DoME NEWS
Issue 1, September 2007
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
Welcome to the first issue of DoME News,
formerly ACME News. ACME became part of
the Division of Medical Education (DoME),
one of the divisions of the Faculty of
Biomedical Sciences (FBS) in the Autumn of
2006.
•To develop transparent agreements
allowing research active staff to continue to
devote the majority of their time to pure
research activity, but for departments to be
rewarded financially in relation to the amount
of teaching delivered
The creation of the Division of Medical
Education is an exciting opportunity. This
newsletter will provide regular updates on the
developments in the new division. It will keep
you up to date with the undergraduate MBBS
curriculum and the exams, together with new
and exciting developments in the
postgraduate courses supported by the
faculty. DoME News is published once a term.
The objectives of DoME are:
•To support and advise on the relevant
facilities and resources underpinning medical
education.
•To support the seamless high quality
education of medical students from YR1 to
YR6.
•To ensure both the integration of the
programme across the two existing faculties
(FLS and FBS) and throughout the five years,
and the integration of teaching and learning
policies and strategies
•To enhance and develop welfare and
fitness to practise arrangements across the
whole course
•To continue to ensure that the admissions
service is appropriate for the selection of
tomorrows doctors
•To enhance the status of learning and
teaching within the medical school
•To create a transparent structure whereby
money follows teaching
•To create a greater critical mass of
supported & committed teachers,
and a
career structure and promotion prospects in
medical education at UCL
•To integrate the administrative staff
involved in medical education delivery and
develop better central coordination with local
implementation.
The main role of the Division of Medical
Education (DoME) is to provide the
infrastructure for maintaining excellence in
education in a research led medical
school.
DoME CONTACTS
Director: Professor Jane Dacre
ACME Lead: Dr Deborah Gill
Admissions Lead: Dr Brenda Cross
Curriculum Management & Assessment
Lead: Prof Irving Taylor
Learning Resources Lead:
Ms Deirdre Wallace
Medical Student Administration Lead:
Ms Gaynor Jones
Quality Assurance Lead: Dr Anita Berlin
SIFT Office & Finance Lead:
Prof Jane Dacre
Welfare/Fitness to Practice Lead:
Dr Peter Raven
Division Administrator: Heather Mitchell
DoME, Level 4, Holborn Union Building,
Archway Campus, Highgate Hill, London
N19 5LW
Tel: 020 7288 5209
Email: h.mitchell@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
DoME News ~ Editor: Dr Deborah Gill ~ Layout & Design: Leonie Hayes
Tel: 020 7288 5964 Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
URL: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
MESSAGE FROM PROFESSOR ED BYRNE
her outstanding team at the Archway,
Bloomsbury and Royal Free sites. I look
forward to meeting all of the staff over the
Division of Medical Education and working
with you to continue to improve the
educational experience we offer and the
outcomes we achieve over the next few
years.
It is a great honour to join University
College London as Dean of the Faculty of
Biomedical Sciences and Head of the
Medical School. This is a marvellous
university with a world wide reputation for
excellence. It contains many of Europe’s
most outstanding medical research and
educational institutes. The progressive
mergers of the Middlesex Hospital
Medical School with University College
Hospital London School and then with the
Royal Free Hospital School have led to a
Medical School of enormous depth and
talent.
A great strength over the years has been
the degree of excellence in the Faculty of
Life Sciences with a long history of Nobel
Laureates and Fellows of the Royal
Society in many disciplines. This allows
an outstanding grounding in basic medical
science which has provided a strong
framework for the clinical sciences. As
with medical education internationally,
there have been strong moves in this
institution in recent years to integrate
programmes across the whole of the
medical education experience and to
enhance and develop aspects of medical
education relating to an understanding of
communication, of personal development
and of health and society.
