DoME NEWS
April 2009
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
Welcome to DoME News, the termly
newsletter from the Division of Medical Education (DoME) that aims to keep Medical
School staff updated about developments in
the Medical School and the MBBS
(undergraduate) curriculum, and to enable
sharing of good practice between medical
educators.
DoME welcomes new staff
Sabih Momenul Huq is ACME's new Academic
Clinical Fellow. Sabih spends two days a
week working in ACME (Wednesdays &
Thursdays) and two days a week as a final
year SpR in Clinical Pharmacology at UCLH.
He is on baby duty on Fridays.
The last term has been a busy one for
staff in DoME. As you will see there has been
much work behind the scenes, admirably led
by Peter Raven, Tim Cook, Tim McHugh,
Dave Spratt and Caroline Selai on implementing and driving forward the recommendations of the MBBS and Postgraduate
course reviews.
Slow but sure work towards establishing a
SLMS Education Deanery with overall responsibility for education across both Faculties is taking place and we hope to announce
further progress soon.
The Teaching and Professional Development Unit (TPDU) within DoME has been
working to increase the range of taught postgraduate courses in education available to
medical educators. This is an exciting development, with a new pathway for a Postgraduate Certificate planned to go live in September 2010.
Dr Stephen Rowett has joined the School
of Life and Medical Sciences team as the
new Senior Learning Technologies Support
Officer. One of his early priorities is to work
with the MBBS team on the student Virtual
Learning Environment (VLE). The DoME
team has recently won a UCL Futures grant
to improve the student VLE, so we hope to
update you in the next edition of DoME News
on both the VLE and the current student webpages.
Dr Sabih Momenul Huq
Sabih qualified from Cambridge and UCL,
graduating in 1997, and did his house jobs at
the Whittington Hospital. Following spells in
Brighton and the Royal London, he moved to
UCL last December. Sabih's research interests include prescribing, assessment and
technology. He is currently working on a project looking at web resources in the Medical
School, and prescribing safety and the preparation for practice year.
UCL Division of Medical Education
Director: Professor Jane Dacre (j.dacre@medsch.ucl.ac.uk)
Deputy Directors: Dr Deborah Gill (d.gill@medsch.ucl.ac.uk); Dr Peter Raven (p.raven@medsch.ucl.ac.uk)
Address: 4th floor, Holborn Union Building, Whittington Campus, 2-10 Highgate Hill, London. N19 5LW.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome/
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
MBBS NEWS
MBBS and PG Reviews – Update
The education reviews which took place
during the last academic year, of the MBBS
course and of postgraduate taught courses in
FBS, are now starting to produce some significant
changes. The reviews had a catalytic effect and
generated a lot of very productive discussion
about ways of improving teaching and learning
throughout the Faculty. This means that, as well
as the broad recommendations of the original
reviews, we have also had more specific recommendations from working groups and teaching
committees which we have agreed to implement.
We are redesigning the Medical School’s web
pages, in keeping with the overall template for the
School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS), to
improve the accessibility of information for students, staff and our external audience.
We have reviewed our final year curriculum
and will be introducing longer clinical attachments
as part of this. Students will spend a 16 week
block at the same District General Hospital, giving
staff there a much greater opportunity to get to
know them, assess their learning needs and objectives and support them both academically and
pastorally. These changes will feed through to the
other phases in due course, to ensure that each
stage of the course has explicit linkages to the
overall outcomes we expect our students to
achieve.
We have reconstituted the MBBS Resources
and Facilities Committee, under the chairmanship
of Dr Jean McEwan. This will now be the first
point of contact for these issues for the MBBS
course and Dr McEwan will refer them onward as
appropriate.
The particularly exciting thing to have come
out of the education reviews and the subsequent
discussion is that it has clearly demonstrated the
enormous amount of skill and enthusiasm for
teaching and learning, from those involved at
every level. Our task now is to deliver on the
agreed recommendations from the original reviews, while recognising that the creativity of our
staff and students will continue to generate new Within postgraduate education:
We have drawn up Faculty guidelines for the
ideas and initiatives.
modularisation of taught masters courses including guidelines for module size and credits. We
Examples of current developments include:
have modularised all taught masters courses
within the Faculty and each Division is currently
Within the MBBS course:
We have implemented all of the recommen- harmonising local time-tables in order to offer a
dations for welfare and careers from the MBBS suite of masters courses with options to pick-andreview. The welfare system is now integrated mix modules between courses.
We have an approved policy on improving
across the MBBS with improved support and
training for staff involved. Careers advice and PhD submission rates.
