Letters to the Editor
information about items which may be used again in future years. (http://www.foundationprogramme. nhs.uk/pages/home/how-to-apply/SJT-FAQs# answer382)
Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.
Dr. Neel Sharma, Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Centre for Medical Education, Barts and the London, London E1 1BB, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
References
Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.
Darling JC, Bardgett JM. 2013. Primary school children in a large-scale OSCE: Recipe for disaster or formula for success? Med Teach 35: 858–861. Pinnock R, Jones A, Trenholme A. 2007. An introductory workshop on paediatric examination skills. Med Educ 41:1097–1098. Pinnock R, Weller J, Shulruf B, Jones R, Reed P, Mizutani S. 2011. Why parents and children consent to become involved in medical student teaching. Jour Paeds Child Health 47:204–210.
No feedback for newly qualified doctors
Dear Sir This year saw the introduction of the situational judgement test, designed to assess candidates’ aptitude for employment and the professional attributes expected of a foundation doctor. These include: Coping with pressure Effective communication Learning and professional development Organisation and planning Patient focus Problem solving and decision making Self-awareness and insight Working effectively as part of a team (isfp.org; http:// www.isfp.org.uk/SJT/Pages/default.aspx) Interestingly, despite a desire to test our newly qualified doctors in this way, there is no current agreement to allow candidates to obtain feedback on their performance. So what does this mean from a practical perspective? Surely all candidates should be informed of their strengths and weaknesses, even those who score highly. When it comes to real life medicine, scores from a test only go so far in ensuring patient safety. Therefore in order to benefit in terms of learning, candidates should be allowed to receive appropriate written feedback on their performance. Unfortunately however an alternative viewpoint is held based primarily on the effort it may take to construct new and alternative themes:
Specific feedback about how you do on each item cannot be provided as this would require providing 452
Large-scale team-based learning for interprofessional education in medical and health sciences
Dear Sir We read with interest the paper published by Parmelee & Hudes (2012) concisely describing team-based learning (TBL) with special emphasis on its importance and relevance in healthcare education. Fujita Health University (FHU) is a general medical university comprising two departments: the School of Medicine, which includes one faculty, and the School of Health Sciences, which includes six faculties. With all the health professional students studying together on the same site, FHU has a great locational advantage for interprofessional education (IPE), which has recently been promoted, particularly in medical and health sciences undergraduate programs. Aiming to give the students an additional opportunity to solve clinical case problems in a multidisciplinary setting, we implemented a large-scale TBL program in an IPE class for all the 4th year health professional students from seven faculties. On 25 October and 1 November in 2013, for 3 hours each day, we conducted the TBL program using course materials titled ‘‘Home Health Care of a Stroke Patient’’, which were created by the subject selection committee for this program. We formed 92 teams of 5 or 6 students in total and separated them into 5 classrooms; the largest class contained 150 students (25 teams). Then synchronized TBL sessions were conducted by 2 to 3 instructors per classroom. At the end of the program, we requested the students to give peer assessments of teammates’ contributions to their teams. The differences in contribution scores among faculties were clear. As a result, within the limited number of the faculty resources, TBL was found to be the best solution in large classes where a large number of multidisciplinary students can learn how to solve clinical case problems while working in groups.
20 14
Med Teach Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Central Michigan University on 12/26/14 For personal use only.
Assoc. Prof. Ralph Pinnock, James Cook University, The Townsville Hospital, Internal Mailbox 52 Douglas, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia. Tel: þ00 61744331776. Fax: þ00 61744331401. E-mail: ralph.pinnock@ jcu.edu.au
Letters to the Editor
Masatsugu Ohtsuki, Toshikazu Matsui, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, 1-98 Dengakugakubo, Kutsukakecho, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]
References Parmelee DX, Hudes P. 2012. Team-based learning: A relevant strategy in health professionals’ education. Med Teach 34:411–413.
