DoME NEWS
November 2010
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
Welcome to the first DoME News of the
new academic year. I hope you enjoy this
edition, which is all about improving clinical experience and scholarship through
innovation.
After they graduate, our students will continue to be involved in medical education.
On p5, Dr Aroon Lal explains the benefits
of FYs being teachers, using Basildon
Hospital as an example to give useful tips
on how to help trainees develop their
skills.
Continuing from previous editions, Dr
Deborah Gill keeps us up to date with the
implementation of UCL’s new underFinally, as the new curriculum continues
graduate medical (MBBS) curriculum (p2- to be implemented, we look forward to the
3).
educational innovations in the new MBBS
continuing to produce top-class doctors of
With full implementation of the new curwhom we can all be proud.
riculum due in 2012, the new final year
course began a few months ago. On p4,
Dr Anita Berlin tells how it encourages
students to “think like a doctor, act like a
doctor”, with, amongst other things, all
students putting their scientific knowledge
Dr Katherine Woolf
into practice by assisting a Foundation
Lecturer in Medical Education, DoME
Doctor for a significant period.
Real clinical experience is also key to
“Sister Act”, the student-selected component led by clinical skills staff Mr Michael
Klingenberg and Ms Nicky Mathastein,
which encourages students to participate
in nursing duties and feel part of the multidisciplinary team (p8).
Scholarship has always been an important part of medical training at UCL. The
new curriculum reinforces this, and on p6
Professor Mike Gilbey describes how the
intercalated BSc has been reviewed to
ensure UCL students and graduates continue to perform at the highest level (and
see just how good they are on p11-13).
DoME news is a 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.
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
CURRICULUM NEWS
implementation process:
MBBS New Curriculum Implementation Project: Countdown to
The MBBS programme aspires to
2012
educate the UCL Doctor: a highly
competent and scientifically literate
The UCL MBBS review began in 2007 inclinician, equipped to practise pavolving extensive consultation with over
tient-centred medicine in a con600 stakeholders before making a series
stantly changing modern world, with
of wide ranging recommendations regarda foundation in the basic medical
ing the MBBS programme at UCL. The
and social sciences. This vision is
first phase of the implementation of these
underpinned by the values of scholrecommendations began in the spring of
arship, rigour and professionalism.
2008 and concerned structural and other
The focus is on the development of
organisational changes that would be
the student as a scientifically innecessary to allow further educational
formed, socially responsible profesrecommendations to be implemented.
sional who, in turn, can serve the
health needs of individuals and comIn late 2009 the implementation process
munities.
began to concentrate in a more detailed
way on the content and organisation of
Through a series of intensive planthe programme, mindful of the student exning, development and consultation
perience from beginning to end of the
processes a coherent and detailed
course. This was timed to coincide with
outline of the new curriculum was
the new version of Tomorrow’s Doctors to
established over the summer of
allow any changes to incorporate the
2010.
GMC recommendations within this guidance. A summary report and series of rec- Key features:
ommendations were presented to Profes- Integrated six year programme
sor Sir John Tooke and Professor Jane
More attention to vertical learning syntheDacre in early 2010 as the foundations for sis and integration
the next stage of implementing a new cur- An integrated iBSc: completed by all nonriculum. Some principles for implementa- graduate students after two years of study
tion were also established and a broad
Syllabus based around key problems,
outline of the new curriculum and an im- presentations and patient pathways: addressing the scholarship & science (factual knowlplementation plan were developed over
the spring and summer of 2010.The aim edge), technical know-how & practical skills
and professional attributes (human, ethical &
of the implementation project is to
interpersonal) for each presentation/problem
have the new MBBS curriculum fully
and incorporating illustrative patient journeys
established by the start of academic
New year 4 sensitive to needs of students
year 2012.
and local health care provision; Longer attachments to sites: with more generic objectives and clustering of provision
New year 5 based on lifecyle: from preconception to end of life
New year 6: thinking like a doctor, acting
like a doctor: focused on preparation for practice
Increased use of portfolio and virtual
learning environment (VLE)
The New MBBS curriculum: The UCL
Doctor
The starting point for any curriculum
development is, of course, the end
product and an agreed outcome for
graduates was established at the
outset of the review and subsequent
 continued on page 3
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
portant changes in years 1 and 2. A larger
number of modifications are due to be piloted or implemented in 2011/12 and so
intensive work is going on in all implementation groups in preparation for this.
