CBME ITP Guide

My experience as a GP/ ITP trainee in Medical Education with QMUL .

My Experience as a GP Trainee in Medical Education.

Starting with a brief introduction about myself, I started GPST1 in August 2021 with 6 months of my rotation in GP/ITP in Medical Education. I am International Medical Graduate having completed my medical education in Pakistan.

Moving to a GP rotation and that too an integrated post in Medical Education sounded very daunting to me. I had never worked in GP or Medical Education before.

My first few days with QMUL involved attending virtual meetings trying to understand the whole concept of Community Based Medical Education, how it works, who is involved? Initially, I felt alienated to the system but my understanding got better with time .

GP2 Assessment

I started my active involvement by observing year 2 students who were in the GP2 placement during their history taking skills with a simulated patient. I was given the material to read prior observing them. I attended 4 of these sessions virtually with Dr Lucy Langford and gave constructive feedback to students. This was very helpful as I observed their body language and communication. As an observer and a silent learner, I was able to identify my own weaknesses during history taking from patients.

SSC3A

I then participated in the SSC3A assessments and was supported by Dr Vidya Mistry.

SSC3A is basically an assignment project given to students. Students are given a topic and they have to write up about what questions they will ask in history taking, what examinations will they do, what signs will they look for, how will they demonstrate their interpersonal skills and that they had a team-based approach. I had to mark them on each of these skills. Another good learning experience, as I learnt about ways to involve your team and small, yet relevant details about communication with team members.

GPCD

I also attended the GPCD prize day/ competition day. GPCD basically is an activity where students go out in the local areas, collect information about the socio-economic factors that have an effect on the health of people living in these areas. Students then provide some suggestions on how to improve the health of these people. There is also an opportunity to assess these students via a pre-set marking scheme.

OSCE Training and Exam

Another learning opportunity was OSCE training. This involved one full day of e-learning, going through all the modules with the facilitator. Following learning, a few assessment tests were given after which I was given a certificate. Safiya was kind enough to let me know about the dates of the OSCE.I had the opportunity to be an OSCE examiner for year 3 medical students. I enjoyed the whole experience of being an examiner, learning and realising how small yet important details in consultation can be overlooked so easily.

Question Writing.

This was the most exciting bit of my Medical Education training. I had a virtual meeting with Dr Louise Younie where I expressed my interest in writing questions for medical students. Louise sent me documents which had a guide about how to construct a SBA questions -basically the do’s and don’ts, previous model questions and topics on which questions were needed. Going through the topics and NICE/CKS guidelines to make the questions added to my prior knowledge, which I applied while doing clinics on my GP surgery days.

There is also opportunity available to get training for Problem Based Learning (PBL’s) and once that is done, GP trainees could also help in teaching to Final year Medical Students.

Overall, my experience at QMUL has been great and there were endless opportunities which I could be a part of. The team including Louise, Will and Safiya are always available for help, guidance and support!

Dr Aisha -Malik.

GPST in Med Education.