Group run by academics from University of Bristol Medical School with an interest in Medical Education Research. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not of Bristol Medical School or the University.
BMERG is really pleased and proud to share that Bristol’s Alice Middleton, Carys Gilbert, Philippa Dodd & Isabel Rimmer, from our Gloucester Academy at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust have been awarded the Technology Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group Annual Scholarship Meeting Oral Presentation Prize for their presentation,
“Low-Tech, High-Yield; the utility of virtual patients using simple presentation software“
Continuing our conference report theme, Dr Ed Luff reflects on the Association for the Study of Medical Education Conference recently held in Birmingham, UK.
The Eastside Rooms Conference Centre, Birmingham UK
The 12th-14th of July brought the return of the Annual Scholarship Meeting (ASM) of the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME), which took place at the Eastside Rooms conference centre in Birmingham. The three-day programme of events saw representation from a wide range of attendees from Bristol Medical School and the Academies, presenting work at a national-level medical education conference. Presenters came from all areas within the school, from professors and lecturers to medical students and clinical teaching fellows (CTFs) to MSc and PhD students, showcasing the wide range of work conducted around medical education within Bristol Medical School.
Once again, this year Bristol was extremely well represented at the conference, with contributions comprising 2 workshops, 15 oral presentations and 29 poster presentations, which exceeded the high bar set at last year’s conference. Huge congratulations to all those who were involved in presenting, authoring, and contributing to the work that was presented, it really highlights the excellent and high-quality work that is being conducted both locally and regionally. Work was presented by academics from within the medical school, those based at academies around the region, including both North and South Bristol, Bath, Gloucester & Cheltenham, and Swindon, as well as current undergraduate medical students and doctors completing their MSc in Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals (TLHP) and PhD.
The range of topics and areas of the curriculum covered by presenters from Bristol ranged from paediatrics to palliative care, professionalism to research paradigms, interprofessional learning and simulations on Boeing 747’s, transgender and non-binary healthcare, and gamification of sexual health. Many presentations highlighted collaboration both within the medical school, across different academies and hospital sites, as well as with outside organisations and other institutions and healthcare professionals.
This year also saw the inclusion of a new presentation format at the conference, the ‘What’s Your Point?’ sessions, where presenters were invited to start a conversation and present on a topic of interest or debate. We had a thought-provoking oral presentation on the future of medical educators, and poster presentations on classical cases/ typical presentations, promoting interprofessional education, a professionalism reporting system and engagement with teaching innovations.
ASME as a conference provides a wonderfully welcoming and inclusive environment to inspire, engage and network. It is friendly and accessible, with sessions covering the full spectrum of medical education, from admissions and widening access, through undergraduate, foundation years, and postgraduate training. There really is something for everyone and the wide range of parallel ‘pre-conference’ and ‘intra-conference’ sessions, symposia and workshops provide an opportunity for attendees to build skills and develop in areas of personal interest.
Dr Alice Middleton, CTF co-lead, based at Gloucester Academy, reflected on her experiences from the conference:
“I presented about using virtual patients to teach clinical reasoning, and was encouraged by queries and enthusiasm about the project from members of the Technology Enhanced Learning ‘TEL’ special interest group of ASME – I have joined them! I also attended the TASME prize presentation session and talked to one of the presenters after the session, we have since been emailing about potentially collaborating on a project about teaching clinical reasoning which is exciting; it was a great opportunity to link up and learn from people doing similar-but-different things in other medical schools in the UK.”
Dr Sam Chumbley, a CTF based at South Bristol Academy commented:
“This was my first ever conference, and who knew they could be so fun?! I met so many like-minded people, and everyone commented on how approachable everyone is it ASME. You can be asking a presenter a question after their talk, and then sharing a meal with them later that day. The talks were fascinating, with a heavy focus on EDI topics this year, which has empowered me to speak up when seeing colleagues or patients being discriminated. Other talks focused on topics like innovation in education, which is always exciting to hear about, and has made me less terrified of the advent of AI in education. Ultimately, ASME has set the bar very high for future conferences I will attend!”