 continued from page 2
New MBBS Structure
PATIENT PATHWAYS
Vertical themes
Including “SYNTHESIS”
PORTFOLIO
Progression
Year 1 - Fundamentals of clinical science 1
Assessment
Year 2 - Fundamentals of clinical science 2
Assessment
Year 3 - Scientific method in depth ( iBSc )
Assessment
Year 4 – Integrated Clinical Care
Assessment
Strategic planning and Governance
The implementation process is being led
by Professor Jane Dacre the director of
medical education. The operational lead
Year 5 - Life cycle
for the implementation process is Dr DebYear 6 - Preparation for Practice
orah Gill MBBS sub dean for curriculum
development. Four implementation workFoundation Programme
ing groups have also been set up to address specific areas: integration and curCountdown to September 2012
riculum mapping, curriculum delivery systems and innovations, workplace based
The implementation team are keen to en- learning/NHS implementation and the fisure that changes are enduring. Thus
nancial implications of implementation.
planned change is mindful of the context, The whole process is being overseen by
the financial implications of alterations in an experienced project manager and both
education delivery and necessary
an internal governance group and an exchanges to working patterns and roles for ternal review group.
faculty, NHS teachers and administrative
teams. We will use extensive staff and
Input from staff and students
student communication and targeted staff
development and training.
There is no doubt there is much work
ahead and a fair bit of flexibility and tolerThis will be a phased implementation
ance will be required from all as the new
rather than a big bang: with elements of
curriculum beds in. A range of channels of
the old and new curriculum running along- communication will be used so that everyside each other until 2012. A detailed im- one feels best prepared for the developplementation plan has been produced and ments ahead. With the ultimate aims of
many elements of the new curriculum will improving the student experience and preneed a significant lead time before full im- paring our students for their futures as
plementation due to their complex dedoctors in the 21st century, whilst working
mands on academic and administrative
within the confines of a changed NHS and
staff, the need for piloting and for appro- HE sector, the implementation team look
priate notification of existing and incoming forward to working with staff and students
students.
in the collegial spirit that encapsulates
UCL. If staff or students would like to
Changes for 2010/11
know more or perhaps to provide input to
one of the working groups they should
Change has started already. After some
contact Alex Nesbitt (students) —
intensive behind the scenes development mps.officer@ucl.ac.uk or Hilary Spencer
work over the summer of 2010 the new
(staff) - h.spencer@ucl.ac.uk.
final year has been launched (see next
article) together with some small but imDr Deborah Gill
Assessment
Assessment
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3
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
detailed arrangements for assessments,
supervision, prescribing and Student Assistantship .
New UCL Final Year curriculum
2010-11
The MBBS Curriculum Review has now
moved into the implementation phase and
perhaps a little unusually the first step
was to introduce a new Final Year that
began in September 2010. Changes were
in response to many factors including
feedback from our graduates, Foundation
Programmes, and GMC coupled with a
desire to see a return to more active involvement of students in clinical activities.
Early implementation has been made
possible by close teamwork between the
medical school, NHS Trusts and all our
GP partners. Full implementation will be
phased over two years and the emphasis
will be to encourage students to “Think
like a doctor, act like a doctor”. By focussing on thinking, students will be encouraged to integrate their prior learning
in biomedical and human sciences with all
their clinical experience, and apply it to
patient management during longer attachments. Ensuring students act like doctors
focuses on learners mastering key practical procedures in real clinical settings, as
well as demonstrating impeccable patientcentred professionalism.
The structure of the year. Most of the
changes are aimed at increasing student
engagement with patient care in hospital
to match active patient-based learning in
general practice. The first step is to move
to a single 16 week clinical block, incorporating the 4 week general practice attachment and 12 weeks on a single DGH site.
There will be a mandatory Student Assistantship of at least 2 weeks in 201011, during which students will care for 4-5
patients assisting a Foundation Doctor.
We have almost moved to using
downloadable Factsheets to simplify and
modernise communication with staff, clinical teachers and students. These cover
Key changes that will effect the clinical
attachment are:
“Personal Tutors” - Each student is allocated a Personal Tutor at the start of
the DGH attachment who they meet
during the first week, midway through
and at the end of the attachment to
discuss performance and to review the
various in-placement assessments.
Personal Tutors are responsible for
awarding the final grade.
