E-Med News 16, November 2008 - Keele University

School of Medicine

Edition 16, November 2008


Contents

Foundation status for local Trust

Postgraduate Medicine at Keele

University approves year 2 of the new Keele curriculum

Update on QABME process

Welcome to all our new students

Keele Medical Careers Update

Computer-marked free-text assessment

National E-Learning Competition Winner

Widening Participation in the Faculty of Health

Keele Physicians' Society - help needed with lectures

Keele Community First Responders

How I spent my summer holidays in 2008

A warm 'welcome' to some new starters

And a sorry 'goodbye' to some leavers

Medical School's not all about Pyjama Pub Crawls, but they help

Medical School Support Staff are studying hard

Book Reviews


Foundation status for local Trust

Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals celebrated the achievement of Foundation status on 1st February 2008 . Martin Yeates, Chief Executive at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, says this development “heralds an exciting new era for our hospitals, in which local people will have more say than ever in helping us to make improvements and to achieve the best services for our local population.” While remaining part of the NHS, Foundation Trusts have greater financial freedom to develop services, along with greater involvement from patients and the public.

However this is not the only change in status taking place at the hospital. Plans are under way to develop the Trust as an Associate Teaching Hospital for Keele. While some medical students already spend time on short clinical placements at Cannock and Stafford hospitals, this development will see about 20 students spending year 4 and a further 20 spending year 5 of the Keele curriculum in Stafford Dr Anne Taylor, Planning Director for South Staffs (pictured below), is leading this project, supported by an enthusiastic clinical and management team both at the Trust and here in Keele.

Dr Anne Taylor

Dr Anne Taylor, Planning Director for South Staffs

“The eight weeks I spent at Stafford District Hospital  provided some of the best learning opportunities of my medical student career. Student numbers are low and I found that working alone, I was more easily incorporated into the clinical team. There were lots of opportunities to practice clinical skills, present histories and take part in clinics. Teaching was easy to arrange and staff were enthusiastic, accommodating and friendly. The hospital also provides medical education for students from St Georges University in Grenada , a friendly, lively group who were fun to learn alongside. I am confident that my experience at Stafford Hospital  has helped prepare me for finals and foundation years – I am even considering applying there. I urge any student looking for a chance to gain new skills and confidence to consider Stafford ; you won't be disappointed. “ Cat Frost, 5th Year Medical Student


Postgraduate Medicine at Keele

Dr Kay Mohanna

The appointment of a Director of Postgraduate Programmes, Dr Kay Mohanna (pictured above), comes at a time of significant developments in postgraduate medicine. The third of Lord Darzi's recent papers on the review of the NHS, A high quality workforce: NHS Next Stage review,  has significant implications for how training and education will be delivered in future. The Postgraduate School of Medicine needs to start positioning itself to rise to the challenge if the predicted commissioner/provider split at the SHA finally comes to pass.

Over the next 2 to 4 years Keele, like Warwick and Birmingham in the South and Central areas of the region respectively, could be asked to tender to take over the provision of postgraduate training in medicine in the North of the region from the Deanery.

To assist in this anticipated period of rapid growth a Postgraduate Manager has also been appointed. Debbie Paddison comes to the School from a previous position in the School of Economic and Management Studies, and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge.

Debbie Paddison

Debbie Paddison, Postgraduate Manager

Existing courses are being evaluated and ideas for new professional courses and awards are being considered. Easier routes to validate new courses are being developed. Courses that can help deliver specialist training in a ‘joined up' way between the university and the local NHS will be a growth area. There are already opportunities to attract Deanery money to deliver courses, Teaching the Teachers and Trainers courses for GP Trainers is one good example as is Leadership Training through the MMedSci. Masters level modules can be advertised as free standing CPD modules to attract new students. We are looking at ways to offer academic credit in the Foundation Programme.

Clinicians who would like to be involved are invited to contact Kay directly to discuss how Keele can meet learning development needs in their workplace: k.mohanna@hfac.keele.ac.uk.