We have entered discussions with professupport has been enormously enhanced, including the creation of a dedicated web page with sional market researchers to develop our marketstudent factsheets and timetabled sessions ing and branding.
throughout the course on careers .
We are improving the integration of the MBBS Overall, we are making good progress on implecourse, which is now managed entirely through menting the reviews and many more ideas have
the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences (FBS). As- been produced from the discussions which the
sessment is being harmonised throughout the reviews have generated. Looking ahead, the next
course, including the introduction of SBA (Single major development, which is crucial to the next
Best Answer) items and Anghoff-based standard phase of implementation, is the creation of a
setting in each phase. Modules in different SLMS Education Deanery. This will allow us to
phases with common themes (e.g. Circulation make more progress on integrating the provision
and Breathing in Phase 1 and Respiratory Medi- of education in both Faculties at both undercine in Phase 2) have been working collabora- graduate and postgraduate levels. For example,
tively to ensure that students are made aware of through the SLMS e-Learning Advisory Group,
how the course material builds on, and links to, we are working towards providing support and
their previous learning. Module Management guidance for individuals setting up e-learning proGroups are in place for vertical modules such as grammes, and linking people together on eDrugs and Use of Medicines to co-ordinate teach- learning matters in undergraduate and postgraduate education.
ing throughout the course.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
case and the research and observations she
documented and presented now provide a very
The 2008 Paul Lock Memorial Prize was recently valuable record for the hospital’s future reference.
presented to Katy Walsh at a gathering in the
Amazing though it may seem, around 40% of cats
Rayne Building.
are carriers of Cat Scratch Disease and parents
The Prize is normally presented at the annual should be aware of the medical problems that can
Memorial Lecture at the North Devon District so easily arise when their young family is reguHospital in Barnstaple and marks the life of Dr larly in the proximity of cats.
Paul Lock who was a fondly remembered junior
doctor at the hospital and whose life was tragi- Mr Lock explained that as the attachment programme
between
cally cut short in
UCL and the North
1998. Katy was
Devon Hospital has
unable to attend
sadly now come to
the Lecture held
an end it was apin
November
propriate that this
because
she
last chapter should
was away on her
be
marked
by
elective in the
Katy’s award. He
Pacific Islands of
added “UCL should
Vanuatu.
be very proud of
Katy
and
she
The presentation
should be very
was made by
proud of her own
Chris
Lock,
achievement”.
Paul’s
father,
who explained
Those present from
that they had
UCL
Medical
established
a
School included Dr
charitable trust
fund aiming pri- Left to Right: Tim Cook (Curriculum Development Manager, UCL Medical Eddie Chung and
Cook.
Dr
marily to sup- School); Chris Lock; Katy Walsh; Dr. Eddie Chung (Chair of the Child and Tim
Family Health Module Management Group, UCL Medical School)
Chung said “Cat
port paediatric
Scratch Disease is
care in North
indeed an area not widely appreciated”. He
Devon and the South West.
thanked Mr Lock for travelling up from Devon and
They seek ways to promote professionalism in applauded the work being done by the Paul Lock
which personal achievement and development Memorial Fund.
can be encouraged and, very importantly, recogHe added “It is so important to encourage medinised.
cal students in particular and it is unusual but so
It is particularly focussed on the initiatives of jun- valuable to find people actively providing such
ior doctors, nursing staff and medical and nursing support. I sincerely hope it will motivate Katy to
students who are prepared to ‘go the extra mile’. fulfil her obvious future potential”.
He said “We try to make a difference and hope to
help them make a difference”.
2008 Paul Lock Memorial Prize
Katy Walsh, a fifth year medical student from
UCL, was attached to the Barnstaple Hospital last
summer when she undertook a broad study of
Cat Scratch Disease following her own involvement with the treatment of the condition in a local
14 month old patient. It was a particularly unusual
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
3
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
MEDICAL SCHOOL NEWS
CURRICULUM NEWS
NEW UCLMS / RUMS WEBSITE FOR
CAREERS AND FOUNDATION YEAR
TRANSITION
MSC IN CLINICAL AND PUBLIC
HEALTH NUTRITION
The new UCLMS/RUMS careers and foundation
year application website recently went live. The
site aims to answer your frequently asked questions and point you in the direction of links for
more detailed information. It is for both students
and staff involved in advising students.
This course attracted 15 students in its first year of
operation and is designed for medically qualified
graduates, nurses, dieticians, pharmacists, nutritionists and biomedical scientists who are interested in the relationship between disease and nutritional deficiency and nutritional therapy and disease outcome. It offers specialised training in the
clinical and scientific basis of under- and overnutrition, and aims to provide candidates with a
sound basis for successful career in the clinical,
public health or research spheres. This course
would suit both international and UK students, especially those who are planning or have completed
SpR training. The course directors are :
The site is designed to highlight those areas relevant to each year and also to give in-depth information about specific topics. The principal sections include information about careers in each
branch of medicine, how to apply for foundation
year posts, special circumstances and transfer of
information. There are numerous links to other
relevant sites.
