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- E-Med News 17, February 2009
Edition 17, February 2009
Contents
Student wins Gastroenterology Prize
Community Placement in the New Curriculum
Two special reports from our correspondents at the KMS Christmas Ball
This year's black-tie KMS Christmas event was themed as Casino Royale and each of the 25 tables was named after a James Bond movie. Roulette and blackjack tables with professional croupiers allowed guests to challenge their luck with fun money. Jazz musicians played during the excellent three course meal. Afterwards, DJs Ben, Mario and Gerlando got everyone on the dance floor. The Britannia Stadium venue was beautiful and everyone seemed to have a good time. Special thanks to Yvonne Abbey (Treasurer), Stacey Ferguson (Vice President), the KMS committee and our sponsors BMA and MPS. Part of the profit will be going to our chosen charity - Manchester Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia Centre.
Ram Balakumar, Year 3
Once again it was time for the Christmas Ball - the time when medical students dress up smartly, find the shoe polish and turn out in all of their finery (for one night only). The Theme was ‘James Bond'- and I think that we would have done MI6 proud. The event was refined by Keele's own Med Soc and, to their credit, the room was alive with the elegance of medical ‘Bond Girls' and black-tied gentlemen.
The night had an auspicious, cultured beginning, true to medical style. The event itself was hosted within the Tony Waddington executive suite at the Britannia Stadium. When asked to comment on the proceedings, Mike Watson (Year 2), remarked: “it was good, yeh”.
As the party truly got underway and responsible units of alcohol were consumed (as a relative average), the desserts were served and the dance floors became full. Many students and undercover staff were seen gracing the wooden floors. The evening drew to a close around two in the morning and all coherently agreed that they were very drunk indeed, but had had “a very lovely time”. A success I think.
Drew Kinmond, Year 2
Suraj wins Gastroenterology prize
Final year medical student, Suraj Thomas, won the Midlands Gastroenterology Prize for the best oral presentation at the regional meeting in Nottingham in November, for his presentation entitled "Healthcare Professional's knowledge of the Indications for Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) Feeding - how well are we doing?". This work was part of his fourth year project option.
He beat many of the region's Gastroenterology Specialist Registrars to win the prize with the paper that was chosen from 25 abstracts and 10 oral presentations from the West and East Midlands .
Latest GMC news
On January 22nd we hosted the first GMC QABME team visit for the 2008/09 academic cycle. This was, as usual, a very busy day requiring the participation of a large number of administrative, support and academic staff. The main issues for the visit were details of the new Module 3, a progress report on how Module 2 is being implemented, and discussion of the evaluation of the first run of Module 1 last year. The visiting team met with Year 1 and 2 students over lunch to find out what is REALLY happening!
The feedback at the end of the day from the visiting team was very positive. The GMC visitors believe that Module 3 is developing well and should be ready for implementation from September. They are happy with the implementation of Module 2 and again commented on how highly they rate our evaluation of Module 1. Our plans for Year 4 and 5 are being followed with interest. Once again, our students have proven to be great ambassadors for Keele in their sessions with the visiting team. We also seem to have made progress with the GMC concern that Keele has not successfully engaged with the local health economy. The team has now accepted that we do have strong partnership arrangements with our NHS Trusts and that these are very helpful in developing and implementing the new curriculum.
The team has since fed back to us that they now have information to sign off several of the issues they intend to monitor during the current visit cycle and so they intend to collapse the next two visit schedules into one. This decision is based on the high quality of the documentation we are submitting - the team feels that they know what we are doing and are happy to let us get on with that. Hence they will now not come on April 20th and the June 24th meeting will be a busy meeting for all. We will have to provide more information about Module 3, present our plans for SSCs across the course, present progress in IPE and student admissions policy, and discuss how the graduate entry track is progressing. The team is also likely to request additional written information prior to the June visit in order to ensure that they can cover all that is required during the current visit cycle.
I would like to congratulate all who have been a part of this success, which is the result of the clear engagement demonstrated by the excellent attendance and response to visitors of all who participated.
Of course we cannot relax - there is still a lot of work to do over the next three years of the entire accreditation process of the new degree.
Once again, thanks to all who are part of the large team who is engaging so positively with both the new curriculum development and the QABME team.
Richard Hays, Chair of Medical Education and Head of School
Battlefield Surgery in Napoleonic era
The Keele Senior Common Room and the rapidly growing Keele Medical Student Surgical Society, supported by the North Staffs Medical Institute, presented a fascinating lecture in December, on battlefield surgery at the Battle of Waterloo.