To showcase the amazing contributions made by those within the medical school, we have created a Sway which contains information about all the work presented by those associated with Bristol Medical School.* You can view summaries of the two workshops, copies of the abstracts for the oral and poster presentations and electronic versions of all the posters too. Access the sway via this link: BRMS at ASME 2023. A collated Bristol abstracts booklet can be viewed here:
The full ASME 2023 conference brochure can be downloaded here: ASME 2023 brochure. The conference brochure contains detailed information on keynote speakers, pre and intra-conference sessions including symposia and pop-up events, parallel sessions and oral presentations. The abstracts book can be downloaded here: ASME 2023 Abstracts book. The abstracts book contains details of all abstracts included at the ASM 2023. Each individual abstract has its own page including information on the authors and presenters. This includes submissions for e-Posters, oral presentations, relevant awards, and What’s Your Point? sessions. For information about joining ASME visit: www.asme.org.uk/membership/.
Next year’s ASM will be held in Warwick, from the 10th-12th of July 2024, with the theme ‘Maximising Potential’. We hope that next year will bring further success for Bristol Medical School at ASME. We are also looking forward to the AMEE conference, which this year is being held in Glasgow from the 26th to the 30th of August. The best of luck to everyone who is presenting.
* We have done our best to ensure that all work presented at this event has been included here, but if you think we have missed yours and you would like it added, please get in touch.
In the next of our hot topic blogs, Dr Fiona Holmes from our BMERG committee talks about what actually defines a ‘Hot topic’ in Medical Education, and the importance of thinking about why and how we find out about what’s new and upcoming in our discipline.
While I was thinking about what to discuss, I realised that what I think is a hot topic might be just lukewarm to other people. We are all driven by different interests, experiences, and priorities.
In the hope of finding relevant and interesting subjects I started by looking into why a topic is hot, how they are identified and why this is important (which links back to why a topic is hot). This led me to what main areas of medical education are currently widely considered to be hot, and we look forward to exploring some of these in more depth in future hot topic blogs.
Why are topics considered ‘hot’?
Hot topics are influenced by various social and cultural contexts and needs, and may be hot because they are:
Relevant
Controversial
Timely
Impactful
Novel
Within medical education, and by extension pedagogical research in this field, there are a wide range of factors that have been identified to contribute to hotness:
Advancements in knowledge and technology: It has been estimated that new medical information doubles every 73 days. What and how to teach and the evaluation of learning needs to keep pace with these developments. How to prepare students to deal with such rapid developments and to be life-long learners is also a priority. Advances in technology for teaching and learning as well as the practice of medicine are transforming healthcare and its education. Adapting education to these technological changes will ensure future healthcare professionals are prepared to utilise these tools effectively.
Patient-centred care: With ever-changing healthcare needs and demographics, education research is needed to address the teaching of emerging health concerns, population health management, and the needs of diverse patient populations. This is twinned with a need for more consideration of patients’ values, preferences, and needs when making healthcare decisions therefore effective education in communication skills, empathy, cultural competence, and shared decision-making.
Interprofessional collaboration: Effective co-training of different healthcare professionals to foster teamwork skills to prepare students for collaborative healthcare environments.
Accreditation, regulation, stakeholder input: Accreditation bodies and regulatory agencies may revise guidelines to promote quality, safety, and innovation in medical education, prompting educational institutions to adapt their curricula accordingly. Such changes can drive research in this area. Likewise, public expectations, patient advocacy, and input from stakeholders (e.g., healthcare providers, patients, policymakers) play a role in shaping medical education and its research. These can influence curriculum content, teaching methods, and the overall educational experience.
Global health and environmental challenges: Global health issues, such as pandemics, emerging infectious diseases, health disparities, as well as environmental contexts highlight the need for a globally competent healthcare workforce. Medical education is addressing these challenges by incorporating global health content, cross-cultural training, and exposure to international healthcare systems.