We hope you will find time to look at the site and
we would welcome your comments and suggestions for improvements or additions:
careers@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
* Dr George Grimble (Principal Teaching Fellow,
Division of Medicine)
* Professor Alastair Forbes (Department of Gastroenterology & Nutrition)
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/medicine/gastroenterology/
staff/af.html
www.ucl.ac.uk/medicalschool/careers
The practice of gastroenterology at University College London Hospitals group is internationally renowned and the course will be taught largely by
clinicians and scientists based there and at University College London. The course is located on the
Bloomsbury Campus of University College London.
FACILTIES AND RESOURCES
The MBBS Educational Facilities and Resources
Committee has been re-established under the
Chairmanship of Dr Jean McEwan to help identify
and resolve problems relating to the physical resources (lecture theatres, seminar rooms and
equipment) in UCL and in hospital Trusts into
which students are placed. The Terms of Reference can be viewed at
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/medicalschool/aboutmedicalschool/committees/facilities/index.htm
For further information please contact George
Grimble: g.grimble@ucl.ac.uk 07984 702597
If you have recognised a problem that inhibits your
ability to teach and the students to learn effectively, please forward your query to Mrs Sonya
Thompson: s.thompson@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
NEW DEVELOPMENT IN
ASSESSMENTS AT UCLMS
Alison Sturrock has been appointed the new Sub
dean for Assessment for the MBBS programme.
Alison has a long and distinguished history in assessment, working for a number of years with
Professor Jane Dacre on the examinations within
the MBBS course and with the GMC on their assessment for Fitness to Practice Programmes.
Alison outlines below some of the developments
in assessment at UCLMS that help to maintain
our position at the forefront of contemporary assessment in medical education.
It is said that assessment drives learning and
certainly it is important for medical educators that
we take assessment seriously. Boud suggests
that every act of assessment tells students what
we want them to know, and how we want them to
go about learning it. A good assessment will
therefore drive learners to learn what we think is
important; what we value and to go about it in the
right way.
Figure 1: Miller’s triangle of clinical competence
(http://careers.bmj.com/images/articles/2008/11/
cf_empd_aging.f2_default.jpg)
tips’ on how to write and edit SBA’s as well introducing the writers to the UCL house style which is
in use throughout the rest of the course. These
sessions were well attended and meant that
enough writers were trained so a SBA paper
We have been working hard to harmonise as- could be included for the first time in year 1 end
sessments across all three phases of the curricu- of year 2009 assessments. SBA’s will also be
lum and ensure we are using the most up to date introduced in year 4 examination next year.
and evidence based techniques. Below are some
of the developments and some of the plans for
the next academic year:
2.
Standard setting using the Angoff method
for all written examinations
Using Single Best Answer (SBA) questions
in all written examinations
A standard set score is a judgement of how difficult each individual question is. Previously the
Single best answer questions are a newer format pass mark was arbitrary at 50%. This did not take
of written questions that are replacing the tradi- into account whether assessments varied in their
tional MCQ questions in both undergraduate and level of difficulty between diets. As each assesspostgraduate medical examinations. They have ment is unique this is not acceptable in high
been shown to test the application of knowledge stakes exams. For several years the majority of
or ‘knows how’ level of Miller’s triangle of clinical standard setting in phase 2 & 3 has used a more
competence (fig 1) while MCQ’s test at the lower rigorous and evidence-based approach to setting
level of ‘knows’ or simple factual recall. As such the standard: the Angoff approach.
they are better at discriminating between different
levels of knowledge and are therefore recom- This process was introduced this year into phase
mended for high stakes examinations.
1.
1.
To do this, ACME staff experienced in running
To facilitate the introduction of SBA’s, ACME staff standard setting sessions facilitated two standard
held training sessions for phase 1 and phase 2
(year 4) question writers. During these sessions, X continued on page 6
item writers have been trained in the ‘rules and
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
5
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
ACME NEWS
X continued from page 5
BECOME INVOLVED IN PILOTING ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR THE GMC
setting sessions to set the standard for the 2009
end of year assessments for year 1 and 2. Next There have been
year we will introduce this for all year 4 examina- assessment protions.
cedures for investigating poorly performing
doctors
3.