We have had a recent planning meeting
involving senior colleagues from Life
Sciences and Biomedicine involved in the
MBBS organisation and governance and
have developed a strong buy in for a
uniform managerial structure which will
lead to increased cohesion in the Medical
School as part of our new School of Life
and Medical Sciences. We have the
opportunity to build on an already strong
base and develop increasingly
outstanding
health
educational
experiences for our students.
The
Division of Medical Education is a crucial
entity which underpins new developments
in this area.
We are very fortunate at UCL in the
calibre of the leadership we have
represented by Professor Jane Dacre and
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Professor Edward Byrne
Executive Dean of UCL Faculty of
Biomedical Sciences
Head of the Medical School
SUMMER 2007 MBBS & MB PhD
GRADUATION
Presentation Day took place in June at
Alexandra Palace. From a total entry of 374
students, 354 passed, 39 with Distinction and
38 with Certificates of Merit. Catherine Culley
was awarded the 1st Broderip & Atchison
Prize for overall performance in the final
MBBS examination and the Shiela Sherlock
Prize for the highest number of Distintions.
Thomas Cahill was awarded the 1st Helley &
Atchison Clinical Prize. The London Gold
Medal again went to a RF&UCMS student,
Chris Chang. We wish all our graduates
success in their coming careers.
Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
MESSAGE FROM PROFESSOR JANE DACRE
amongst our colleagues in this area. We
have set up a postgraduate education
working group
to share good
practise, and to increase the overall
number of postgraduate opportunities.
There are always several challenges in
medical education. Now that we have a
full division with the explicit responsibility
We are delighted to welcome Professor
Ed Byrne to UCL. He brings a wealth of
experience in leadership of a modern and
forward thinking medical school. This will
help to support the progress that we are
making in Medical Education.
We
continue to focus on delivering a broad
science based and clinically strong
curriculum in spite of the external
turbulence in the profession.
Our
graduates are well versed in the practical
aspects of clinical competence in addition
to having a broad knowledge base, so
should continue to thrive in the changing
world of clinical medicine.
We have been reviewing the role of the
new Division of Medical Education. One
of the issues we really need to focus on is
the
integration
of
the
MBBS
programme. This has been difficult as we
have traditionally spanned two
Faculties. The creation of the Faculty of
Biomedical Sciences,
and the new
School of Life and Medical Sciences will
facilitate better collaborative working for
the benefit of our students. We are
holding a small number of workshops over
the summer
months to develop our
ideas, ready to present to the faculty
senior management team in the Autumn.
We are working increasingly well within
the new divisional structure of the
Faculty. One of the main strands of the
current activity is the review and
enhancement of the Postgraduate
teaching across the divisions. There is a
wealth of enthusiasm and expertise
to focus on the teaching and learning
activities of our undergraduate and
postgraduate students, we are in a very
strong position to address them.
Professor Jane Dacre
Vice Dean
Director of Medical Education
ACADEMIC PROMOTION OF
DR DAVID PATTERSON
We are delighted to announce the promotion to
Professor of Dr David Patterson, Consultant in
Cardiology and Vice Dean for the Archway Campus.
David has been instrumental in developing the
Archway Campus into an excellent teaching venue,
both in terms of committed teachers and state of the
art facilities.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM UPDATE
Higher Education Academy Standards Framework – Implications for Medical
Teachers
standards outline what is expected of all
teachers involved in the higher education
sector. Medical educators do not fit neatly into
the categories normally used for university
teachers and so DoME are working with both
the HEA and with the Centre for the
Advancement of Learning and Teaching
(CALT) at UCL to try to define how we will
help our medical teachers to achieve the HEA
standards. Dr Anita Berlin, the Vice Dean for
Quality, has already begun to map out quality
standards for clinical teachers as a first step in
this
direction.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
medicalschool/quality As most medical
educators fit into the HEA classification of
‘occasional teachers’ this will probably mean
the HEA will ask DoME to set out probationary
requirements, define appropriate standards in
line with HEA standards, and set out
mechanisms of staff development to address
these.