Jointly hosted by James Elder, SCR President and Emeritus Professor of Surgery, and Matthew Clarke, President of the Student Surgical Society, Mr Mick Crumplin, FRCS, spoke to 100 staff, students and former staff on battlefield surgery at Waterloo and in the Napoleonic era generally.
Mr Crumplin, Honorary Archivist of the Royal College of Surgeons, exhibited a display of artefacts, including material from the battlefield, and also signed copies of his books. One of these contains detailed drawings of the wounds treated by surgeons after the battle, which had never been published until three years ago, but which allowed medical staff and students present to gain a new understanding of the challenges faced by their predecessors.
Keele Surgical Society is now organising a trip to London to see Dr Von Hagen's Body Worlds exhibition in February. You'll see a report of the trip in the next issue of MedNews.
Kirsty and Sarah's Santa Saunter raises £250
Thanks to everyone who sponsored Sarah Philpott and I (and her son and nephew) in the Santa Saunter on Saturday 13th December 2008.
We did it! Despite the truly awful weather conditions we completed the course in just under an hour and raised around £250 for the Douglas Macmillan Hospice. As you'll see from the photo, you could literally wring us out afterwards - we were so wet.
Kirsty Hartley
Video Conference Facilities
On 17th December, our video conference facilities were used to great effect in facilitating our first virtual Whole School Meeting.
Locations at Keele Campus, UHNS and Shrewsbury were interlinked to allow 3-way dialogue between staff at the respective sites. We intend to increase our use of this technology greatly over the coming months, bringing the advantages of decreased staff and student travel, lower
costs and increased productivity. Should anyone be interested in discussing the use of this equipment, please contact me by email ( a.j.molyneux@hfac.keele.ac.uk ).
Adrian Molyneux, Learning Technology Manager
Community Placement in the New Curriculum
We are changing how we utilise community placements in the new curriculum. Firstly they will be split in to general practice and ‘third sector and social care' placements.
‘Third sector' is a collective term for charities, voluntary organisations, non-profit and non-governmental organisations. They encompass a broad range of organisations which make an invaluable contribution to supporting patients and health care and these are under represented in the curriculum. We have appointed a Placements Development Officer, Helen Derbyshire, to develop a broad range of placements in support of Clinical Skills, Individual, Community and Population and Professional Developments curriculum themes.
Teaching in general practice will also change dramatically from the current one day a week placements in third and fourth year in support of problem based learning and the eight week community placement in fifth year. The new placements will focus on the development of skills, integration of learning and development of team work and leadership skills. Towards the end of third year there will be a four week full time block in general practice which aims to consolidate students' basic clinical skills. In the fourth year there will be an innovative course based on five one week ‘slices' in general practice in which students will be helped to develop their higher consultation skills. In the final year, students will have a sixteen week block in general practice which will focus on: consolidation of clinical skills; integration of learning by focusing on both patient journeys and aging; and development of team work and leadership skills through a major team project based in clusters of practices.
This presents major challenges in recruiting additional practices and developing general practitioners' teaching skills. This is underway and is currently being piloted in the current final year community placements in general practice.
We believe that these changes will maximise the contribution of general practice to medical education and make a major contribution the School of Medicine 's core objective: graduating excellent clinicians.
Bob McKinley, Professor of Academic General Practice
Gladiator Glory for Jenny
I was picked to represent the Army in the Gladiators Battle of the Forces special that was filmed in May and broadcast in November. As a childhood fan, I'd been to watch the live show ten times before so I was over the moon to be given the chance to be a contender. The events were much harder than I thought they would be. Between each event they cover all your cuts and bruises up with stage make-up; as it's a family show they don't want the kids to know you actually get hurt doing it! The show was billed by Sky as a David and Goliath battle as I'm only 5'3" and 9 stone and my opponent and all the other Gladiators towered above me. I was up against Battleaxe on the Duel and she's 8 inches taller than me and 4 stone heavier! I put up a valiant but sadly lacking fight in the 4 games (Duel, Hang Tough, Powerball and Gauntlet) and ended up giving my RAF opponent an 8.5 second headstart in the Eliminator. However what she hadn't bet on was how much the support from the coachload of my soldiers, my friends and family in the crowd was going to spur me on. I ended up overtaking her and becoming Forces Champion. I donated my £5,000 prize money to Help for Heroes, a charity which helps rehabilitate servicemen and women who are injured on operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan .
