An Coiste Feabhais Acadúil
The Committee on Academic Quality Improvement
The Academic Quality Assurance Programme 2003-2004
Report to Údarás na hOllscoile
Review of
Department of Medicine
A SECOND REVIEW
Self-Assessment
Review Group Visit
Follow Up Meeting
Sept 2003 to Jan 2004
11th – 12th March, 2004
17th June 2004
This Report was compiled for members of Údarás na hOllscoile, NUI Galway and its
committees as a readily accessible but comprehensive source of information on the above
review, its context and its outcomes.
Quality Office, May 2007
Report to Údarás – Review of Department of Medicine 2003–2004
1. Overview of Department of Medicine
1.1 Background
The Department of Medicine is a core resource in the delivery of the programme leading to the
MB degree. In 1997–98 it was one of the first departments in the University to be reviewed as
part of NUI Galway’s ongoing quality assurance process. The present Professor of Medicine
and Head of Department was appointed in 2002.
1.2 Vision, Aims and Objectives
The Vision of the Department of Medicine is to be the best academic medical department in
Ireland.
Aims and Objectives
a) To achieve excellence in research and scholarship in basic science and clinically based
research of international repute.
b) To achieve excellence in the training of undergraduate medical students.
c) To produce a medical graduate who has learnt to take responsibility for his/her further
education and professional development.
d) To provide excellence in the training and education of post-registration medical graduates.
e) To foster a teaching ethos and promote a high profile for medical education within our
teaching sites.
f) To promote continuing personal and professional development for all members within the
Department through training opportunity and reward.
g) To participate in community service activities, especially in the West of Ireland.
1.3 Student numbers and Staff to Student ratio
The number of fulltime equivalent (FTE) students in the Department was 125 in the year
2001/02, representing an increase of 218% in the four years since 1997–98.
In 2001–02, the number of FTE academic staff in the Department was 5.3, giving a student:
staff ratio of 23.4 in year ending 2002. This ratio was 28.6 in 1998–99.
1.4 Accommodation and Facilities
The academic Department of Medicine is located in the Clinical Science Institute on the
University College Hospital, Galway campus.
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2. Review Group Visit and Report
The review team consisted of: Dr. Paula O'Leary, Department of Medicine, University College Cork (Chair);
Professor David Hadden, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast; Professor T. J. McKenna, Royal College of Physicians,
Dublin; Dr. John Laffey, Department of Anaesthesia, NUI Galway and Professor Andrew Erskine, Department of
Classics, NUI Galway, acting as Rapporteur.
2.1 Comments on the Agreed Actions arising from First Review in 1997–98
Action Plan for Department of Medicine (1998)
a) The Department has implemented a series of staff meetings, which appear to be functioning
well. In addition, there are regular meetings of departmental committees.
b) The Faculty Core Curriculum Reform Committee is in the process of making
recommendations to the Faculty on curricular change. The Department of Medicine has a
strong input into the curriculum reform process.
c) The Department has instituted both formal and informal student feedback programs. Staffstudent committees have been instituted and students are represented on faculty committees.
In addition, in the current academic year the Department has met with its fourth and final
year students individually. These meetings appear to be working well and the students
expressed satisfaction with the feedback system.
d) The students appear satisfied with their increased opportunities to make oral presentations
within the Department.
Action Plan for University Management (1998)
a) The Review group recognises the excellent progress that has been made in relation to the
appointment of staff with substantial protected academic time in the Department of
Medicine.
b) A system of honorary appointments for clinical teachers has not been established. The
Review group recognises the central role of the Clinical Lecturers in the teaching of
undergraduate medical students within the Department. The establishment of a promotional
track for Clinical Lecturers is a matter of the highest priority.
c) The University has provided one Clinical Tutor but additional tutors are urgently required.
The Review group supports the provision of additional Clinical Tutors to the Department of
Medicine.
d) The Review group recognises that the University has provided substantial funding to enable
the development of the Department under its new Professor.
e) The status of the ‘affiliated hospitals’ must be reviewed as a matter of urgency. The Medical
Faculty and Health Sciences Faculty and the University should apply to the Government to
designate these hospitals as teaching hospitals a matter of urgency.
f) It had been originally proposed that a representative of the Western Health Board be coopted onto the Governing Authority. The Review group understands that alternative
arrangements are in effect to facilitate co-operation between the University and Health
Board. It is important that an effective liaison group continues to function between the
University and the Health Board, and that this liaison should function at a number of
managerial levels
g) Student feedback appears to be effectively collected and analysed within the Department.
There does not appear to be a centralised service for the collection and analysis of student
feedback on teaching, administration and assessment.
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Report to Údarás – Review of Department of Medicine 2003–2004
2.2 Summary, and Key Recommendations from Report
The Department of Medicine is undergoing a major transformation. A new form of geneticallyorientated basic and applied research is progressing at a rapid rate. The organisation and
structure to support these activities will need reassessment. Senior staff capable of taking on
leadership roles within the department are essential to this process.