University approves Year 2 of the new Keele curriculum

The Scrutiny Panel for the MBChB course has completed its review of Module 2 of the new curriculum.  Their report recommends to the University Learning and Teaching Committee that the Module be approved, and this went through the October 9 meeting.  This is an important milestone, as although we invest a lot of energy in the external QABME process, the curriculum also has to meet University standards in order to lead to the award of a degree.  The University has modified its normal process for us, because we cannot submit details of the whole 5 years until the GMC approves it.  As that process happens year by year, the University process mirrors this with annual Scrutiny Panel meetings.  We will therefore have the Module 3 Scrutiny Panel meeting in July/August 2009.  Many thanks to all who participated in this process.


Update on QABME process

The GMC Education Committee has approved the QABME report on the new Keele curriculum for the 2007-08 cycle.  The content of this report has previously been mentioned - it is again mostly very positive, particularly about the curriculum development and the experience of our students.  The next visit is on January 22nd 2009 , the first of 4 visits during the 2008-09 cycle.  The focus of this first visit is what we learned from the evaluation of Module 1, how Module 2 is being implemented (talking with staff and students), the progress on Module 3 development and stakeholder relations.  This day will require the input of many staff members, so please make sure that you are available if asked to participate.

Richard Hays, Chair of Medical Education and Head of School


Welcome to all our new students 

Welcome to all our new students

Congratulations and welcome to all of the new students who joined us here at Keele this September. 133 students started Year 1 of the five year course, with 6 of those coming from our Foundation Year.   They've all been thrown in at the deep end, with plenty of lectures and challenges already including an introduction to anatomy, investigating the functions of the skin, heart and respiratory system, and experiencing the challenges that face medical teams in emergency situations.   As an introduction to team working, each small study group took part in the "Great egg challenge", to design a crane to lift an egg over a barrier into a container perched on the edge of a 15 foot drop. Thankfully no team got egg on their face – though not all the eggs survived intact!


Keele Medical Careers Update

For the first time a comprehensive career support timetable is being introduced to the Keele Medical Student curriculum. The contents of the timetable have been informed and approved by the Keele Medical Student Career Committee (KMSCC) as well as a selection of teaching staff. On the 14th October a session on How to Tackle the Foundation Programme Application is being held for final year medical students to correlate with the opening of the application programme. We are also finding dates for regular lunchtime sessions that will be open to all Keele Medical Students which will focus on particular specialty areas. Look out for the latest information on WebCT and on emails that will be circulated prior to the events.

Thanks to everyone involved in September's successful Career Fair. We had the most stands we have ever had and the sessions were all successful. Although we were pleased about 70-80 students and Foundation trainees turned up, it would be great to see more people coming to future events. Feedback has been positive from both trainees and those involved in holding stands and sessions. A full report will be available on the KMSCC website soon (www.keelemedicalcareers.co.uk). We hope to set a date for the next year's career fair a.s.a.p. to maximise support from clinicians and organisations and to enable more specialty information to be available. If there is something you would like us to provide at the next career fair please get in touch.

Written career resources and information are available on the second floor of the CEC in the open room opposite the Year 5 administrators' office. Do take a trip into this area to gather specialty information, get information on the Foundation Application Timeline, documents relating to working abroad either on your elective or post-graduation and CV information, just to name a few. Please help yourself to the leaflets on offer unless they state otherwise.

If any staff or students have any comments, requests or questions relating to careers support at Keele, or if there is something you would like us to provide for you, please email Lizzie Cottrell (ECottrell@doctors.org.uk).


Computer-marked free-text assessment

We have recently been awarded Innovation Project funding of £2000.  This is to allow us to implement and trial a computer-based assessment system which will facilitate the automatic marking of formative free-text exams and quizzes.

Students will have the opportunity of undertaking short-answer assessments at a time of their choosing, obtaining their results and feedback instantly.  This will supplement our existing computer-marked multiple-choice question assessments.

It is envisaged that the system will "go live" for students early in the new year.  If successful, it is hoped that this will become a permanent feature in our range of formative assessment tools.

Adrian Molyneux, Learning Technology Manager


National E-Learning Competition Winner

A team of staff at Keele Medical School (Mike Lancaster, Mike Mahon and Adrian Molyneux) has won first prize in the Association for Learning Technology's (ALT) National E-Learning Competition in September 2008.

The winning entry illustrates how to operate a microscope. It is a multimedia interactive experience containing movies and features a virtual microscope that students can control.