Focus on ‘Preparation for Practice’ in phase for the last 10
3 assessments
years. The Academic Centre for
In a recent study commissioned by the General Medical Education
Medical Council, it was found that at graduation at UCL, with the
medical students felt prepared for basic clinical GMC, is currently reviewing these.
tasks such as history taking. They were however
concerned about managing acutely unwell pa- To be eligible, you must have worked in the spetients, prescribing and being on call. The skills that cialty within the last year. Volunteers can only take
caused concerns were generally skills that could this test once for each specialty.
only be acquired by spending time on wards. To
increase our students’ confidence about these All volunteers will receive feedback about their
skills, we have increased the amount of teaching performance. This is a valuable insight into meththe students receive about prescribing, and we are ods of assessment for anyone interested in this
also developing our short station OSCE to ensure area and excellent examination practice for those
these skills are tested. This will hopefully encour- about to do postgraduate exams.
age students to spend more time on wards.
4.
Participants will receive a fee of £350 plus travel
The use of a portfolio in the assessment expenses. CPD credits will be given.
process.
A number of project groups are working away behind the scenes to investigate and implement a
coherent portfolio within the MBBS programme.
This is a long overdue additional feature of our
assessment basket and will allow us to help students capture and record their learning that is
more difficult to capture or test by traditional
means.
Finally, I would like to thank all staff who attended
any of this year’s writing or standard setting sessions for their help. These days were often long
and your patience and good humour was invaluable in starting out on this process. I look forward
to working with you again next year.
Upcoming dates:
May 18th- 20th
May 21st-22nd
Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Anaesthetics
July 20th-21st
July 22nd
July 23rd-24th
Paediatrics
General Practice
Child psychiatry
Sept 14th-15th
Sept 16th-17th
Sept 18th
Obstetrics & Gynaecology
General surgery
General Practice
Nov 9th
Nov 10th
Nov 11th
Nov 12th
Nov 13th
Adult psychiatry
Child psychiatry
Anaesthetics
Emergency medicine
Medicine
Contact t.acme@medsch.ucl.ac.uk for more information and an application form.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
6
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
ACME NEWS
TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT UNIT (TPDU)
TPDU welcomes Anushka Leslie to the
team. Anushka has previously worked for various NHS organisations as a healthcare
worker, data analyst, development officer and
administrator. As the TPDU Administrator,
Anushka is responsible for all administrative
matters relating to the Teaching and Professional Development Unit.
Jane
Richardson
•
•
A range of innovative courses under
the Teaching Improvement Project
System (TIPS) for academics and
clinical professionals involved in the
delivery of medical education
•
An extensive programme of teaching
and training on a consultancy basis
to London-wide Trusts for junior and
senior staff
The Unit is lead by Jane Richardson and is responsible for staff
development through support
and training. Since it’s inception
in 2007 it has experienced a significant increase in the number
and range of activities which
come under its remit. TPDU activities currently include:
A 2 day teaching course to all new
staff appointed on a contract that
involves medical student teaching
(this includes honorary contracts
issued to NHS staff at participating
Trusts)
Course participants putting their skills into practice
Masters Level Study
•
Teacher support activities including
courses, peer review and teaching
observation.
•
Supporting education tutors, subdeans and other relevant bodies in
their staff development activities.
•
Supporting innovation and excellence in teaching via workshops,
dissemination of information and
individual support.
•
Delivery of a Masters programme in
medical education in conjunction
with the Royal College of Physicians.
An advocacy service for medical
educators with regard membership
of the Institute for Learning and
Teaching in Higher Education.
Each will be available as a 15 credit module.
•
We are pleased to announce that, subject
to approval by the relevant UCL Authorities, the following Masters level accredited
courses will be available during the 20092010 academic year:
•
Teaching and Learning in Medical
Education
•
Practical Aspects of Assessment
•
Educational Supervision
•
Teaching Ethics and Law
For more information about course content,
how to apply, or any other activities please
email l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7288 5964 Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
TIPS COURSE DATES FOR 2009
TIPS 1:
Monday 11th & Tuesday 12th May FULL
Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th May FULL
Monday 13th & Tuesday 14th July FULL
Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th July FULL
Tuesday 18th & Wednesday 19th August FULL
Thursday 20th & Friday 21st August places
TIPS 2:
Wednesday 22nd April FULL
TIPS 3:
Wednesday 29 April FULL
Wednesday 22 July FULL
TIPS for Teaching Effective Communication Skills:
Tuesday 9th June FULL
Course date information correct as at 7th April 2009. Additional dates will be posted online as soon
as possible.
Demand for courses is extremely high.
We recommend applications are made as early as possible.
Further information, including all available course dates and details of how to apply, is available via
the DoME website:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome/tips
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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