The educational responsibilities of the Department are changing and expanding. This
activity is at a less advanced stage than the research programme. A number of key issues must
be addressed to facilitate the educational endeavours of the Department. These include:
a) The establishment of a University-recognised promotional pathway for Consultant
Physicians participating in the academic programme.
b) The University needs to assist Faculty in obtaining ministerial orders to have the affiliated
hospitals formally declared teaching hospitals (originally proposed in 1998 review) with
appropriate technology, infrastructure and supporting personnel.
c) The establishment of Clinical Skills Laboratory is essential.
The overall impression of the review group was of a highly dynamic and internationally
competitive department.
3. Action Plans
Follow up Meeting
12.00 h Thursday 17 June 2004, Room 340, Clinical Science Institute
th
Present: Mr Mike Kavanagh – Registrar’s Office, Dr Tony Carney – Dean of Medicine & Health Sciences (the
Dean), Professor Gerard Hurley - Dean of Research, Professor Tim O’Brien – Head of Department, Dr Fidelma
Dunne, Ms Debbie Monroe, Ms Una O’Connor, Dr John Laffey – Cognate member of Review Group, Professor
Andrew Erskine – Review Group Rapporteur, Professor Jim Gosling - Director of Quality (Chair), Ms M Linnane
(in attendance)
3.1 Action Plan for the Department:
a) The Department will continue to strengthen its management structures by regular
departmental meetings and the formation of subcommittees as appropriate. Improvement of
communications with clinical teachers at all sites associated with the Department and the
development of administrative supports will be emphasised and significant progress has
been made to date.
b) The Department supports fully the urgent reform of the MB, BCh, CAO Curriculum and is
working in the Core Curriculum Committee to this effect. In this context, the Department
will:
i)
Work with the faculty and other departments to insist on the creation of modern
facilities for the teaching of basic clinical skills before September 2005; and
support more structured and effective training in basic clinical skills
ii)
Give particular attention to integration of Dermatology into the Curriculum
iii) Support and participate in teaching activities leading to each medical student
giving an oral presentation with audio-visual supports at least once a year during
the clinical medical programme, starting in 2005–06.
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iv)
Support more regular formative feedback to students, more assessment of
‘procedural skills’ and greater transparency with respect to the allocation of
marks.
c) The Department will maintain and enhance as appropriate its comprehensive system for
student feedback on teaching, courses and course organisation.
d) The head of Department will reorganise administrative loads across the areas of teaching
and research within the Department and REMEDI to reduce the load on departmental
administrators.
3.2 Action Plan for University Management:
a) The president will make contact with the new Health Service Executive Authority (HSEA)
with a view to establishing HSEA/University liaison on a formal basis in order to continue
the very useful work until recently underway with the CEO of the WHB and her officers.
b) Because of national and strategic developments in education for health care, the high
priorities of a number of essential Faculty initiatives and other growing commitments, the
Registrar recognises that it is essential that the deanship of the Medicine and Health Science
faculty become a fulltime position supported by a senior manager.
c) The Dean is working with the deans of the other Irish medical schools
i)
To deal with issues that arise from the implementation of the European Working
Time Directive, the Hanley Report and health service reform.
ii)
To achieve the restructuring of existing clinical consultant contracts to
accommodate protected academic time for teaching e.g. nine clinical and two
academic sessions.
d) The Dean continues to support the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Working
Group on ‘Recognising Professional Contributions’ which submitted a revised report on the
establishment of a promotional track for clinical lecturers in April 2005. This Group is now
considering wider issues including the recognition of the contributions of nurses, general
practitioners and others to the teaching of medical students.
e) The Dean will initiate a process leading to the development of proposals for the further
recognition of hospitals in Midland, North Western and Western Ireland as ‘affiliated
hospitals’ of the NUI Galway Medicine and Health Sciences Faculty. These proposals will
also cover the improvement and appropriate standardisation of teaching infrastructure in
UC, Merlin Park and the affiliated hospitals.
f) The Dean will work with the Registrar’s Office and the heads of the medical departments to
achieve approval the next five years of the academic staffing plan for the medical
departments in the Faculty. This will include:
i)
The appointment of further senior academic staff to the Department of Medicine
and will take support under REMEDI into account.
ii)
The appointment of further clinical tutors to the Department with at least one
located at the Merlin Park Hospital to coordinate medical teaching there.
g) The Dean will work with the Core Curriculum Committee to introduce ‘ECTS’
standardisation of teaching programmes and modules in the new medical curriculum, and
thereby regularise calculations of ‘Fulltime Equivalent Students’ and resource allocations to
departments.
h) The Librarian is identifying the extent and degree of limitations on access by students of
NUI Galway to library facilities at UCHG, Merlin Park Hospital and at the affiliated
hospitals, and will report back to the Director of Quality on issues identified and plans for
improvements by 27 May 2005.
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i) The Director of Computer Services, in conjunction with the Dean and other university
officers, will work to ensure (as quickly as the available resources allow) that students are
provided with access to computers and the University Network from within the Clinical
Science Institute, UCHG, Merlin Park Hospital and the affiliated hospitals.
Approved by: Head of Department, Professor T O’Brien, 18th April 2005
Approved by: Dean of Medicine & Health Sciences, Dr P A Carney, 8th April 2005
Approved by: Representative for the Research Office, Dr M Hiney, 27th April 2005
Approved by: Registrar, Professor J Browne, 19th April 2005
Finalised: 11th May 2005, Jim Gosling, Director of Quality
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