mediums of art including original drawings, paintings, photography, video and sculpture.
Conferences and Events
Attention budding surgeons!
The RCS England is launching a poster competition during its 5th Global Surgical Frontiers, (15th April 2016) on the topic “’Capacity Building on Global Surgery’, which may be of interest to some of our medical students. To find out more about the conference and the call, please visit the website at – www.rcseng.ac.uk/gsf. Deadline for abstracts is Monday 28th December 2015.
Galenicals Carol Concert. Saturday 12th December at St Paul’s Church, St Paul’s Road. Students and staff (a few) bring Christmas songs and carols to you.
Primary Care Placements – what to expect by year
Year 2 placements in Primary Care
In year 2 you will have 4 GP sessions which are linked to the Introduction to Clinical Skills systems based clinical teaching.
This is an opportunity here for more hands on practice of history taking and examining. You will be in groups of 4 which makes it easier to ask questions and practice skills. Your GP will invite patients with conditions relevant to the system you are studying. Patients attend specially for the teaching and understand that junior students may feel a bit nervous and will also need to repeat examinations to get it right. At the start of the session your GP teacher will check what you have already practised and then make sure that you all get some hands on experience. At the end of the session you and your GP will reflect on whether you have met your learning needs and plan ahead to the next clinical session.
Year 3 placements in Primary Care
In Year 3 you will have 8 sessions in Primary Care, 4 in academy. The GP sessions are linked to the Units you will be studying in Year 3.
Learning environment
You will be in small groups of 3-5 students which makes it easier to ask questions and practice skills.
Patients attend specifically for the teaching which often makes students feel more comfortable when practising clinical skills.
You can ask your GP to invite patients with particular conditions that you want to learn about.
You can take an active role in shaping the sessions – agree who does what – history, examination, summarising and presenting.
You can ask your GP to vary the teaching sessions. The GP could give you the diagnosis of some patients in advance so you can read up about the condition but let you work out the diagnosis for other patients for yourself.
There are learning resources in the Year 3 GP guidebook giving clear description of learning objectives and links to resources. There is also a learning log to help you remember patients and conditions; good for exams and a learning check list to reflect on your progress through Year 3.
One to one feedback from your GP
This will help you to focus and plan your learning
Tell your GP what you would like to have feedback on. It is a taster of future appraisal situations after qualifying as a doctor. All doctors have an annual appraisal which feeds into the 5 year revalidation cycle. Think about the feedback and plan how to address further learning needs. For example, could they be met in your second GP attachment?
Dr Barbara Laue
Year 4 Placements in Primary Care
I would urge you all to use your 4 weeks in general practice to the full, whether or not you are aiming for a career in Primary Care. This attachment is a unique opportunity for 1:1 teaching, as well as working with a patient group who are free from the “patient fatigue” of seeing student after student that sometimes occurs in hospitals. Most GPs will be happy for you to tweak your timetable and fill any gaps in your day to use every chance you can to broaden your learning and skills – in general practice, general medicine, paediatrics, reproductive health and more.
Tips for doing this:
- Introduce yourself to the HCAs, phlebotomists, nursing staff, other GPs and managers. Tell them what your learning needs are.
- Familiarise yourself with the appointments system and make a habit of looking down the list, for example of the Treatment Room, to see what is happening that day. If you need to practise ECG or spirometry, ask your GP tutor if you can sit in as they arise, returning to clinic immediately after.
- Make sure you always have your CAPS log book with you.
- If you meet an interesting and obliging patient (there will be many!), see if there is a spare room anywhere and ask the patient if they would be prepared to spend a bit longer with you. You could practise focussed history-taking, examination skills or even long case skills, time allowing.
- If your GP has not already arranged this for you, consider asking to spend a little time with the practice manager who will help you to understand the NHS and how it works or the practice pharmacist and other allied professionals.
- Let all the staff know, half way through the placement, what your continued learning needs are (for example, regarding the Core Topics) so that they can let you know when a relevant patient comes in.
In summary, don’t waste a minute of this valuable 1:1 opportunity to learn and hone your skills across the board.”
Dr Sarah Jahfar
New Student Advisor
We would like to introduce you to your new student advisor Lauren Wardle who joins us to cover Emma Teakle’s secondment. You can contact Lauren on all the usual student advisor phone and email address.
Finally: Do you have something to share? Send susan.pettinger-moores@bristol.ac.uk