Personal and professional development in the early years

of the medical curriculum

• Vocational Studies in Glasgow

• The nature of PPD

• The next steps

context

Glasgow

• student-centred• integrated• problem based

Vocational studies

• complements the core• acquisition of

professional skills and attitudes

• Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

VS themes

• communication skills

• clinical skills

• ‘Right Thing To Do’

• working with others

• information skills

• finding out, research and experiment

• evidence based practice

• systems of care/ clinical context

• understanding people, patients and communities

• personal and professional development

VS sessions

• 8 students meet with the same tutor each week

• 57/60 tutors are GPs

• discrete activities: role play

• links and overlap: clinical visits; chest

examination

• implicit: working with others

evaluation

It works for VS…

• Interconnectedness

• Reciprocal code of conduct

• Positive role model

• Continuity of contact

…but does it work for PPD?

“Principles of professional practice must

underpin medical education”

• Good clinical care

• Maintaining good medical practice

• Relationships with patients

• Working with colleagues

• Teaching and training

• Probity

• Health

Learning outcomes

(GMC theme: preparing for professional practice) By the end of years 1 and 2 you should have some appreciation of:

• the value of reflection in practice and of being self-aware

• the importance of managing your own learning and what factors drive your

learning

• the importance of self-care and strategies to deal with the demands of busy

professional life

• the value of developing long and short term career aspirations

• your own ability to recognise key personal motivating factors

• how you demonstrate dedication and commitment through adherence to codes

of conduct

Attributes essential to professionalism

• Subordination of your self-interest

• Working to high ethical and moral standards

• Responsive to the needs of the society in which you

work

• Demonstration of core humanistic values

Year 1 sessions

1. introduction to PPD portfolio; professionalism and

codes of practice

2. thought-provoking events and risk management

3. teamwork and peer review

4. completing PPD portfolio; core values and diversity

Professionalism

• The nature of professions

• Codes of practice

• Role of the GMC

• Public and private lives

• How should we teach it?

• Core values

14 slides to go

Year 2 sessions

1. preparing your portfolio

2. careers, stress and coping; and CV preparation

3. role models, peer review and audit.

4. ethics in extremes and at the edges; human rights

and health; and accountability

Consider the attributes, attitudes and characteristics

of role models:

• Clinically competent

• Effective communicators

• Show respect for others

• Involvement in community-based and social responsibility projects

• Ethics and attitudes in bedside teaching• The implications of self-regulation of the profession• The power of clinical audit• Significant event reporting• Cheating• Peer evaluation

Generic skills

• Presentation skills (and meeting skills)

• Facilitation skills

• Time management

• Listening and negotiation

• Written communication

• Group development

Evaluation

• Year 1: 70% of students rated it most highly

• “objectives were well explained”• “dull and lacking in interaction”• “value hearing more of tutor’s

experience of appraisal”

4 slides to go

Past, present and future

• PPD is the 9th domain in VS and was introduced after 5 years of VS

• Tension with clinical skills

• Different leads for PPD in early years and later (clinical) years

• Student-tutor dynamic changes

• Currently PPD is formatively assessed

summative Year 1 Year 2

  Coursework OSCE Written Coursework OSCE Written

communication skills

     

clinical context          

clinical skills          

finding out      

people, patients and communities    

EBM          

RTTD      

PPD            

Should PPD be cast free from VS?

• the group and shared understanding of purpose

• variability in quality of experience

• opportunistic

• role of tutor – help or hindrance?

• role of managers, nurses

And the rest…

• VS themes dwindle though they do exist

• How do we continue PPD into Years 3, 4 and 5?

• We have pulled some later year activities forward into the early years (e.g. Ed Super Rat).