GP Teaching

by Renee Ewe

Thank you to all our GP tutors who hosted WATCCH year 12 pupils at their practice this summer. We hope this was as rewarding an experience for you as it was for the pupils. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the transformative value of work experience from both pupils and our GP tutors.  

“I had the pleasure of hosting WATCCH pupils my practice. The pupils were very keen to learn and were very grateful for the opportunity to shadow healthcare professionals. During their work experience, they had dedicated time to ask questions about healthcare careers.  I also asked them to write a short reflective piece on their work experience and the challenges faced by the NHS to aid their interview preparation. The pupils produced very insightful pieces of work which formed the starting point of several fruitful discussions. Overall, I found the experience very fulfilling and I think the pupils gained a valuable insight into the life of a working GP, “ Dr Himanshu Bhatt, GP Partner, Brentfield Medical Centre. 

In the post-placement workshop, pupils also had the opportunity to share a reflective piece about their work experience. As part of this workshop, Stephanie Powell, our Community Collaborations Lead, delivered an innovative session aimed at improving confidence and encouraging participants to think on their feet.   

To help WATCCH pupils with their applications, the WATCCH team and mentors ran workshops on personal statements and interview skills.  A mock interview session is planned for the 26th of November. We look forward to hearing about our WATCCH pupils’ future plans.  

Read Making Time for Widening Access to Community Careers in Healthcare in full

by Dr Rene Ewe

Climate change is widely recognised as a health emergency. The GMC, NHS and WHO have emphasised the importance of teaching sustainable healthcare principles to medical students. The Planetary Health Report Card, a student-led review of sustainable healthcare education in the United Kingdom demonstrated huge variability in the level of integration into the core curriculum. At Imperial College London, we are making changes to our primary care curriculum to better equip our future doctors with the skills they will need to meet the NHS’s Net Zero initiative and to meet the changing healthcare demands of the global population. Tutors have reported that lack of familiarity with the principles of sustainable healthcare as a core barrier to teaching.

As part of this workshop, we will hear from our own students about the work they have been doing to drive changes in the curriculum. They will discuss the reasons why sustainable healthcare is so important, including the concept of the triple bottom line which highlights the economic, health and environmental benefits of greener health initiatives. We will then explore the challenges we face with integrating sustainability within the curriculum, and will invite an open discussion from attendees to help us further understand how we can support teaching of sustainable healthcare. We will discuss some of the successes the Department of Undergraduate Primary Care have had so far to galvanise our tutor community to push this further. We will round off this workshop with an open dialogue on your experiences of sustainable healthcare.

Read Integrating sustainable healthcare into the undergraduate medical curriculum in full

By Dr Angelica Sharma (Academic Foundation Trainee, FY2, Imperial College London)

The Society of Primary Care (SAPC) Madingley Conference was held virtually between 20-21st January 2022 attracting over 200 attendees.

The theme was centred around ‘Primary Care – Building Back Better’. The sessions provided key knowledge updates, lessons learnt during the pandemic and ideas for change to help shape the future of primary care. The 2-day event focussed on areas such as health inequality and change including digital methods and innovative tools to address disparities in health care.

Panel discussions on ‘Digital Health: What’s Next?’ brainstormed ideas on how to integrate digital health tools within General Practice. Use of digital technologies in healthcare has progressed rapidly, especially in the face of COVID. In the next 20 years, approximately 90% of NHS jobs will require digital skills (Topol, 2019). However, there is a lack of formal integration of digital health within the medical curriculum and it is often an element that is not assessed within medical school.

Digital health initiatives included:

1. ‘Live Well with Parkinson’s’ – a mobile application where patients living with Parkinson’s disease are able to track their symptoms on a day-to-day basis with clinicians receiving this data in live time.
2. ‘Living with COVID Recovery Programme’ – formulating a clinical pathway to support individuals with long COVID with use of a patient-facing application delivering advice and offering a messaging service to contact health professionals.