The microscope RLO (Reusable Learning Object) was very well received with a number of institutions wishing to link to this resource themselves.

You can view the RLO at: http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/ms/Flash/microscope/microscope.htm

You can read the ALT Competition News page at: http://www.intrallect.com/index.php/intrallect/news_events/alt_lo_competition_2008

The Microscope learning object is intended to introduce students to the fundamentals of operating a microscope. It reduces the time a tutor spends providing one to one microscope tuition to individual students and provides a valuable, easy-to-access reminder of the main controls and steps involved in microscope usage.

The £300 prize money has been donated to the Medical School staff development fund. Thanks go to Tim Denning from the Learning Development Unit for demonstrating the RLO at the ALT conference.

Microscope


Widening Participation in the Faculty of Health

The Faculty of Health at Keele is actively engaged in Widening Participation (WP). The Faculty WP Group, led by Dr Paula Roberts, Faculty Director of WP, comprises academic representation from all Schools in the Faculty. This multidisciplinary approach to WP in health enables us to offer a comprehensive and inclusive service to both prospective and current students. The School of Medicine engages in all Faculty WP activities, offers sponsored WP places on its annual Medical Careers day, and hosts a medical WP summer school.

The Faculty of Health WP Strategy includes the following aims:

- to raise aspirations among under-represented groups, with a particular focus on students in the West Midlands and North West regions

- to develop partnerships with agencies active in the field of widening participation

- to develop effective partnerships and structures for delivery of outreach with schools and colleges

- to establish links with public and private sector employers and associations representing employers.

The Faculty has well-established links with local PCTs and NHS providers, the independent and voluntary sector, schools and colleges, and many other organisations. The WP team actively work with many external organisations to facilitate and encourage learners from under-represented backgrounds to enter Higher Education, and apply to one of the Faculty's undergraduate programmes in healthcare. For example, regular open events and recruitment surgeries for prospective students are specifically promoted within the Shropshire and Staffordshire area and help to raise aspirations in the local population.

All WP activities are continually reviewed, and are positively evaluated and appreciated by external stakeholders.

The Faculty has recently appointed a Faculty WP Administrator, Holly Williams based in the Clinical Education Centre, University Hospital of North Staffordshire. Holly can be contacted on 01782 556651 or h.e.williams@nur.keele.ac.uk

For more information, please contact Dr Paula Roberts, Senior Lecturer and Faculty of Health Director of WP on 01782 556537 or p.m.roberts@nur.keele.ac.uk


Keele Physicians' Society – help needed with lectures

The brand new Keele Physicians' Society is looking for F1 and F2 doctors to volunteer to give case-based lectures at monthly meetings. Each lecture should last ideally for 30 minutes and be related to the medical specialty in which the F1/F2 doctor is working. The first meeting is intended to be in late November. For more information about what's needed, please contact Daniel Monnery at Daniel_monnery@hotmail.com Volunteers will receive letters of thanks and feedback on their lecture, ideal for keeping in a portfolio.


Keele Community First Responders

Keele Community First Responders

A group of medical students are setting up a Community First Responder (CFR) scheme to cover the Keele  University campus.   Volunteers will respond to life threatening 999 calls as an agent of the ambulance service prior to the arrival of further resources. Eight students are currently undertaking an intensive course run by West Midlands Ambulance Service, and will join 4 other CFRs who are due to start responding over busy periods in the coming weeks. The scheme is entirely funded by donations and is kindly supported by the university which provides on-call accommodation.   If you would like to help out with the scheme, we would love to hear from you. We need volunteers to become responders (limited places), fundraise, and help with the running of the scheme. Please contact us via email@keelecfr.org.uk  for more information. We welcome volunteers from any part of the university, including staff.

David Rawlinson, Year 4 Medical Student  


How I spent my summer holidays in 2008

Thailand was on my list of “places to travel to”. I love children, fancied a holiday with a difference and love an adventure – that's how I ended up as a volunteer teaching English to Thai children during July and August this year.

After much research, I applied to a company called Personal Overseas Development (PoD) for a place on their English Summer Camp and was successful.

