MBChB FRCP(UK) EdD Dip Pall Med
As a senior lecturer at Bristol Medical School, Karen ran an MSc in Palliative Medicine and served for many years as MBChB year 5 lead. She was one of the first two UoB academics to be promoted to Professor for her Pathway 3 (Teaching and Scholarship) work. She was Programme Director co-lead for the Bristol MBChB Programme (2019-2023).
Research Areas: palliative care, how students learn to care for patients at the end of their lives.
What inspired you to become an educator and/or education researcher?
I realised that as an NHS consultant I could make a difference to the patients and families that I met. However, if I taught students and colleagues I could help them gain the skills that would influence far more patients’ lives.
What was your first role or job as an educator?
I have been involved with teaching medical students and team colleagues ever since I qualified but my first formal role was as a lecturer setting up and running the Bristol MSc in Palliative Medicine. The learning curve was steep but I had great support.
What is your current medical education research project on?
I am honoured to be supervising a PhD student looking at enculturation of students into medicine which is fascinating.
What helps you to maintain your work life balance as a medical educator/researcher?
Maintaining work life balance is tricky. There is never enough time and there is always more to do. I find focusing on what is important, and why it is important – student wellbeing and patient care and safety are key – focusing on the end goal, and making sure to have time for exercise and family.
Who are your medical education/education research role models?
Dr David Jeffrey, currently in Edinburgh – the most gifted palliative medicine teacher I have ever worked with, and Dr Rita Charon, for her inspirational work on learning from patient’s stories and narrative medicine.
What would you consider your greatest academic success?
In 2000 we ran a 2 week course called ‘From student to doctor’, designed to help the transition to practice for our year 5 students. Based on student feedback, the length of the course increased, so that now final examinations run at the end of year 4 and students spend the whole of year 5 in student assistantships. I am sure our students are now far better prepared for their foundation programme due, at least in part, to this course, and I am very proud of my role in helping to achieve this.
Have you ever had a piece of work go wrong and how did you deal with this?
Things go wrong all the time, in education, in research, in life. For me the trick is to see the opportunities rather than the threats, to learn from what went wrong, and to try again.
What book are you reading at the moment?
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I finished reading it and turned back to the first page.
What job would you do if you were not a medical educator/researcher?
I would run a bookshop with a coffee shop within it. Or be a personal trainer.
What do you think will be the greatest change to medical education over the next decade?
The NHS workforce plan has just been published, so giving an increasing number of medical (and other health care professional) students high quality training and meaningful clinical experience will be a huge challenge. We will have to think differently, and look at virtual wards, optimising learning from clinical experience, and utilising the whole clinical day, amongst other approaches.
What three top tips would you give to new medical education researchers?
- Say yes to everything, at least initially.
- Find your allies, and look after your relationship with them.
- Remember that you must be able to answer the ‘So what?’ question.