Learning agreement – students are asked
to sign a learning agreement at the
start of the attachment to the DGH,
detailing their responsibilities during
the placement, together with the
Trust’s role in providing a safe learning
environment.
Procedures sign-off card – we are piloting
this to ensure students are observed
performing a few essential tasks
(including writing prescriptions) and
singed-off by any appropriate member
of the clinical staff (F2 or higher, senior nurse).
Multisource assessment (MSF) – students
have been asked to ensure that a
range of staff (and in general practice
at least 3 patients) complete a simple
feedback form to be discussed with
their Tutor
Further options for 2011 and beyond
We will increase the length of the hospital
assistantship to at least 4 weeks. We plan
to increase the amount of learning from
and with other professionals and we are
looking at ways of introducing a formal eportfolio.
 continued on page 5
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4
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
The presence of linked F1 and F2 jobs in
the same Trust makes this much more
 continued from page 4
straightforward. Towards the end of June,
Early Feedback
one or two of the F1 trainees involved in
We are awaiting results of a mid block
teaching who will be continuing as F2s in
student questionnaire but early feedback the Trust are identified and asked to suis very positive despite anxiety experipervise the delivery of teaching for the
enced during the UKFP application proc- new intake. They develop a handover
ess. Students and clinical teachers report strategy to ensure the new junior doctors
high levels of student engagement with
hit the ground running and understand
patient care although issues with some
what is required of them. Planning sevprocedures, MSF and out-of-hours oppor- eral months in advance allows the incumtunities have been indentified. We will in- bent junior doctor cohort to consider how
clude a brief update in the next DoME
they will hand over teaching materials and
newsletter.
tips for how to make teaching work in their
Dr Anita Berlin
trust.
A culture of teaching
Many of the Foundation Trainees coming
Promoting ‘Near Peer’ teaching
of undergraduates by Foundation to Basildon have previously been undergraduates here (indeed, the quality of the
Trainees
teaching and the opportunity to be involved in it is often given as an important
Over the last 5 years, junior doctors pre- reason for applying to the Trust) and so
dominantly, at Foundation Year 1 level,
they are aware of the teaching prohave played an increasingly important
gramme and keen to be involved in it.
part in the undergraduate education programme at Basildon Hospital. This inEncouraging participation
cludes ‘on the job’, bedside teaching, for- All new Foundation Trainees receive a
mal tutorials and mentoring. Several of
letter in their induction packs informing
these schemes have been recognised as them of the opportunities to teach. During
innovative and resulted in presentations at August (and prior to the start of the acathe national ASME conference and many demic year) I hold a meeting to give more
of the juniors have been awarded
detail and to introduce interested juniors
‘certificates of merit’ in teaching for their
to the important personnel in the Educacontribution.
tion Centre. Volunteers are then identified.
We are proud of our success at Basildon:
both in terms of excellent student feedback and in maintaining the momentum
for this kind of teaching year on year. We
have learnt a few lessons about promoting and maintaining junior doctor teaching
and share these here as advice for those
considering developing such activities at
other Trusts.
Innovation
It is surprisingly common for juniors to set
up small scale teaching, such as a once
weekly bedside teaching, that lies completely under the radar of the postgraduate centre. The disadvantages of this include quality control and the problem the
junior will face getting appropriate recognition for their efforts for their CV. It is
made clear to all juniors that new ideas for
Planning ahead
teaching are
 continued on page 6
Succession planning is of key importance. welcomed.
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5
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
 continued from page 5
I ask that ideas are submitted to me and that
they must fulfil certain
basic criteria. Foremost
amongst these are that
they fit with the overall
ethos of teaching at the
Aroon Lal
Trust, are open to all students at the Trust, do not clash with other
teaching activities and are capable of continuing throughout the year and preferably
beyond.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome/tpdu/
CertificateOfMeritInRecognitionOfJuniorStaffInvolvedInTeachingOnTheUCLMBBS
Programme
All juniors receive a letter of thanks from
the Education Centre detailing the extent
of their involvement in the teaching programme. Those delivering more innovative teaching are encouraged to consider
writing submissions for presentations at
meetings and funding is provided for their
attendance.