Jenny Hands, Year 2
A new addition for Suzanne
Congratulations and best wishes from us all to Suzanne Whiteman and her family. Suzanne has taken 12 months leave after adopting her little boy, Preston . We look forward to her return later this year.
Michael wins Yale Scholarship
Last year, Yale University School of Medicine kindly agreed to provide a place for a medical student from Keele without fees as a gesture of support for the exchange programme (focused on ethics and policy) that is now well established and attracting interest from students at both institutions. Vere Carlin and I set up a selection procedure to identify a student who, in our opinion, stood to benefit the most from the experience, and would make an active contribution at Yale. We congratulate Michael Friel (Year 4) and wish him every success. Roger Worthington, Lecturer in Healthcare, Law & Ethics Here's what Michael said about his well-deserved win… “I was over the moon when I found out that I had been chosen. I had completed a written application form which had asked three main questions: • What do you expect to gain from the Yale Clinical Elective Scholarship? • Why do you think this Elective Scholarship will be worthwhile? • Why should Yale be funding your clinical elective? I also did a 10-minute presentation on key features of the British NHS including ‘What strengths and weaknesses would you identify about the NHS when explaining our healthcare system to an American? Give some specific examples rather than quote statistics.' All the hard work obviously paid off and now I can relax in the knowledge that my elective has been arranged and that I have saved a considerable amount of money too! I'm leaving for Yale at the end of January 2010. I'm looking forward to gaining a wide variety of experience, particularly of a different health care system, which will include aspects of medicine beyond the core curriculum, delivered through didactic learning and practical experience. I'll also have the chance to experience a different lifestyle and culture (and world-class museums and theatres)! I think it's great that Keele medical students were given this chance and I would encourage anyone to look out for opportunities like this in future.”
New Postgraduate Award
A new 30-credit postgraduate award is being developed for the Keele (Staffordshire and Shropshire ) Foundation Programme.
The West Midlands Deanery is unique nationally in offering academic credit to all those on some of its Foundation Programmes. This not only provides clinical and professional training, but also extends the reflective practice skills of trainees and rewards those looking to stand out from the crowd and give them a competitive edge as they move on to the next stage of their career.
Within the West Midlands , only three of the five Foundation Schools currently offer academic credit and soon Keele will be joining existing awards in Birmingham , Coventry and Warwick and the Black Country School .
The new module will allow those accepted onto the award to
• Demonstrate how they have reflected on their clinical experiences and teaching opportunities to extend the breadth and depth of learning
• Demonstrate a proactive approach to planning and consolidating learning activities
• Show how they have synthesised all sources of learning and transferred this into their professional practice to impact on patient care.
• Distinguish themselves from their peers in the competitive ST1 application process.
In year one the teaching programme in the Foundation School follows a spiral curriculum based broadly on Good Medical Practice (GMP). The second year of the Foundation Programme builds on the first year of training with the main focus on training in the assessment and management of the acutely ill patient. Training also encompasses the generic professional skills applicable to all areas of medicine - team work, time management, communication and IT skills.
In the new award, trainees will accumulate 30 credits at masters level by a portfolio submission equivalent to five credits for each of six areas of GMP. The portfolio will require a 1,000 word submission and will be supported by extra teaching sessions in the trainees own time.
Dr Kay Mohanna, Director of Postgraduate Programmes
A warm ‘welcome' to some new starters
Dr Alwyn Ralphs has been appointed to PostGraduate Medicine as Course Director of the MMedSci. He has been a GP in Wolstanton for 15 years and has trained GPs for a similar time. He has been a course organiser for 8 years and was instrumental in developing one of the most innovative GP training schemes in the country. He's a keen cyclist, swimmer and runner. Welcome to the team Alwyn.
Jonathan Hutchins is the new Health Library Manager at the CEC. He joins us from Bournemouth University where he was Subject Librarian to the School of Health and Social Care. Prior to that, he was Librarian of the Royal Surrey County Hospital , Guildford for 13 years, so he's ideally placed to manage the joint University/UHNS library at the CEC!
Angela Lovatt was a welcome addition to the Admissions team in early January. Angela joined us after spending 7 years with the Engineering and Construction department's admin team at Stoke on Trent College . She enjoys yoga and keeping fit.
And a sorry ‘goodbye' to some leavers
Marie Bowen, Claire Kelsall and Chantelle Todd have all moved on to pastures new recently and we wish them all the best. Carolyn Derrett will retire on February 12th after more than 6 years at Keele. Enjoy your retirement Carolyn!
