Biomedical subjects

Sarah C Willis

Publications and source records attributed to Sarah C Willis.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Learning the house officer role: reflections on the value of shadowing a PRHO.

In the new integrated undergraduate medical programme at the University of Manchester, fifth-year students spend several weeks shadowing the pre-registration house officer (PRHO) whose post they will take over. The concept of 'shadowing' emerged from a set of interviews conducted with graduates during their first PRHO job. Graduates felt that shadowing helped them to gain familiarity with the work environment; with orientation to the role of a PRHO; and with specific learning, such as disease management, on which they could then get feedback. We hypothesize that shadowing provides an opportunity for focused apprenticeship learning of the future PRHO role. Further research may clarify the specific values of shadowing and how it might lessen the stresses faced by new graduates during the transition from student to doctor.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗

PubMed2003

Does a new undergraduate curriculum based on Tomorrow's Doctors prepare house officers better for their first post? A qualitative study of the views of pre-registration house officers using critical incidents.

INTRODUCTION: In 1994 Manchester University introduced an integrated undergraduate medical course using problem-based learning (PBL) throughout. The study reported here explored whether there were any differences between the new course graduates (NCGs) and the traditional course graduates (TCGs) in the types of scenarios they recalled as 'critical incidents', or challenging cases, while working as pre-registration house officers (PRHOs). The focus is on differences rather than causal links. METHOD: We used semistructured interviews to generate our data. Twenty-four traditional course graduates and 23 new course graduates were interviewed approximately 3 months after starting their first PRHO placement. RESULTS: We identified 4 types of critical incidents relating to: clinical practice; limitations of competence; emotional involvement; and communication. Traditional course graduates reported difficulties in making patient management decisions, whereas the NCGs were better at dealing with uncertainty, knowing their limits and asserting their rights for support. Communication difficulties and coping with emotional involvement were common across both groups of graduates and hence remain problems in relation to being prepared for the role of a PRHO. CONCLUSIONS: Graduates of the new, integrated curriculum seemed to be much better at dealing with uncertainty, knowing their personal limits and asserting their rights for support when they felt these limits had been reached. Communication difficulties and emotional involvement remain major factors in the transition from student to PRHO.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2002

A model of how students link problem-based learning with clinical experience through "elaboration".

PURPOSE: In 1994, the medical school at the University of Manchester introduced a new integrated course that uses problem-based learning (PBL) throughout the clinical clerkships as the major approach for delivery of the core curriculum. This study explored how students linked PBL and clinical experiences. METHOD: All third- and fourth-year students were asked to respond to an open-ended question on the end-of-module course evaluation. Their responses were analyzed and grouped into themes. The authors also conducted three focus groups of third-year students and a further three focus groups of fourth-year students to explore how students viewed the links between PBL and clinical experiences. The discussions were taped and subsequently analyzed by the researchers independently. RESULTS: The authors found that the students used clinical experience as a means of elaborating their knowledge either at the time of encountering an appropriate patient (outside the group) or by bringing their experiences back to the PBL group for discussion (inside the group). Major facilitators of elaboration were the match between the clinical clerkship and the content of the PBL case, the role of the tutor, and the self-directedness of the student. A theoretical model of how students linked PBL with their clinical experience was derived based on a cognitive psychological approach to learning. CONCLUSIONS: The model will be of benefit as the authors try to improve the course for those students who were unable to use their clinical experiences to achieve the goals of their PBL discussions.

Clinical Clerkship↗