ePOSTER
Abstract Title
Development of a multi-platform medical revision course for final year medical students
Theme
4AA eLearning courses
INSTITUTION
Northwick Park Hospital, London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
Background
- Revising for medical school examinations is a stressful time, especially as academic performance is used to allocate Foundation posts
- For final year students, close to completing their studies, these exams are increasingly important
- As current junior doctors from the North West Thames Deanery, we felt there was a lack of multi-platform resources for such students and so developed AcePACES
- AcePACES is an inclusive medical education tool, incorporating a practical revision course, lecture series, podcasts and online revision material
Summary of Work
- Two day practical revision course, separated into medicine and surgery
- Unlike other revision courses, it incorporated both didactic learning, via lectures, and practical examination stations, including real volunteer patients
- Comprehensive pre- and post-course questionnaire, evaluating student confidence levels with different facets of practical examinations, learning styles and preference over tutor grade
- To supplement the practical course, attendees had access to multiple resources on the course website (www.AcePACES.com), available before and after the course weekend
Summary of Results
- 47 students attended the medicine day, and 55 the surgery day. On average 71% of attendees complete questionnaires
- Overall:
- Attendees' confidence in performing the main systems examinations significantly improved following practice in a simulated examination setting (Graph 1 & 2)
- Respondents rated teaching from junior doctors as equally or more useful than that given by more senior doctors (Graph 3)
- Students use a blended learning approach when revising for medical school finals (Graph 4)
Conclusion
- The AcePACES revision course, along with the website, has been successful in providing intensive revision via a variety of methods
- For students at this stage in their revision, traditional lectures are no longer deemed sufficient and other methods of learning (including one-to-one assessment with patients and junior doctors and online resources) are preferred
Take-home Messages
- A blended, multi-platform educational resource, delivered by junior doctors is an effective and underused method of teaching final year medical students
Acknowledgement
- Many thanks to all the volunteer examiners and patients who gave up their weekend to help make the coures the success it was. Without them there would not have been a course at all!
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