A number of HEA standard compliant staff
development courses are available to medical
teachers either via the Teaching Improvement
Project System (TIPS) project or, for those
holding honorary or substantive UCL
contracts, with CALT.
Deborah Gill d.gill@medsch.ucl.ac.uk and
Anita Berlin a.berlin@pcps.ucl.ac.uk will be
working towards the implementation of the
standards on behalf of the medical school and
would welcome thoughts and suggestions
from medical educators across the school and
community.
The new national framework for professional
standards in teaching and supporting learning
was launched by Universities UK (UUK), the
Standing Conference of Principals (SCOP)
and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) on
the 23 February 2006.
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/regandaccr/
StandardsFramework(1).pdf
The framework was developed by the
Academy after extensive consultation with the
higher education sector. For the first time the
CALT's ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
The CALT academic development
programme includes a wide range of short
courses, seminars, workshops and
consultancy services as well as award-bearing
courses (PG Certificates, PG Diploma
Education and MA Education).
Further to the publication in February of the
UK Professional Standards Framework for
teaching and supporting learning in higher
education, we would draw your attention to an
enhanced programme of support activities
designed by the Centre for the Advancement
of Learning and Teaching (CALT) to meet the
needs of UCL staff.
We encourage you to take advantage of
these opportunities for the benefit of both staff
professional development and the UCL
student experience.
These activities assist staff to meet the
requirements of the UCL Professional
Standards Framework for teaching and
supporting learning alongside those offered by
other parts of UCL such as Information
Systems and Library Services.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Further information on short courses is
available on the CALT website at: http://
www.ucl.ac.uk/calt/academic-development/
calt-short-courses/index.htm
Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
Report by Caroline Fertleman
Last week at Alexandra
Palace I received an
Excellence in Medical
Education Award and the
Saad al-Damluji Prize. It was
a ceremony attended by all
the other prize winners and
more importantly the class of
2007 – all those who have
passed their MBBS to qualify
as doctors. It was a very
fitting occasion to have both
together and to recognise the
huge input of teaching that
every newly qualifying doctor
needs in order to succeed.
It was a significant honour
for me to receive a prize
named in honour of Saad alDamluji an enthusiastic,
clinical teacher who
unfortunately passed away at
a young age due to cancer.
Additionally I am pleased to
have been allowed to apply
for this award not only to put
teaching high up on the
agenda but also to have the
opportunity to promote and
have recognised either an
individual’s or a team’s
teaching excellence.
By applying for this award I
was able to consider my
teaching; not only its
strengths but also where
improvements could be
made. I was able to consider
what types of teaching I
undertake but also where I
have been instrumental in
curriculum and assessment
development and change. In
my application I chose to
illustrate different aspects of
my teaching rather than list
all of what I teach. My
philosophy is to be energetic
and enthusiastic and to be
able to continue this, as part
of my application, I put
examples of my teaching,
evaluation and the direction I
wish to take in the future.
Teaching is getting an
increasingly higher profile
and it is very exciting to play
my small part in its
promotion.
I
would
encourage anyone who
enjoys teaching and who
goes that extra mile to submit
an application for next year’s
awards.
You can see Caroline’s
application on the QA
website to give you some
ideas about how to put
together a successful
application at http://
www.ucl.ac.uk/
medicalschool/quality
EXCELLENCE IN MEDICAL EDUCATION AWARDS 2006-07
It is a principle of an organisation
committed to teaching and learning to seek
to identify and reward those making an
outstanding commitment to students and
their education. The Faculty of Biomedical
Sciences has updated the Medical School’s
award scheme for the recognition of
excellence in teaching and the facilitation of
medical student learning.
The aim of these Awards is to provide a
tangible means of recognition of exceptional
contribution to education in any phase of the
INDIVIDUAL WINNERS
Barbara Contopoulos
Dr Will Coppola
Shirley Cupit
Dr Caroline Fertleman
Dr Claire Kaye
MBBS programme.