Med Teach Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Central Michigan University on 12/26/14 For personal use only.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
453
information about items which may be used again in future years. (http://www.foundationprogramme. nhs.uk/pages/home/how-to-apply/SJT-FAQs# answer382)
Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.
Dr. Neel Sharma, Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Centre for Medical Education, Barts and the London, London E1 1BB, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
References
Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.
Darling JC, Bardgett JM. 2013. Primary school children in a large-scale OSCE: Recipe for disaster or formula for success? Med Teach 35: 858–861. Pinnock R, Jones A, Trenholme A. 2007. An introductory workshop on paediatric examination skills. Med Educ 41:1097–1098. Pinnock R, Weller J, Shulruf B, Jones R, Reed P, Mizutani S. 2011. Why parents and children consent to become involved in medical student teaching. Jour Paeds Child Health 47:204–210.
No feedback for newly qualified doctors
Dear Sir This year saw the introduction of the situational judgement test, designed to assess candidates’ aptitude for employment and the professional attributes expected of a foundation doctor. These include: Coping with pressure Effective communication Learning and professional development Organisation and planning Patient focus Problem solving and decision making Self-awareness and insight Working effectively as part of a team (isfp.org; http:// www.isfp.org.uk/SJT/Pages/default.aspx) Interestingly, despite a desire to test our newly qualified doctors in this way, there is no current agreement to allow candidates to obtain feedback on their performance. So what does this mean from a practical perspective? Surely all candidates should be informed of their strengths and weaknesses, even those who score highly. When it comes to real life medicine, scores from a test only go so far in ensuring patient safety. Therefore in order to benefit in terms of learning, candidates should be allowed to receive appropriate written feedback on their performance. Unfortunately however an alternative viewpoint is held based primarily on the effort it may take to construct new and alternative themes:
Specific feedback about how you do on each item cannot be provided as this would require providing 452
Large-scale team-based learning for interprofessional education in medical and health sciences
Dear Sir We read with interest the paper published by Parmelee & Hudes (2012) concisely describing team-based learning (TBL) with special emphasis on its importance and relevance in healthcare education. Fujita Health University (FHU) is a general medical university comprising two departments: the School of Medicine, which includes one faculty, and the School of Health Sciences, which includes six faculties. With all the health professional students studying together on the same site, FHU has a great locational advantage for interprofessional education (IPE), which has recently been promoted, particularly in medical and health sciences undergraduate programs. Aiming to give the students an additional opportunity to solve clinical case problems in a multidisciplinary setting, we implemented a large-scale TBL program in an IPE class for all the 4th year health professional students from seven faculties. On 25 October and 1 November in 2013, for 3 hours each day, we conducted the TBL program using course materials titled ‘‘Home Health Care of a Stroke Patient’’, which were created by the subject selection committee for this program. We formed 92 teams of 5 or 6 students in total and separated them into 5 classrooms; the largest class contained 150 students (25 teams). Then synchronized TBL sessions were conducted by 2 to 3 instructors per classroom. At the end of the program, we requested the students to give peer assessments of teammates’ contributions to their teams. The differences in contribution scores among faculties were clear. As a result, within the limited number of the faculty resources, TBL was found to be the best solution in large classes where a large number of multidisciplinary students can learn how to solve clinical case problems while working in groups.
20 14
Med Teach Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Central Michigan University on 12/26/14 For personal use only.
Assoc. Prof. Ralph Pinnock, James Cook University, The Townsville Hospital, Internal Mailbox 52 Douglas, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia. Tel: þ00 61744331776. Fax: þ00 61744331401. E-mail: ralph.pinnock@ jcu.edu.au
Letters to the Editor
Masatsugu Ohtsuki, Toshikazu Matsui, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, 1-98 Dengakugakubo, Kutsukakecho, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]
References Parmelee DX, Hudes P. 2012. Team-based learning: A relevant strategy in health professionals’ education. Med Teach 34:411–413.
Med Teach Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Central Michigan University on 12/26/14 For personal use only.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
453