Support
Support is important, ensuring juniors do
not encounter obstacles in booking rooms
and reproducing teaching materials. Any
approved teaching receives support from
the administrative staff in the Education
Centre and advice from me. Feeling they
have ownership of the programme is vital
for juniors, so micromanagement from
above should be avoided. The system
runs best when enthusiastic juniors take
the lead
Dr Aroon Lal
Quality control
Juniors submit teaching material in advance for approval by the undergraduate
office. Any teaching session lead is required to collect feedback using standardised forms which are then submitted to
the Education Centre for review. Finally,
all sessions may be visited, unannounced
by a Consultant or Registrar to assess the
quality of the teaching. In the last scenario, feedback on the session is given to
aid development of the junior as a
teacher.
Intercalated BSc Review
The Intercalated BSc Programme was reviewed as part of the strategy to ensure
that the constituent degree programmes
are distinguished by their quality, focus
and value and enhance the outcomes of
the MBBS programme. The review was
initiated by Professor Sir John Tooke and
the recommendations of the review group
were endorsed by SLMS Education Board
(September 2010) and permission was
granted to proceed to implementation.
A vital feature of the revised MBBS programme (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
medicalschool/staff-students/mbbs-newcurriculum) will be an integrated (int)BSc
year that provides students with a strong
foundation in independent learning, critical thinking, scholarly writing and scientific method: a year of focused study that
substantially enhances outcomes not just
in the domain of the Doctor as Scientist
and Scholar, but also in the domains of
Rewarding teaching
the Doctor as Professional and the Doctor
The Education Centre encourages all jun- as Practitioner (http://www.gmc-uk.org/
iors involved in teaching to apply for
education/undergraduate/
teaching awards where the contribution
tomorrows_doctors.asp).
has been sufficient and I write in support.
 continued on page 7
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6
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
responsible for ensuring that all programmes are of excellent quality, are
aligned to the needs of The UCL Doctor
and that an appropriate range of IntBSc
Degree Programmes are available.
 continued from page 6
The review group recommended that
each Integrated BSc Degree Programme
that contributes to the overall MBBS Programme must:
All IntBSc providers will be required to
complete an annual return to enable the
strategy group to assess the compliance
of their programme against the requirements outlined above. The suggested
deadline for full compliance is September
2012 to meet the revised curriculum implementation date of September 2013.
Where quality standards cannot be met by
a programme the Strategy Group will recommend discontinuation of that programme. While working to maintain an
appropriate breadth of degree programme
choice, some current IntBSc degree programmes will be identified as uneconomic
in their current form. Such programmes
will either have to merge with suitable
partners, broaden their intake or discontinue. The Strategy Group will commission
new IntBSc Programmes when appropriate.
 Identify and articulate its links to the
overall MBBS programme.
 Provide students with an integrated
BSc experience in year 3 of the 6 year
MBBS programme.
 Substantially enhance the key generic
skills of independent learning, critical
thinking, scholarly writing and scientific
method.
 Provide small group work or tutorial
based learning to facilitate the development of critical thinking and/or critical appraisal skills.
 Expose students to other professionals
and scientists and, where possible, encourage joint working and learning in
preparation for the multidisciplinary nature
of clinical practice and research.
 Identify and articulate its links to UCLPartners academic themes (http://
www.uclpartners.com/).
 Allow sufficient time for students to
comply with the overall requirements of
the MBBS programme during the IntBSc
year (for example maintenance of the
portfolio)
 Provide robust personal tutoring in line
with UCL requirements.
 Consist of four course units and provide a compulsory laboratory, field, or literature based project: the project contributing 1 - 1.5 course units. Where the project consists of a literature based study
this will need to be sufficiently robust to
ensure students gain the appropriate
competencies in data analysis and interpretation.
The review and strategy documents can
be found at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
medicalschool/staff-students/mbbs-newcurriculum
Professor Mike Gilbey
Geek Calendar
Dr Petra Boynton (ACME) has posed for
the Geek Calendar, a project in aid of the
UK Libel Reform campaign. Petra explains her reasons for getting involved
here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/newsarticles/1010/10102101. Other stars of the
calendar include broadcaster Jonathan
Ross, former MP Dr Evan Harris and journalist Ben Goldacre. You can read more
about the Geek Calendar, and order your
copy, here: http://geekcalendar.co.uk/.