“PoD summer English Camps are an exciting way to help and encourage Thai children from 8-12 years old to learn and practise English. Working with a group of other volunteers and our staff, your role will be to run 3 English camps at 3 different schools around the island”

I hadn't met any of the other 12 volunteers prior to going to Thailand – although we had been in e-mail contact for a few weeks before travelling. Ages and backgrounds of the volunteers varied.

The camps were on the island of Koh Phangan (population of 10,000) where the volunteers lived in beach bungalows with only cold running water. All of the activities were planned and organised by the volunteers – the children moved around the different activities in “teams” so they all got to try each activity (not dissimilar to an OSCE!).

Activities were all aimed at exposing the children to as much English as possible – numbers, colours, days of the week, songs and musical instruments, parts of the body, art and craft, items of clothing, and telling the time. We also ran mini sports days with sack races, egg and spoon races and tug of war.

Each school welcomed us with such warmth and hospitality – from the teachers and the students to the dinner ladies (who made sure we were well fed!) and the parents and the local community. Everyone was so happy to see us and I have never felt such warmth from total strangers. It was really very moving indeed. The children were adorable, enthusiastic and keen to learn as much English as possible. Having them repeat words and phrases I had taught them was so rewarding.

Kirsty in Thailand

When we were not “in school” we had time for a tour of the island, a snorkelling trip and a Thai cookery class.

I will never forget my time in Thailand . I made some life-long friends and met some of the most amazing / inspirational people. I will definitely be getting involved in a volunteer holiday again – watch this space!

Kirsty Hartley, Education Office Manager, Medical School


A warm ‘welcome' to some new starters


Debbie Paddison, Postgraduate Manager, Courtyard Annexe

Heather Rushton, Admin Assistant at UGMS1

Marie Brownsett, Receptionist at UGMS1

Wendy Jenkinson, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Undergraduate Manager

Nikki Crouch, Education Office and QA Co-ordinator, Keele & UHNS

Michael Turner, Student Appraisals Administrator, Keele & UHNS

Danielle Kelsall, Anatomy Suite Technical Assistant, Keele

Russell Crawford, Teaching Fellow, Keele

Penny List, Lecturer in Health Psychology, Keele

Lynda Cook, Teaching Assistant, Multi-user Labs, Keele

Carrie Wardle, Technical Assistant Multi-user Labs, Keele

Kat Parkinson, Teaching Fellow, Clinical Education Centre

Dan Cocker, Teaching Fellow, Clinical Education Centre

Prabhu Nesargikar, Teaching Fellow, Clinical Education Centre

Milind Pant, Teaching Fellow, Clinical Education Centre

Srujana Parupalli, Teaching Fellow, Clinical Education Centre


And a sorry ‘goodbye' to some leavers


Sarah Cregan

Satyen Singh

Charlotte Hulme

Emily Gribbin

Vanessa Braithwaite


Medical School 's not all about Pyjama Pub Crawls, but they help 


Anna Sutherland, who graduated from Keele School of Medicine in July 2008, wrote the following article in response to a competition to win her choice of medical textbook. Well done Anna! She selected The Anatomy Student's self-test Colouring Book as her prize.     

I am a final year medical student anxiously awaiting my finals results with a mixture of excitement and in trepidation. If I pass, on the one hand there will be a little status and even less money as a reward, but on the other I can see a sea of mistakes to make, challenges to face, difficult situations, and anxious nights. Do I really want the responsibility?

So why am I doing it all? When you deliver your first baby or save your first life you will know why. Because it's different every day, exciting, challenging, and most of all, rewarding. Oh, and of course, because I love it.

I have gained lots of personal skills through studying medicine; confidence, resilience, independence, communication skills, planning, and study skills. I have had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of patients, who challenge me, spur me on and remind me why I'm throwing myself headlong into such a demanding way of life. A way of life where pretending you actually don't study when your life revolves around it, and exams and competitiveness are as much a part of daily routine as the custard in the canteen.

I have made a lot of sacrifices to be at medical school. I moved 300 miles away from family and friends, have lived on a shoestring for 6 years, am in debt, and can't always spend as much time with my husband as I would like. On an average week I spend about 35 hours in teaching and on clinical attachments and a further 35-40 hours studying, rising to about 95 hours studying before exams. As a result many of my interests and hobbies have been sidelined in the run up to finals.