I showcased our initiative to develop a primary care longitudinal digital health curriculum (DHC) for undergraduate medical students at Imperial College London. We compiled and reviewed learning objectives across all year groups and the learning objectives which had scope to integrate a digital health component were selected. As medical students are taught in a diverse range of settings, we explored appropriate formats of delivery of these learning objectives, including tutorial/lecture-based settings, and within written or clinical examinations. Finally, to align these curriculum changes with medical student assessments, we also carried out digital health exam question writing workshops. In these workshops, primary care clinicians were supported in implementing a digital health theme to proposed learning objectives. Key themes included patient generated data (i.e., wearables, mobile phone applications), remote consultations and electronic medical records. We were awarded the ‘Early Career Research’ Prize – with special thanks to Dr Renee Ewe, Dr Viral Thakerar and Dr Ravi Parekh.

We also presented medical education initiatives from the Primary Care Department at Imperial College including:

1. Sense of belonging, authenticity, and wellbeing: A mixed-methods study – Dr Zoe Moula.

Medical students experience poorer wellbeing as compared to other students. Subject to the outcome of a funding application, this mixed-methods study will aim to understand how the sense of authenticity and belonging impacts medical students’ wellbeing. It will also aim to examine differences when adjusting for previous experiences of discrimination; pre-existing mental health conditions; protected characteristics; and year of study. The main objective of this study will be to identify and implement strategies that promote medical students’ sense of authenticity, belonging and wellbeing.

1. Coaching skills for pupils from widening participation backgrounds considering healthcare careers – Hamza Ikhlaq (Medical Student).

A coaching skills workshop was developed and evaluated for sixth form pupils from widening participation backgrounds to support access to healthcare careers. Coaching offered students a greater sense of awareness and improved communication skills.

1. Exploring the impact of a series of novel medical education masterclasses – Dr Nick Sylvan.

The masterclass series delivered in summer 2021 to UK medical students, included guest speakers, interactive workshops, and discussion panels on topic including diversity and inclusion, digital health, professional identity, preparation for practice and coaching skills. The masterclasses broadened students’ perspectives, agency, personal development, and inclusivity.

4. Evaluation of the remote delivery of a community careers widening participation programme – Nida Hafiz (Medical Student). Widening Access to Careers in Community Healthcare (WATCCH) programme for Year 12 students who were from widening participation backgrounds. Due to the pandemic, the WATCCH programme was delivered online. Feedback from students suggested that although online sessions increased accessibility, face-to-face interaction would have helped build better relationships with peers and mentors.

Bethany Golding (Community Collaborations Lead) competed in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style session on ‘What would you do with £1 million worth of funding?’. The talk focused on the importance of community engagement, especially in reaching out to communities and people with physical or mental health related disabilities. Examples of previous projects included tackling food poverty in local communities. She highlighted the importance of community small grants programmes to bring communities together around health and wellbeing in a way that is led by them.

The next SAPC Annual meeting will be held in Preston in July 2022, later this year.

Read Society of Primary Care (SAPC) Madingley Conference 2022 in full

by Dr Nikul Kotecha

Widening Access to Careers in Community Healthcare (WATCCH) is a widening participation initiative aimed at Year 12 students from state schools interested in a career in healthcare. WATCCH provides work experience, near-peer mentoring, and a programme of workshops on a range of healthcare careers and admissions help. The work experience and first two workshops have now been completed.

The first Imperial student-led workshop was on ‘Reflection and Coaching’ in which students engaged with mentors to reflect on their recent GP-based work experience as well as discuss their thoughts on matters such as the importance of reflection within the general/healthcare setting. Students then delved into the world of coaching. They were introduced to reflection and coaching frameworks and went on to apply their learning and skills in smaller groups. The workshop was really interactive and enjoyable and received really positive feedback from the students.

The second workshop was on ‘Personal Statements and Where should I apply’ where current medical students gave advice and tips on personal statement writing followed by a collaborative session reviewing personal statement drafts. The second workshop built on the first workshop where student used the reflection frameworks from the first workshop to probe further thinking regarding their personal statements in this conducive learning environment. Once again, the workshop received very positive feedback.