Working with the Medical School Quality
Assurance Unit a Strategy Group will be
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7
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
DoME NEWS
Sister Act SSC
As a part-time Senior Lecturer in Medical
Nicola Mathastein and I are supervising Education at UCL I am facilitating on
a clinical SSC called “Sister Act”. Nurtur- DoME's TIPS and London Deanery
Courses; chairing a working group on the
ing interprofessional collaboration and
enhancing medical students’ identities as review of the UCL MBBS course; leading
members of the multi-professional team, the General Medicine Specialties MBBS
module at UCLH; and tutoring on the
“Sister Act” allows a student to participate in basic and advanced nursing du- UCL/RCP Certificate and Diploma in
Medical Education.
ties.
For fun I like to eat, meet, cook, cycle,
play golf and tennis and follow Liverpool.
All that is soon to come to a halt as my
first kid is due in December.
Feedback from the course was encouraging, and we are planning to conduct a
qualitative enquiry based on reflective
diaries. An initial account of the course
has been published in the “Really good
stuff” section of the November 2010 edition of “Medical Education”. The article
can be found here: http://
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/
j.1365-2923.2010.03833.x/pdf
Macmillan Coffee afternoon
DoME raised a grand total of £57 at the
Macmillan Cancer Support Coffee Afternoon held on Friday 24th September.
Michael Klingenberg
Cancer Research — Race for
Life
DoME welcomes new staff
Dr Gavin Johnson—Senior Lecturer
DoME Staff members Deborah LucasGeorgiou, Heather Mitchell, Tara-Lynne
Poole, Marcia Rigby and Joanne Turner,
all took part in the Cancer Research
‘Race for Life’ this summer, raising over
£650. Well done!
http://www.raceforlife.org/
I did my undergraduate training at Newcastle University. In 2005 I spent a year
at the Royal College of Physicians as an
Education Fellow. In that year I was involved in writing the new UK postgraduate training curriculum for Physicians. I
then went on to complete my Gastroenterology training. Since moving to London I have completed the UCL/Royal
College of Physicians Certificate, Diploma and Masters in Medical Education. My MD in Medical Education assessment is due in Autumn 2010
(Assessing the Doctor in the Workplace:
The development and evaluation of
workplace-based assessments).
I took up a post at UCLH in June 2010
as a Consultant Gastroenterologist, and I L-R: Tara-Lynne Poole, Marcia Rigby, Joanne Turner,
am the Educational Lead for my Division. Heather Mitchell and Deborah Lucas-Georgiou.
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8
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
DoME NEWS
Student involvement in the Curriculum
Negin Amiri—Clinical President
This year is certainly an important one for
UCLMS and
RUMS. Thanks to
the thorough
handover I received from my
predecessor,
members of
RUMS executive
have been representing medical
students on different medical
Negin Amiri
school and union
committees, from the beginning of the
academic year, and raising issues that we
would like to tackle during 2010/11.
how the review could have disastrous effects on this.
Furthermore, the transformations being
made to the Foundation programme application, means that students will definitely
need more preparation, advice, and support; by working closely with the careers
and foundation transition programme
committee, we aim to provide students
with up-to-date information on the current
changes and ensuring they are well
equipped for their first ever application for
a long sought job.
Moreover, our new Welfare committee
members are in the process of being chosen; the members will work alongside the
medical school’s welfare committee, offering peer support and allowing a smoother
transition to the more formal welfare support provided by the medical school.
Educationally, with our recently chosen
academic representatives for Phases 2
and 3, we aim to ensure students’ views
are presented in all aspects of the MBBS
curriculum review. Our representatives
will be trained, by the QA unit, in providing
feedback to and from the students on the
current curriculum, and will be specially
trained in updating students on the
changes to be made and the effect of
these on their studies in the coming years.
This will certainly be a busy but interesting
year for us. The bars have been raised by
my predecessor and I can only try to
maintain the high standard of student representation already set and ensure that it
remains so in the coming years. As the
new RUMS Senior President, I very much
look forward to representing medical students both in the medical school, and
Having been exposed to the alarming pro- UCL union, ensuring that we receive a fair
posals put forward by the Browne review, education and a memorable time at mediRUMS executives will collaborate closely cal school, both academically and sowith the union, joining campaigns against cially.
the removal of the tuition fee cap, which is
very likely to affect both current medical
students and those to enter in the coming
years. Related to this, we aim to consider
widening participation in medicine and
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9
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
SLMS NEWS
Graduation
Over 350 students at UCL Medical School
donned caps and gowns to attend their
graduation ceremony on 6th July at the
Royal Festival Hall. The ceremony was attended by medical school staff including
the Vice-Provost (Health), Professor Sir
John Tooke, who gave the opening address.
med; Dr Pasquale Berlingieri; Dr Alena
Chong; the Practical Paediatric Prescribing
Module Team; and the Intercalated BSc in
Surgical Sciences Team (further information below).
