Peter McCrorie

Patient-oriented learning: a review of the role of the patient in the education of medical students

To explore the contribution patients can make to medical education from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, to describe a framework for reviewing and monitoring patient involvement in specific educational situations and to generate suggestions for further research.

'It teaches you what to expect in future...': interprofessional learning on a training ward for medical, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students

This paper presents findings from a multimethod evaluation of an interprofessional training ward placement for medical, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students.

Assessment for selection for the health care professions and specialty training : consensus statement and recommendations from the Ottawa 2010 Conference

Assessment for selection in medicine and the health professions should follow the same quality assurance processes as in-course assessment. The literature on selection is limited and is not strongly theoretical or conceptual. For written testing, there is evidence of the predictive validity of Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) for medical school and licensing examination performance. There is also evidence for the predictive validity of grade point average, particularly in combination with MCAT for graduate entry but little evidence about the predictive validity of school leaver scores. Interviews have not been shown to be robust selection measures. Studies of multiple mini-interviews have indicated good predictive validity and reliability. Of other measures used in selection, only the growing interest in personality testing appears to warrant future work. Widening access to medical and health professional programmes is an increasing priority and relates to the social accountability mandate of medical and health professional schools. While traditional selection measures do discriminate against various population groups, there is little evidence on the effect of non-traditional measures in widening access. Preparation and outreach programmes show most promise. In summary, the areas of consensus for assessment for selection are small in number. Recommendations for future action focus on the adoption of principles of good assessment and curriculum alignment, use of multi-method programmatic approaches, development of interdisciplinary frameworks and utilisation of sophisticated measurement models. The social accountability mandate of medical and health professional schools demands that social inclusion, workforce issues and widening of access are embedded in the principles of good assessment for selection.

Is insight important? Measuring capacity to change performance

Background  Some doctors who perform poorly appear not to be aware of how their performance compares with accepted practice. The way that professionals maintain their existing expertise and acquire new knowledge and skills – that is, maintain their ‘currency’ of practice – requires a capacity to change. This capacity to change probably requires the individual doctor to possess insight into his or her performance as well as motivation to change. There may be a range of levels of insight in different individuals. At some point this reaches a level which is inadequate for effective self‐regulation. Insight and performance may be critically related and there are instances where increasing insight in the presence of decreasing performance can also cause difficulties.

Selecting performance assessment methods for experienced physicians

Background  While much is now known about how to assess the competence of medical practitioners in a controlled environment, less is known about how to measure the performance in practice of experienced doctors working in their own environments. The performance of doctors depends increasingly on how well they function in teams and how well the health care system around them functions.

Anxiety in medical students: is preparation for full‐time clinical attachments more dependent upon differences in maturity or on educational programmes for undergraduate and graduate entry students?

Introduction  The transition to full‐time clinical studies holds anxieties for most medical students. While graduate entry medical education has only recently begun in the UK, the parallel undergraduate and graduate entry MBBS courses taught at our school allowed us to study how 2 differently prepared groups perceived this vital time at a comparable stage in their training.

The assessment of poorly performing doctors: the development of the assessment programmes for the General Medical Council's Performance Procedures

Modernization of medical regulation has included the introduction of the Professional Performance Procedures by the UK General Medical Council in 1995. The Council now has the power to assess any registered practitioner whose performance may be seriously deficient, thus calling registration (licensure) into question. Problems arising from ill health or conduct are dealt with under separate programmes.

Student attitudes towards anatomy teaching and learning in a multiprofessional context

Context  We carried out a survey of attitudes to learning anatomy amongst students from a range of health care disciplines in a multiprofessional context.

The General Medical Council's Performance Procedures: the development and implementation of tests of competence with examples from general practice.

This paper describes the development of the tests of competence used as part of the General Medical Council’s assessment of potentially seriously deficient doctors. It is illustrated by reference to tests of knowledge and clinical and practical skills created for general practice.

A model of clinical problem-based learning for clinical attachments in medicine

Context  Problem‐based learning (PBL) has been widely adopted in medical curricula for early‐years training, but its use during clinical attachments has not been extensively explored.