Preparation is already underway for the next useful workshop – ‘Interview Skills’.

For more about Widening Access to Careers in Community Healthcare, please see our website https://www.imperial.ac.uk/school-public-health/primary-care-and-public-health/teaching/watcch/

Read WATCCH 2021/22: First Two Workshops Complete in full

by Sukhi Ubhi

During the summer, the Medical Education Research and Innovation Centre (MEdIC) delivered a series of free, virtual medical education masterclasses aimed particularly at UK medical students from under-represented backgrounds. Sessions covered topical areas in medical education including: coaching, preparation for practice, diversity & inclusion, digital health and professional identity.

The sessions were attended by 250 students from several UK universities including Imperial, Cardiff, Dundee, Leeds and Nottingham.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive; students commented on how inspiring the sessions were and the enjoyment of meeting other medical students.

“Overall, the masterclasses provided a broad and insightful overview of medical education. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to meet other like-minded students from different medical schools and the chance to listen to presentations and panel discussions by experts who shared their experience and passion for medical education”

Students felt the masterclasses had helped to increase their interests in pursing future careers in medical education:

“This experience has definitely made me consider medical education as a career choice”
“Prior to attending the masterclasses, I was uncertain about what medical education truly entails. However, now I have a deeper understanding of not only what it’s really about but also how to take the first steps to be involved”
“Overall the masterclasses have encouraged me to look at medical education with an inquisitive eye, always asking the questions: how well does current medical education translate into well-prepared doctors, and what changes are still needed? So, by giving me an insight into where the gaps may still lie, my interest in a career in medical education, as a means of being an instrument of change, has increased”

As part of the masterclasses, MEdIC ran a competition for students to submit medical education research project proposals. The shortlisted entries will be presented to a panel in November and the winning submission will be provided with supervision and funding by MEdIC to complete the project.

Read MEdIC Medical Education Masterclasses in full

We asked our year 6 students on their General Practice Student Assistantship to submit photographs that they had taken while on their placements. In year 6 students go on placements all over the United Kingdom, you can see a selection of the photos below:

Read Annual Teachers Conference: Year 6 GPSA Photography Prize 2021 in full

by Dr Dominique Forrest and Dr Katie Scott

The 2020/21 Widening Access To Careers in Community Healthcare (WATCCH) programme came to a close in February. WATCCH is a widening participation initiative for Year 13 students interested in pursuing a healthcare career. The 2020/21 programme consisted of a series of remote workshops, developed and run by Imperial medical students on the WATCCH committee, and the primary care team. The workshops are supported by medical student mentors recruited by Vision society.

The programme covers varied topics including interview skills, personal statement writing and reflection and coaching. The WATCCH students also have the opportunity to participate in a question and answer workshop with multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals and attend mock interviews. For the final workshop students were given the opportunity to suggest topics they would like to cover. In response to their suggestions the WATCCH team developed a ‘Higher Education Tips’ session covering key concerns such as finances, academic study tips, university support services, and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on university life. The workshop consisted of large and small group sessions, as well as a truly insightful talk from a first year Imperial medical student on her experience of starting university during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the next few months, whilst students are awaiting interviews and university offers, they can continue to access support from their Imperial medical student mentors via Brightside, an online mentoring platform. The WATCCH team are currently planning for the programme in 2021/22 where we hope to be able to re-introduce primary care work experience opportunities.

Read Widening Access to Careers in Community Healthcare (WATCCH) 2020/21 in full

by Dr Josh Gaon

In January 2021, building on our relationships with local schools, Undergraduate Primary Care Education launched an exciting and innovative new module for year 2 Imperial Medical and Biomedical science students called I-Explore: Social Accountability in Action. This module was developed by our Community Collaboration Lead, Bethany Golding, together with Josh Gaon, Neha Ahuja, Arti Maini and Imperial StudentShapers Huriye Korkmazhan, Nadia Zaman & Ray Wang, with input from with local schools and community partners.