Ian Gray Memorial Prize
A new prize for undergraduate medical students has been put in place for the 2008/9 year.
The Ian Gray Memorial Prize offers £100 to the first year student with the best performance in Year 1 Skills Examinations. The prizes available currently are listed below. If you win one of these during the year you'll be notified automatically, but if you'd like more information about any of these, please contact Kirsty Hartley, Education Office Manager at Keele School of Medicine.
Year 1 Prizes
The Ian Gray Memorial Prize for the best performance in Year 1 Skills Examinations (£100).
Best performance in summative assessments (£100).
Year 2 Prize
Best performance in summative assessments (£100).
Year 3 Prizes
The Donald Kemp Prize for the best performance in June OSCE (£100).
Progress Test Prize for best overall performance in the 2 Progress Tests (£100).
Year 4 Prizes
The Medical Institute Prize for best overall performance in 2 OSCEs (£100).
Progress Test Prize for best overall performance in the 2 Progress Tests (£100).
The Chris Wilkins Memorial Prize for best performance in the Families & Children module (£100).
The Medical Women's Federation Prize for best project option in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (£100).
Year 5 prizes
The Nigel Eastwood Memorial Prize for best overall performance in Year 5 (£100).
The Elective Prize for best photo, with accompanying paragraph of text, taken on elective (£50).
Student Book Reviews
Book Review – Recent Advances Series 15 (Cardiology)
Edited by Derek Rowlands and Bernard Clarke
The Recent Advances series contains new and interesting material, written by experts in their field of interest, and this book does not disappoint! It is concise and well presented with colour illustrations accompanying the text. It is well researched and allows the reader to understand the topic whether it be ECG abnormality recordings or management issues. It has a summary box for clinical practice as well as referencing at the end of each chapter. It also has easy to read summary tables that allow you to glance at the key information.
Recent Advances in Cardiology is recommended for clinical year medics that are either writing an SSC about this topic or for F1/F2 that are presenting a topic to their peers. It is very advanced for students that just need a broad knowledge about the heart.
Raj Gill, Year 3
New book reviews needed
Scion Publishing Ltd would like to offer medical students the chance to review any of its books. Titles include ‘Clinical Skills for OSCEs', ‘Puzzles for Medical Students' and ‘New Clinical Genetics'. You'll find details of these and many more on their website:
http://www.scionpublishing.com/shop/default.asp
If you'd be interested in receiving a copy of any of the books and writing a review for MedNews, please contact Caroline Whiting at c.j.whiting@hfac.keele.ac.uk or (01782) 734644. You'll be able to keep the book after you've reviewed it.
224 Bus Service
Just a reminder of how important it is to use the 224 bus between Keele campus and the Clinical Education Centre at the UHNS hospital site. If we don't use the service, we could potentially lose it after Easter this year. The service commences at 8.00am at the Student Union, stops just outside the medical school, and runs every half hour. The last bus departs at 5.30pm .
The return journey leaves the CEC at 8.15am then runs every half hour, with the last bus leaving the CEC at 5.45pm . It will stop by request at Newcastle Bus Station on the return journey only. Each journey takes approximately 9 minutes.
As parking gets increasingly difficult at both sites, it is worth bearing this service in mind and arranging meetings at times that will enable staff to use the bus to travel.
Day Return fares for staff, starting the journey after 9.00am , are £3.00 or if travelling before 9.00am single fares are £1.60 each way.
Students discount price is £1.30 single but if students purchase a Student 10- trip at £10.80 the costs is then equivalent to £1.08 each single journey.
This is a term time only bus service. The vacation dates when the service will not operate are 6th April – 1st May 2009 , 14th June – 25th September 2009.
Yette and Boris Glass Foundation Bursary
The Yette and Boris Glass Foundation was established in 2005, with the objective of promoting and advancing a better understanding of the integration of psychosocial approaches with new technologies in medicine. The aim is to excite young minds, draw out their full potential and provide opportunities to explore novel ideas.
There is an award of up to £1000 to be used either as a travel scholarship for the student to undertake their elective module overseas during Year 5 of study, or to a student proposing to undertake an intercalated degree at Keele. Preference will be given to a student who intends to visit a developing country particularly Africa , or who wishes to study geriatric medicine or addiction.
The deadline for returning application forms to the Medical Education Office (Kirsty Hartley), Keele Campus has been extended to Friday 27th March 2009 . For more information please contact Kirsty.