Professor Jane Dacre, Director of the UCL
Division of Medical Education, said: “These
awards recognise outstanding contributions to the Medical School's teaching and
individual teaching excellence, they serve
to highlight the innovation and dedication
of our staff. The standard of candidates
Dr Deborah Gill, Deputy Director of Medical Education, presented Excellence in
Medical Education awards to staff and Professor Irving Taylor, Vice-Dean (Director of
Medical Studies), presented the University
of London Gold Medical Award; Dr Anita
Berlin, Sub-Dean for Quality, presented the
graduands to Professor Tooke; Professor
Jane Dacre, Vice-Dean and Director of
Medical Education, presented MBBS
graduands who achieved certificate of
merit or distinction and MBPhD graduands,
and Professor Ian Jacobs, Dean of the
John Tooke, Jane Dacre and the award winners
Faculty of Biomedical
Sciences, delivered has been extremely high and I am dethe closing address. lighted to congratulate the winners. Good
teaching is the cornerstone of a positive
student experience, and these awards reProfessor Tooke
said, “The ceremony flect staff commitment to teach students to
is an opportunity for the highest possible standard.”
those graduating to share their success
with family, friends and staff at UCL Medical School, I would like to wish all our
graduates happiness and satisfaction in
their career.”
Excellence in Medical Education
Awards
The EMEAs take place in February every
year and applications are open from anyone involved in the undergraduate medical
education of UCL Medical School students.
For more information about the EMEAs
please visit the Quality Assurance Unit
website: www.ucl.ac.uk/medicalschool/
quality/
The winners of the annual Excellence in
Awards
Medical Education Awards (EMEAs) were
invited to attend the Graduation Ceremony
Dr Jean McEwan, Reader in
on 6th July 2010 to receive their award.
Cardiology, has been awarded
a Division of Medicine ExcelThe Winners are: Dr Jonathan Costello;
lence in Teaching Award.
Professor Christopher Dean; Dr Mas AhTel: 020 7472 6861 Fax: 020 7472 6191 Email:v.edwards@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
10
Jean McEwan
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
SLMS NEWS
through both a wonderful ceremony and
UCL celebrates 2009 and 2010
University of London Gold Medal the award itself."
win
Just before the ceremony, the University
of London notified UCL that Ed Casswell
Anish Bhuva (UCL Medical School 2009) (UCL Medical School 2010) is the winner
received the 2009 University of London
of the 2010 University of London MBBS
MBBS Gold Medal for his outstanding
Gold Medal and that Catriona Mactier is
performance in a special exam taken by the first runner-up.
the top one per cent of final-year medical
students in London. The Medal was
awarded to Anish at the 2010 UCL Medical School Graduation Ceremony at the
Royal Festival Hall.
The Gold Medal accompanied by a
cheque for £500 is awarded annually to
the candidate who most distinguishes
him or herself in competition with all candidates at the Final MBBS Examination
across the medical schools of the University. Anish was awarded the Medal jointly
with a student from King’s College London. He saw off competition from other
candidates in six successive five-minute
oral examinations.
Catriona Mactier, Anish Bhuva, Ed Casswell,
John Tooke and Jane Dacre
In congratulating the students, Professor
Tooke said: “This is a highly prestigious
The Gold Medal examination involves
award, and as almost one third of newly
being interviewed by experts on patholqualified doctors graduate from the Uniogy, medicine, surgery, clinical pharmaversity of London, the winner is top of an
cology and therapeutics, obstetrics and
elite group. The award acknowledges the
gynaecology, and paediatrics. The criteeffort made by Anish, Ed and Catriona,
ria examined were knowledge, clinical
and those that supported their learning, it
context, therapeutic relevance and eviis very well deserved. The award condence-base, social and community confirms the place of UCL as a world-class
text and relevance, recent advances, and
medical school with outstanding stujudgement and reasoning.
dents.”