Then of course there is medical education research itself and the innovation and design that comes with sharing evidence-based practice. This contributes to the evolution of medical education by identifying effective teaching methods, assessment tools, and strategies for continued professional development and aiming to ensure that innovation is beneficial.
How do hot topics get identified and become ‘hot’?
You may initially think that hot topics are simply those that are most prevalent in the current medical education journals, and this may well be true. Most things move in cycles and there are often trends for the types of issues that we see and trends in the solutions implemented. But, when you think about it, how do we find out what is prevalent or ‘trending’ at any given time?
There are number of ways to identify recurring themes, emerging topics and changes in research focus and involve both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and there is some overlap in the methods used. Examples include:
Literature review: The systematic search, selection, and evaluation of relevant studies.
Bibliometric analysis: Analysis of publication and citation patterns over time to provide insight into the volume of research, popular topics, influential authors, and collaborations within the field.
Content analysis: Systematically categorise and analyse the content of research articles, conference proceedings to identify patterns and trends in research articles, social media discussions and online forums.
Surveys/questionnaires: Analysis of perceptions and attitudes of educational practices and emerging trends.
Interviews/focus groups: In-depth exploration of topics and contextual information.
Let’s look at an example:
Ji et al (2018) used social network analysis to identify changing trends in medical education and interpreted their findings to suggest 5 eras of medical education:
Figure. Ji et al Eras of medical education research
Hot topic research is important to ensure that medical education remains dynamic, responsive, and aligned with the evolving demands of the healthcare field and the needs of the learner. It supports the continuous improvement of medical education, leading to better-prepared healthcare professionals and ultimately improved patient outcomes.
Identifying hot topics helps time-limited researchers and educators stay informed about the latest trends, innovations, and challenges in medical knowledge, education and assessment practices to enhance teaching and learning methods, and to focus efforts on areas that require attention. This can then inform curriculum development and promote evidence-based practices.
Sharing hot topic research also helps to foster collaboration and networking among those with shared interests, leading to the exchange of ideas and development of research networks. As this grows, this helps institutions and funders prioritise and allocate resources by identifying areas of high research interest and impact. This is particularly important in identifying areas of medical education that are under-researched or require further attention.
What is hot right now?
Here are 8 of the hottest topics currently shaping medical education research in 2023:
Technology in education: Virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Digital tools to engage with, filter and disseminate information that are interactive, efficient, and individualised.
Experiential and simulation-based learning: Through VR and AR, standardised patients, manikins, clinical scenarios to allow students to practice complex procedures and decision-making in a safe and controlled environment, improving their skills, confidence and safety.
Interdisciplinary education and team-based learning: Students from various healthcare disciplines learn about, from and with each other collaboratively. Case-based discussions and interprofessional simulations and debriefing, allow students to develop the skills needed to function in teams. It improves patient outcomes and enhances healthcare delivery and professional satisfaction by encouraging mutual respect, understanding, and effective communication.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion: Recruitment and retention of students from diverse backgrounds so that the healthcare profession better represents the patient population. Educating students in culturally appropriate care practices and social determinants of health. Learning environments to promote respect for diverse perspectives and equality of opportunities.
Competency-based education: Teaching and assessing ability to perform specific tasks and skills rather than relying solely on traditional exams to ensure proficiency in essential competencies required for clinical practice.
Biopsychosocial education: Effective teaching and learning to provide a more holistic, ethical and comprehensive approach to patient case.
Wellness and resilience: Self-care, stress management, and mental health support approaches such as mindfulness and peer support networks. Curriculum reform, including flexible scheduling, reducing workload and modifying assessment practices to create a healthier learning environment and promote a culture of empathy and compassion in healthcare.
Data-driven and evidence-based medicine: Education in critical appraisal of biomedical literature, interpret research findings, and apply evidence-based practices in clinical decision-making.