We are delighted to announce the
winners of the first Excellence in Medical
Education Awards. The standard was very
high and the competition stiff. The Team
award this year has been split between two
exceptionally strong applications. The newly
instated Saad al-Damluji Award was given to
Dr Caroline Fertleman for her outstanding
clinical teaching. All the winners attended
the Graduation Ceremony on 27th June to
receive their award.
TEAM WINNERS
Clinical Skills
Deirdre Wallace,
Glenda Baillie, Michael
Klingenberg, Catherine
Phillips, Tina Nyazika,
Nicola Mathastein
Beverly Peter
Dr Pamela Philips
Dr Adrian Wagg
Dr Wit Woothipoom
Dr Jane Zuckerman
Whittington Obstetrics
& Gynaecology/
Midwifery
Heulwen Morgan, Carol
Saunders, Therese
Bourne
Congratulations to Michael Klingenberg, one of the clinical skills tutors, who has recently
been awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Education.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
ACME NEWS
Sharing Good Practice across the disciplines
through the sense of touch. When being
trained with the Haptic Cow, the student
palpates computer generated virtual
objects resembling parts of the bovine
reproductive tract. The teacher provides
instruction and feedback while following
the student's actions inside the cow on the
computer monitor.
For some months now members of
DoME have been working with Sara
Baillie of the Royal Veterinary College at
Hatfield to help them to develop a peer
assisted learning (PAL) programme for
veterinary students. Sarah and her team
became interested in developing a
programme after seeing Deborah Gill
present a project on PALS at the Clinical
Skills Conference in Prato, Italy. Sarah
and some of her staff attended the TIPS
course and PAL training events and have
adapted some of the teaching materials
for their own use. Senior veterinary
students are now involved in a range of
Sarah and Deborah are now working
together on a project to look at a new
simulator that can assist with a set of core
palpation skills that become the building
blocks of a whole range of procedures. It
is hoped that the simulator could easily be
adapted for medical training.
successful PAL projects.
The interaction and sharing of good
practice has been a two way process:
Deborah and Deirdre Wallace have visited
the Clinical Skills Centre at the Veterinary
College and have been particularly
impressed by the The Haptic Cow: a
virtual reality simulator developed to train
veterinary students to palpate the bovine
reproductive tract, to perform fertility
examinations and to diagnose pregnancy.
The simulator uses haptic (touch
feedback) technology, which allows a user
to interact with a 3D virtual environment
Tel: 020 7288 5964 Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
ACME NEWS TIPS in Libya
It is well documented that UCL plays a
major role on the international stage in
terms of education provision and research
and the Academic Centre for Medical
Education (ACME) is no exception.
a lecturer gets paid at least four times as
much as a non-academic clinician, and
therefore academic posts are seen as
prestigious, most were keen to be
amongst the academic pioneers.
ACME was approached earlier this year
by the Libyan Board of Medical
Specialties (equivalent to the Royal
College of Physicians in the UK) via a
Libyan Paediatrician, who practises in the
UK, to deliver the TIPS course in Libya.
TIPS programmes are highly evaluated
here
at
RF&UCMS
and similarly
the
course
was very well
received
in
Libya.
The first thing we did was pool our
knowledge of the country.
Wasn’t it
Muslim? Yes definitely, and they spoke
Arabic. It was in North Africa, and the
flight was probably about five hours long
(just over two in fact). We were told by
our hosts that we could expect a polite
reception and that the level of English
would be very high. Libya is also a
wealthy country with the resources and
inclination to modernise. In Libya the
medical curriculum follows ‘traditional’
methodology and there is no formal
teaching training provided, as was very
much the case in the UK ten years ago.
From
the
first session,
enthusiastic
interaction
took
place
and participants held similar views to us
about effective teaching and learning.
There were, of course, a few cultural
miscommunications, and teaching was
demanding. It required much thinking on
our feet, checking with our Libyan
colleague from the UK that our
interpretations of participants’ responses
and our understanding of their
perspectives were correct.