Imperial students explore the concepts of social accountability, power and privilege through a real-world project developing and delivering after-school STEMM-based sessions for local secondary school pupils in partnership with schoolteachers. STEMM topics have included a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic context, including topical issues relating to vaccine hesitancy and equitable distribution of the vaccine.

Imperial students have worked closely with the participating schools in Hammersmith and Fulham (Fulham Cross Academy, Phoenix Academy and Hammersmith Academy) to ensure the sessions are engaging, inclusive and relatable for the pupils. Through this real-life project work, our Imperial students are gaining invaluable experience of working in partnership with schools and with young people from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities as well as applying critical enquiry, creative thinking and using problem solving skills.

To support this experience, we provided central sessions where Imperial students learnt core inclusive teaching skills and were supported to explore concepts of social accountability, including consideration of power and privilege, and reflect on how these principles relate to their future professional career and their role in society. These sessions were built using inclusive material developed in collaboration with the three participating schools, and with Hammersmith and Fulham Youth Council, Mosaic Trust and Young Hammersmith and Fulham Foundation. We have been grateful to receive valuable input throughout from Matthew Chisambi, a TeachFirst Ambassador and the Innovation Lead at Imperial College Health Partners.

A key challenge this year has been the need to run the entire module, including delivery of after-school sessions, virtually. As many will know, running an interactive session virtually can be tricky even for the most experienced of teachers. Our Imperial students rose to this challenge, creating engaging and inclusive material that brought their sessions to life.

The feedback from schools has been fantastic so far.

Feedback from a teacher at Hammersmith Academy:
“I just wanted to pass on my gratitude on behalf of our pupils for the sessions yesterday, and my praise for the Imperial College students who led them so well. They were both fantastic sessions and flowed very well, stimulating sophisticated, thought-provoking conversation. The information shared was relevant and accessible to our students and the guidance they gave in regards to higher education was most definitely inspiring. I have no doubt that our pupils left the calls, considering their potential and excited for the future.”

The culmination of the project will be a presentation event in March where the students will be showcasing their work as well as reflections and lessons learnt from their teaching experience.

The pandemic has presented us with many unforeseeable challenges. We have been encouraged and heartened by the ability of our students, faculty team, schools and pupils to navigate rapidly changing circumstances, and by the feedback we have received.

We hope that I-Explore: Social Accountability in Action provides an exciting example of how our faculty and students can work in partnership-with local schools and communities to inspire our future generation, and we very much look forward to building on this work.

Read Inspiring the future generation: I-Explore Social Accountability in action in full

by Sam Coster and Zoe Moula

In September, the MEdIC team (Medical Education Innovation & Research Centre) based within PCPH, attended the AMEE 2020 conference.  Due to COVID restrictions, the conference was held entirely on a virtual 3D platform.  On registration, attendees created their own avatar, who could wander through a hall of virtual posters, attend presentations in virtual conference rooms, and network with nearby avatar attendees.  There were no difficult choices on which sessions to attend, as all presentations were streamed live and then available on demand.  Although there were a few technical hiccups, and people occasionally lost control of their avatars, the whole experience was both unique and rather fun.

The quality of the work presented at the conference was high. Predictably there was a strong focus on the educational response to COVID, and the use of technology to support digital learning and remote teaching.  However, there was an impressive range of other topics featured, including innovative presentations on the arts in medical teaching, diversity and inclusion, serious games and clinical reasoning.  Dr Noreen Ryan (PCPH) presented work on what influences early years patient safety teaching and learning outside the formal curriculum, and MEdIC’s Dr Nina Dutta, shared her work on widening access to community careers in healthcare (WATCCH) within the Diversity and Inclusion stream.

Whilst not quite like being there, the change of format brought its own advantages.  With continued access to recorded conference material over the coming year, AMEE 2020 will continue to stimulate discussion and inspire future teaching innovations within MEdIC.

Read MEdIC team at the International Association of Medical Education (AMEE) Conference 2020 in full