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Policy, research and reflections on the delivery of medical education.  Jump straight to recommended reads from recent research.
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 Outcomes for graduates  pdf (July 2015)
Outcomes for graduates (originally published in Tomorrow’s Doctors) sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that new UK medical graduates must be able to show. Read more

The state of medical education and practice in the UK (GMC, November 2015)
The GMC's fifth annual report sets out what is happening in the education and practice of doctors, and considers some of the challenges facing the medical profession. Read more
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The Medical School
The MBChB Newsletter: Spring 2016
The MBChB Newsletter: Winter (Jan 2016) 
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National Health Executive
 Independent management magazine for the whole health sector.
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Expanding undergraduate medical education: consultation outcome (7 August 2017)
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Higher education: students at the heart of the system (Department of Business, Innovation & Skills, June 2011, Cm 8122) 
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Aspire: International Recognition of Excellence in Education
A programme that recognises international excellence in education in a medical, dental or veterinary school.
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Jump to view recommended reads from:
September 2017​
February 2016
December 2015
October 2015
May 2015
April 2015
September 2017

 
  • Tolerating uncertainty — the next medical revolution? 
    Arabella L. Simpkin & and Richard M. Schwartzstein. 2016. New England Journal of Medicine 375:1713-17 
    Full-text: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1606402#t=article
    Uncertainty in medical practice?  How do we think about training our learners to cope with “continually having to make decisions on the basis of imperfect data and limited knowledge.
    ​
  • Scholarly conversations in medical education
    Bridget C. O’Brien, Win May and Tanya Horsley. 2016. Academic Medicine, Vol. 91, No. 11 / November 2016 Supplement
    Full-text: http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/fulltext/2016/11001/Scholarly_Conversations_in_Medical_Education.4.aspx
    RIME – research in Medical Education – is an annual training conference.  Academic Medicine have published this supplement in which they outline the “conversations” – the areas of discussion, and the perspectives of recognised leaders in the field. The topics they discussed were 1. Curriculum reform 2. Duty Hours restriction 3.  Learner well-being 4. Innovations in teaching and assessment 5. Self- regulated learning and 6. Learning environment. The Table is a helpful summary of current papers, what questions were addressed, and the purpose and underlying research methods. 
 
  • Medical students find assessments stressful. Of course….but what do we do about it? 
    Vicki R. LeBlancc. Perspectives in Medical Education. 2014 Dec; 3(6): 401–404. Published online 2014 Dec 10. doi:  10.1007/s40037-014-0152-x
    Full-text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4263789/
 
  • Prevalence of depression, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation among medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis
    Lisa S. Rotenstein, BA; Marco A. Ramos, MPhil; Matthew Torre, MD; J. Bradley Segal, BA, BS; Michael J. Peluso, MD, MPhil; Constance Guille, MD, MS; Srijan Sen, MD, PhD; Douglas A. Mata, MD, MPH. JAMA. 2016;316(21):2214-2236. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.17324
    Abstract:   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27923088   [to view the full-text sign in with NHS OpenAthens (how to get an Athens account) or  request article from the library]
May 2016
  • Preceptor teaching tips in longitudinal clerkships [preview article; contact Library for full-text] 
    Latessa, R, Schmitt, A, Beaty, N, Buie, S, and Ray, R. 2016​ The Clinical Teacher, 13: 213–218 
    In longitudinal integrated clerkships ( LIC s), the continuous “preceptor” (teacher / supervisor / mentor…)  and student relationship over time creates opportunities for more in-depth teaching approaches than shorter attachments allow. They describe and  identify student perceptions of the most effective teaching practices and develop tips for LICPs.

  • Undertaking and reporting qualitative research [preview article; contact Library for full-text] 
    Joanna Tai, J and Ajjawi, R; 2016 The Clinical Teacher,     13: 175–182
    Qualitative research encompasses a range of methods and methodologies, some of which use opaque language.  Qualitative research can be used to reframe educational problems and to promote nuanced understanding of educational phenomena,  This is a very useful clearly written article in The Clinical Teacher  that unpacks qualitative research in an accessible format.

February 2016
  • Mindless evaluations by students and teachers  [contact Library for full-text] 
    Gibson, C. 2015     Medical Education 49 (9) 850–858 
    A commentary on how we should be moving forward from the impression that student evaluations of teaching are a 'fundamental tenet of good teaching practice'.  

  • The Science of Learning [open access] 
    Deans for Impact, Austin Texas, 2015.  
    Summarises the existing research from cognitive science related to how students learn and connects this research to its practical implications for teaching and learning.  This is framed around six key questions about learning:
        1. How do students understand new ideas?
        2. How do students learn and retain new information?
        3. How do students solve problems?
        4. How does learning transfer to new situations?
        5. What motivates students to learn?
        6. What are some common misconceptions about how students think and learn?

  • Is reflective ability associated with professionalism lapses during medical school? [open access] 
    Hoffman L.A, Shew R.L., Vu T.R., Brokaw, J.J., Frankel R.M. 2016 Academic Medicine, publ, online 12 Jan 2016. 
    Learning to reflect on one’s experiences is a critical component of professional identity formation and of professionalism. This study explored 
    the association between reflective ability and professionalism lapses among medical students.