So, I hope it is interesting to consider why we should know the hot topics for research and identify topics that are warming up so that we can strive towards thoroughness in medical education research. We look forward to sharing more hot topics through the BMERG blog.
“Medical education is not just a program for building knowledge and skills in its recipients… it is also an experience which creates attitudes and expectations.” Abraham Flexner
If you are a health sciences education researcher and are looking for training in research methods, check out the new programme from Bristol Medical School Short Courses.
Short courses are designed for researchers and healthcare practitioners and cover a range of topics on research methodology, design and analysis in health sciences. From statistics to qualitative methods, data visualisations, or writing up journal papers, there is something to support your research journey.
Bookings will be available from midday on 17th October.
Find out more on the short course website or explore the chart of courses available month-by-month below.
It’s conference season and Sarah Allsop reflects on the AOME-INHWE conference held recently at Cardiff University.
Centre for Student Life, University of Cardiff
The joint conference between the Academy of Medical Educators (AOME) and the International Network for Health Workforce Education (INHWE) was held last week in the beautiful city of Cardiff and hosted by Cardiff University in the Centre for Student Life.
Over the three days, the presentations and workshops spanned a huge diversity of topics, but centred around the values and culture that we need to support excellent patient care through working together. One of the frustrations of conferences is that due to the parallel nature of the scheduling, you can’t always get to everything that you really want to see. The flip side of this, is that you might end up attending something you didn’t expect, which turns out to be really interesting and useful. I love the fact that you always make new connections and learn something new at conferences.
A few of the talks really stood out for me during the conference.
The Welsh Minister for Health and Social Services, Eluned Morgan MS, highlighted the importance of including educators in workforce planning to tackle the challenges of healthcare in Wales and across the UK.
Professor Josie Fraser, Deputy Vice Chancellor for the Open University, talked about the value and outcomes of using enquiry-based learning, in particular team-based learning in interprofessional learning groups. She highlighted the value in students debating together and understanding each other’s viewpoints better, and learning how to work together, building confidence and respect.
Professor Jacky Hayden CBE spoke about the importance of planning for the future, and critical to this is investing time to develop the medical education leaders of tomorrow. Importantly she talked about creating the space to develop these skills. Healthcare education leaders need to drive the quality of standards not only in higher education institutions, but also in the healthcare providers within the NHS. Education leaders have the power to influence culture, and the importance of compassion and trust are hugely important in developing others.
Bristol Medical School was also represented at the conference with both staff and students presenting work including:
‘The lost decades’ a workshop led by BMERGs Dr Sarah Allsop with Professor Colin Macdougall from Warwick Medical School on how to problem solve some of the challenges ahead for medical educators
‘Enhancing Anatomy Teaching Through Peer-Run, Flipped Classroom Sessions’ poster presented by Bristol medical students Mr Adam Mistry and Ms Shraddha Sriraman
‘Inspiring the next generation to innovate in healthcare through a cross-faculty student innovation programme’ presented by Bristol medical student Miss Somto Okoli with students from Cardiff Medical School
Colleagues from our Bristol NHS Academies also presented including:
‘Developing a tailored teaching program to support international medical graduates’ presented by Dr Laura Kyle, Dr Eleanor Pilsworth, Dr Bethan Arnold, Dr Malvika Subramaniam, and Dr Amy Whitworth from Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton
‘Celebrating Trainee Success Drives Learning and Boosts Morale’ – Unanimously positive experience of a departmental teaching session driven by trainees’ case presentations of personal excellence presented by Miss Robyn Brown and Mr Anthony Gould from Great Western Hospital, Swindon
The whole conference was extraordinarily uplifting and a reminder of the huge enthusiasm and energy of the medical education community.
I would recommend any aspiring and current educators to consider attending future AOME and INHWE events and looking at the professional standards and support available from these associations.
Acknowledgement: Sarah Allsop (blog author) would like to acknowledge the funding grant awarded by the Bristol Medical School to support her presentation at this conference in June 2023.
