Last month saw the publication of the MSG’s (possibly, the FMLM’s) first peer-reviewed manuscript in ‘Medical Teacher’ journal. The paper reports the preferred methods of teaching and assessing skills in medical leadership and management (MLM) at an undergraduate level as well as exploring possible solutions to implementing teaching and learning.
A huge step forward for grass-roots medical leaders, we hope that following continued discussions with our partners at the GMC, NHS Leadership Academy, Medical Schools Council and the FMLM, integration into undergraduate curricula in some capacity can be a reality.
It is reassuring to see students are keen to engage in MLM at this level and particularly value simulation exercises, audit and quality improvement projects as ways to improve their own MLM skills. The overwhelming message from students is that this is an important topic to meet future demands of the NHS and medical school is an important time to begin this element of professional development.
Views of both medical students and medical schools were assessed and synthesised in order to recommend realistic teaching and learning interventions. Our study shows support for learning MLM experientially, but also reinforces previous work showing undergraduates have a poor knowledge of NHS structure. The NHS guide published by the National Medical Director last summer can help to address this crucial knowledge gap.
Having identified the needs of both teachers and students, the next phase of this research project will be assessing efficacy of teaching and learning interventions in MLM. We hope FMLM members, both staff and students, can contribute to this research base with examples of local practice at their own institutions.
I am delighted with the outcome of this project and to have led the initial stages of this research and I would like to thank all of my co-authors for their contributions to this paper. Our article is available to read below:
Full Article available from Informa healthcare:
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/0142159X.2014.971723
PubMed reference:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25301039