On arrival at Tripoli International airport
our passports were taken from us and we
were asked to wait while they were
processed. The following day, bright and
early, the teaching began. The course
was attended by 21 Paediatricians from
across Libya. These participants had
been encouraged to attend, but given that
The feedback was very positive and we
have been asked to return in December to
Libya, this time to Benghazi, to deliver the
course together with a one day workshop
on assessment. It is proposed that after
the delivery of these we will discuss
formalising the relationship
between the Libyan Board of
Medical Specialties and ACME
over a five year period. We look
forward to continuing to support
the Libyan Board of Medical
Specialties in their implementation
of innovations in learning and
teaching in Medical Education.
Jane Richardson and Kath Woolf,
November 2006
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
ACME AND THE GMC PROJECT
communication skills as well as their
clinical method. New stations were written
to utilise the advances that have been
made in computer simulation technology
and manikins.
For the last 10 years ACME has worked
together with the General Medical Council
to develop and run objective tests of
competence for use in assessing poorly
performing doctors. Since these tests
were developed in 1997, 500
assessments have been completed and
these have shown clear differences in the
standard of performance of doctors
referred for a ‘fitness to practise’ review
as compared to a volunteer group.
To assess the validity, reliability and
feasibility of these new assessments we
have held two ‘validation’ weeks in
October and November 2006. During
these weeks, volunteer doctors from
seven separate specialties took the ‘new’
tests and were assessed by trained
examiners. The results and feedback
obtained by both the volunteers and
assessors is currently being assessed
before any new material is included in an
actual assessment.
Over the last 18 months as part of our
collaboration with the GMC, we have
been reviewing and updating these
assessments to ensure all the material is
up to date and in keeping with the
guidance provided in ‘Good Medical
Practice’ .
In 2007, we have planned for a further 3
weeks of ‘validation’ and using the data
collected would hope to start including the
‘new’ material in assessments by the end
of the year.
Following recommendations provided by
the Postgraduate Medical Education
Board (PMETB) regarding the ‘best
practice’ for knowledge tests, we have
altered the format of our assessment to
only include Single Best Answer (SBA)
and Extended Matching Questions
(EMQ). The ‘old’ tests were reviewed and
edited by cross-specialty writing groups;
the same groups wrote new questions
concentrating in the areas of ‘Good
Medical Practice’ that had not previously
been tested.
Different working groups also reviewed
and edited the OSCE stations (objective
structured clinical examination) which is
used to assess the doctor’s practical and
Would you like to participate in the validation
of assessment instruments for the General
Medical Council (GMC)?
The GMC has developed assessment procedures
for investigating poorly performing doctors. The
assessment instruments for this process are under
constant review to ensure that they are pertinent
and up to date.
The Academic Centre for Medical Education,
(ACME), at UCL, carries out this work with the
GMC and needs practising doctors of good standing to take a written test and a set of clinical skills
tests in an OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical
Examination) format. This will enable us to validate the tests. The tests are set at the level of doctors starting FY2. We are also looking for experienced OSCE assessors.
Doctors taking the tests will receive a fee of £350,
Tel: 020 7288 5964
plus travel expenses. Assessors will also be paid.
The day will last from 9:30 to 4:30.The venue will
be the General Medical Council offices on Euston
Road in London. CPD credits will be given. Available sessions:
Validation Day
Specialty
5 November 2007
Emergency Medicine
6 November 2007
Emergency Medicine
11 December 2007
Emergency Medicine
12 December 2007
Emergency Medicine
7 November 2007
General Medicine
8 November 2007
General Medicine
13 December 2007
General Medicine
14 December 2007
General Medicine
Contact:
Joanne Turner t.acme@medsch.ucl.ac.uk indicating the day you want to attend and whether you
are a volunteer test-taker or an assessor.
Fax: 020 7288 3322 Email: l.hayes@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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