Following the ceremony Anish said: "It is
an honour to have won such a prestigious prize, even one year on. Looking
back, the examination still seems overwhelming - as does the magnitude of the
recognition. I would like to thank the University for their acknowledgement
Since its introduction in 1903, the Gold
Medal has been won on almost half the
years by candidates from UCL and its
constituent medical schools.
Tel: 020 7472 6861 Fax: 020 7472 6191 Email:v.edwards@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
11
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
DoME NEWS
AMEE Conference—UCL Stu- Overall we left the conference
equipped with novel teaching techdent presentations.
niques and a consensus that we
needed to produce more data to evaluThe AMEE 2010 conference was held ate potential prescribing interventions.
Having student produced education
in Glasgow in the Scottish Exhibition
work is always a great advertisement
and Conference Centre. This five day
Medical Education fest attracted dele- for the culture of learning in medical
gates from all over the world to see and education fostered at UCL. We would
present an array of posters, short com- like to thank everyone at ACME who
helped us to complete this project and
munications, PhD reports and workwho sponsored our attendance at the
shops. A huge range of topics were
covered from the impact of social net- event. We look forward to continuing
working sites on professionalism to our this work by helping develop the new
very own topic of prescribing teaching prescribing curriculum for medical undergraduates at UCL.
in medical students.
Our presentation stemmed from a pro-
Omer Ahmad, AMEE Chair, Lucinda Kennard, Sabih M Huq
Omer Ahmad & Lucinda Kennard—
FY1 UCL Graduates
I am very grateful to The Division of
Medical Education (DoME) for making
it possible for me to attend this year’s
conference for The Association for
Medical Education in Europe (AMEE),
which took place in Glasgow this past
September. The meeting was held at
the Scottish Exhibition and Conference
Centre, known affectionately as the
‘Armadillo’.
ject, that we had enjoyed taking on during our peer assisted learning (PALS)
SSC as medical students. With the supervision of Dr Sabih Huq, Clinical
Pharmacologist and Clinical Fellow at
ACME, we investigated prescribing
teaching and competence in UCL medical students. AMEE provided us with
the opportunity to share our findings
with the international community and it
soon became clear that there were
common themes.
The ‘Armadillo’: Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
 continued on page 13
Tel: 020 7472 6861 Fax: 020 7472 6191 Email:v.edwards@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
12
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
DoME NEWS
 continued from page 12
This yearly international meeting of
teachers, curriculum developers, researchers, assessors, and students was
an ideal setting for me to present a
poster of my research work that I undertook as part of my Year 2 Student Selected Component with Clinical Skills Tutor, Michael Klingenberg. The project
was a formal assessment of cannulation
performance by students in their 1st clinical year, with an emphasis on whether
supervision in a clinical setting had an
impact on their success. The poster was
well received and generated feedback
from other conference attendees that will
surely strengthen the overall project and
improve the likelihood of publication in
the future.
In addition to the poster sessions, the
conference organised workshops and
symposium covering an array of topics
relevant to medical educators and students alike. I particularly enjoyed learning about the way medical education was
taught in other countries and comparing
these systems with my experiences at
UCL – it surely made for interesting debate with other medical student attendees. Overall, this was a tremendous
learning experience for me, which helped
me to improve both my presentation and
communication skills, and also motivated
me to pursue research in the future.
Recognition of Teachers on the
MBBS programme
The MBBS programme is a complex and
multifaceted course with the highest
number of undergraduates on a single
programme within UCL. This endeavour
could not succeed without the enormous
effort of a large number of dedicated and
talented teachers. We have, via the
MBBS Quality Assurance Unit, a well established way of rewarding senior teachers via the Excellence on Medical Education Awards and Top Teacher Awards
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/medicalschool/
quality/) but it has sometimes been difficult to acknowledge and reward junior
staff involved in teaching.
The Division of Medical Education together with the MBBS Quality Assurance
Unit are pleased to announce we have
developed a recognition programme for
these novice teachers. If you work with
an FY1 or FY2 or any other very junior
member of staff who you think goes
‘above and beyond’ in their contribution
to MBBS teaching then please make
them aware of the recognition scheme.
Some guidance on junior doctors involved in teaching together with the certificate of merit application form is available form both the QA and the TPDU
website (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome/tpdu)
Adam Gwodz—Year 4 MBBS
AMEE website: http://www.amee.org/
index.asp
Tel: 020 7472 6861 Fax: 020 7472 6191 Email:v.edwards@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
13