  • Alternative framings, countervailing visions: locating the “P” in professional identity formation [open access]
    Hafferty, F et al. 2016 Academic Medicine 91:171–174.
    Fred Hafferty has reviewed literature from two other disciplines (military and organisational management) and writes challengingly  'medical educators must attend to socializing trainees to a professional group identity while at the same time producing health care professionals who retain the capacity to resist the bureaucratic application of standardized solutions to contemporary problems.  Educators must thus strive to identify the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary that will allow physicians-qua-professionals to function as a quasi-subversive work force and to disrupt the very system that helped to shape their identity, so that they may fulfil their mission to patients'.  In the same journal Cruess et al  redesign Millers pyramid to include professional identity formation.


December 2015

  • The Learning Styles Myth is thriving in higher education [open access]
    Newton P. 2015. Frontiers in Psychology 6:1908 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01908
    This review captures what an educator would encounter if they were to search for 'learning styles', and that 'The overwhelming majority (89%) of recent research papers, listed in the ERIC and PubMed research databases, implicitly or directly endorse the use of Learning Styles in Higher Education'.  The authors of this paper make a point that it is important to recognise that educators whilst trying to look for an evidence base, could present a strongly misleading view that there is 'robust' evidence and state the 'potentially negative consequences for students and for the field.

  • ‘I don’t have time’: issues of fragmentation, prioritisation and motivation for education scholarship among medical faculty  [abstract only; contact Library for full-text] 
    Zibrowski, Elaine M; Weston, Walter Wayne; & Goldszmidt, Mark A. 2008. Medical Education 42: 872–878
    An older paper ... [that] makes the point that we are all time pressured, and that even in those who have an interest in medical education, negligible amount of time is devoted to educational scholarship – and thus as educational leads we should look to support this development in our teachers.

  • Assessment at UK medical schools varies substantially in volume, type and intensity and correlates with postgraduate attainment [open access]
    Devine, Oliver P, Harborne, Andrew C. & McManus, I.C. 2015. BMC Medical Education, 15:146
    UKMLA (UK Medical Licensing Assessment) is coming.  This paper from the McManus group, in which they evidence within the UK medical schools 'substantial differences in the volume, format and intensity of undergraduate assessment',  and state that 'These findings suggest a potential for differences in the reliability of detecting poorly performing students, or differences in identifying and stratifying academically equivalent students for ranking in the Foundation Programme Application System (FPAS). Furthermore, these differences appear to directly correlate with performance in postgraduate examinations. Taken together, our findings highlight highly variable local assessment procedures that warrant further investigation to establish their potential impact on students'.

  • UKMLA: American dream or nightmare? [letter to the editor: contact Library for full-text] 
    Allawi, Layan; Ali, Sarah; Hassan, Farida & Sohrabi, Fareeda. 2015. Letter printed in Medical Teacher,  11 Nov: 1. [Epub ahead of print]

  • Student experiences of multiple flipped courses [abstract only; contact Library for full-text]
    Mattick, Karen. 2015. The Clinical Teacher, 12 (6): 432–435
    The Clinical Teacher has summaries of recent papers (Digest).  The most recent Digest has valuable summaries from Karen Mattick on papers on 'Flipped classrooms' and 'Students transitions after longitudinal clinical placements'.

October 2015

  • Student Motivation: Focusing on Excellence [open access]
    This is a blog post from The Huffington Post.  Student engagement and motivation are probably the greatest challenges that face formal education today.  Ask any teacher and they will agree that motivated students are easier to teach, are more engaged, and experience higher levels of achievement. So, why aren't more students motivated and why haven't we worked out how to get them motivated?

  • Education Theory for the #MedEd Clinician [open access]
    Blog post from the International Clinician Educators Network from 26 June 2015.  Lots of good references and links to key educational theory papers.

  • Being boring [open access]
    DeFilippis, Ersilia, September 2015. Academic Medicine, 90 (9), p 1223.
    This is a short piece that might be a useful prompt for student discussion: the human side of a “routine” case.

  • “…I know not…” Humility and respect: core values in medical education [abstract only; contact Library for full-text]
    Gruppen, Larry D. 2014. Medical Education, 48 (1), pp 53-58.
    Gruppen paper on humility and respect – a thoughtful paper on the “original Hippocratic oath”, and embedding these values within the core purpose of professional practice, but how does it relate to the medical education community?   How do these values relate to medical educational scholarship and practice – knowing vs not knowing, the value of theory, and obstacles preventing expressing these values. 

  • Supervisor or mentor: is there a difference? Implications for paediatric practice [Log in with Athens]
    Mellon, Andrew, and Murdoch-Eaton, Deborah. 2015. Archives of Diseases in Childhood 100:873–878. 
    Review in ADC on what is the literature around mentorship,  supervision and coaching – and do learners need all 3?  

  • Tackling medical student stress: beyond individual resilience [open access] 
    Watling, Chris. 2015. Perspectives in Medical Education, 4 (3), pp 105-6. 
    Resilience – Chris Watling has written an excellent paper on resilience.  It is published in a new(ish) on-line journal that I rate highly, managed by the Dutch Med Ed Association.

  • Without anyone's permission: The open web and online learning [pdf]
    What on earth are MOOCS doing for us – are they really changing the access to and process of learning – and how should we think about web and resources.  Read this blog from Michael Rowe (physio educationalist with a PhD in technology enhanced learning) .  
    ​​
  •  te@chthought: 50 Alternatives to Lecturing
    ​A useful website for ideas / stimulation re lecturing.  

May 2015

April 2015