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.
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.
Joining one of the many Medical Education Associations can be a great way of meeting like minded people in the discipline and building collaborations. In this blog Sarah Allsop highlights a few of the available networks you can join.
Networking and national work can be a fantastic opportunity of medical educators to learn, develop and share their ideas with increased reach and impact. One of the ways of doing this is by joining one of the Medical Education Associations. For the UK, three of the main associations working in Medical Education are listed below, but there are many associations around the world:
The Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME)
The Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE)
To start with you may simply want to join an association, to get linked in with their publications, discounts to their events or to undertaking training or accreditation. Each association offers a slightly different emphasis so it is worth having a look at their websites to consider which might be the best fit for you and your work, and of course you can join as many associations as you want. There are often discounted memberships for students and those in low-income situations aiming to make joining more inclusive.
Once you are a member, there are also calls to be involved in the committees which can further help to facilitate work on policies and strategic aspects of medical education. Watch out for these calls via social media and on association websites. We will also post about opportunities we spot right here on the BMERG blog too, so subscribe to get the latest news direct to your inbox, and follow us on twitter @BristolUniBMERG.
Which are your favourite #MedEd Associations to be part of? Add your thoughts in the comments section below!
You can now follow Bristol Medical Education Research Group on Twitter!
Whilst there are of course many different social media platforms that offer ways of collaborating and learning, you will find on twitter most of the big medical education associations and publishers, along with many educators and researchers who share practice ideas through their content. So for now at least, twitter remains a great platform for connecting with the rest of the Medical Education community.
BMERG will also be regularly sharing news and events from Bristol through its new twitter account, as well as highlighting the work of other colleagues from around the world with ideas on best practice in Medical Education. Follow us at @BristolUniBMERG
Not sure who to follow?
If you are new to twitter, here is a list of a few great medical education feeds to get you started:
Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals, Bristol @TLHPBristol