But it's not all doom and gloom. We medical students take playing as seriously as working, often more seriously in fact.

The most important thing I've learnt is you need to have a good reason to be doing medicine and clear idea about your priorities in life. If you don't know these you'll feel dissatisfied and won't be able to achieve your ideal work life balance.

Work hard, play hard. You'll have the time of your life.


Support staff studying hard 


Members of the support staff at the medical school are studying for quite a collection of qualifications at the moment. Best wishes to them all with this bumper crop of awards.

Sarah Philpott, HNC in Business Management

Lyn Sagar, MSc in Computer Science

Annette Machin, BA (Hons) Business Management

Steve Clipstone, Open University Human Biology modules

Mike Lancaster, Foundation Degree in Computing

Kirsty Hartley, Postgraduate Certificate in Leadership and Management

Janet McNicholas, NVQ Level 3 Business Administration

Jenny Banks, ILM Level 2 Award in Team Leading

Janet Wyatt, Open University Science Degree modules

Steve Harper, BSc Honours in Applied Computing


Student Book Reviews

Book Review: The Quotable OSLER, Deluxe edition
Authors: Mark Silverman, Jock Murray, Charles S Bryan.

The Quotable OSLER, Deluxe edition

This book provides a fascinating insight into the thoughts and intellect of one of the most distinguished physicians of the last century, Sir William Osler, who lent his name to eponymous physical signs and manoeuvres such as Osler's nodes and Osler manoeuvre. It is a collection of some of his most famous quotations which cover a wide range of topics from medical education and the medical profession to quotations on lifestyle, aging and women.

The book is well presented in a nice hardback cover and there are black and white pictures of Osler with his family and colleagues interspersed throughout the book. There are nine main chapters which are further subdivided into smaller sections, making it easier to pick a specific topic to read about.

Each quotation is numbered and the majority of them are quite short making them easier to remember. In addition, whilst the book contains thought provoking quotations on clinical practice such as “Listen to the patient, he is telling you the diagnosis”, there are a few such as “Avoid wine and women – choose a freckle-faced girl for a wife: they are invariably more amiable” that reveal both Osler's sense of humour and his thoughts on the different issues of life.

This book is ideal for people who have an interest in medical history and for those who seek to gain a broader view of medicine that is separate from medical textbooks. Whilst a biographical knowledge of Osler is not a pre-requisite for reading and understanding the book, it provides a background from which to fully appreciate the quotations.

Unfortunately although the book begins with a short biographical chapter, it is written in a style that presumes a prior knowledge of Osler and his work and therefore a reader without such prior knowledge would be best served reading a short biography from another source.

Review by Chenge Chinake, 4 th year Medical Student, Keele School of Medicine.

For more details see www.rsmpress.co.uk


Book Review: Get Through Postgraduate Medical Interviews.
Authors: Kaji Sritharan and Nigel Standfield

Get Through Postgraduate Medical Interviews

This book is aimed at Doctors who are applying for Specialist Training posts. It gives an excellent outline of what candidates need to pass these interviews, what your portfolio needs to contain, what to expect in the interview, common interview topics, difficult interview questions, other types of interview and what to do after the interview whether you got the job or not.

One particularly scary section in the book shows the competition for each type of job. For instance in 2007 in England 28,000 applicants applied for 15,500 training places, a ratio of 2:1. In 2008 this ratio is expected to be 3:1. MMC have estimated that in 2008 there will be 6100 ST1 jobs, 2070 ST2 jobs and 750-950 ST3 jobs available to graduates. There is also a table giving a summary of the number of applicants per job in each deanery, with the most competitive speciality being cardiothoracic surgery with 74 applicants per post in the West Midlands deanery.

I feel this book gives an excellent overview of what to expect at interview, common topics and what interviewers are looking for in a candidate. As this is such a high pressure experience I feel it is important for everyone to have read a book like this to give them some preparation, however the authors acknowledge that as medical careers are currently changing so rapidly this book will probably be out of date in a couple of years.

Review by Karen Faulkner, 5th year Medical Student, Keele School of Medicine.

For more details see www.rsmpress.co.uk