{"id":85,"date":"2020-01-29T14:39:33","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T14:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/?page_id=85"},"modified":"2025-06-30T12:40:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:40:11","slug":"blogs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/blogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/2025\/05\/22\/barriers-and-facilitators-to-engagement-within-teaching-and-learning-during-medical-school-a-nationwide-cross-sectional-questionnaire-to-encourage-inclusivity-and-engagement\/\">Barriers and facilitators to engagement within teaching and learning during medical school: a nationwide cross-sectional questionnaire to encourage inclusivity and engagement<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In this study, jointly conducted with&nbsp;<strong>University College London<\/strong>, we explored attitudes towards teaching and learning at medical school. The survey was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper provides insight into the challenges faced by medical students in engaging with teaching and learning during medical school.&nbsp; We demonstrated that students may face a range of challenges engaging with learning, which may be contributing to an awarding gap seen. Examples include access to resources and the personal cost of attending clinical placement. We recommend that medical schools utilize the recommendations from this study to inform local dialogue and co-create local solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Things to ask yourself:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read the study below, then answer (either individually or as a group) the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What can you do at your own institution to try to overcome some of these barriers identified in this study?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What steps can you take at your institution to address differential attainment?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2025\/06\/On-line-report-for-Ncl-uni-blog-2.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of On-line report for Ncl uni blog.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-b11782c7-253c-489b-bbf0-ef97988fc730\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2025\/06\/On-line-report-for-Ncl-uni-blog-2.pdf\">On-line report for Ncl uni blog<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2025\/06\/On-line-report-for-Ncl-uni-blog-2.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-b11782c7-253c-489b-bbf0-ef97988fc730\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"769\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/B06FB8E1-E1A2-4443-B610-CAE6B8E986A9-2-1024x769.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-136\" style=\"width:243px;height:182px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/B06FB8E1-E1A2-4443-B610-CAE6B8E986A9-2-1024x769.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/B06FB8E1-E1A2-4443-B610-CAE6B8E986A9-2-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/B06FB8E1-E1A2-4443-B610-CAE6B8E986A9-2-768x577.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/B06FB8E1-E1A2-4443-B610-CAE6B8E986A9-2-1568x1178.jpeg 1568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A week in the life as a post-CCT GP teaching fellow- Dr Mike Harrison<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>My name is Michael Harrison and I am currently a post-CCT GP\nteaching fellow working at Newcastle University.&nbsp; This post is for one year and jointly funded\nby Newcastle University and Health Education England.&nbsp; It is 50% full time, with the rest of my working\nweek spent as a salaried GP at Spring Terrace Health Centre in North\nShields.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; My working days for this\nteaching post are all-day Monday, Tuesday afternoons and all-day Thursday.&nbsp; I would like to describe a week in this role,\nin order to demonstrate the variety of the work, the potential individual\nbenefits of doing such a post, and the efforts being made to showcase General\nPractice and academic General Practice to our medical students.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018MMIs\u2019 Monday<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This Monday morning, I am interviewing applicants applying\nto study medicine at Newcastle University.&nbsp;\nNewcastle University currently uses \u2018multiple mini-interviews\u2019(also\nknown as MMIs), rather than traditional panel interviews, to decide who to\naccept on their MBBS course.&nbsp; MMIs\ninvolves applicants undergoing seven stations in a timed circuit with different\nassessors, with each station assessing a different domain.&nbsp; I am assessing applicants on their motivation\nand commitment to study medicine. &nbsp;The\nquality of the applicants is overall very high, and I find it an interesting\nand enjoyable experience! &nbsp;Interestingly,\nGP involvement in selection processes across UK medical schools is low, and GPs\nare under-represented as interviewers. Recent data suggests, on average, around\n10% of interviewers are GPs, with a range of 0 to 25%.&nbsp; If we want to attract more medical students\ninto choosing a career in GP, we need to raise the profile of GP prior to\nmedical school entry; and ensuring fair representation of GPs and GP trainees\nin medical school selection processes is vital to achieve this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the afternoon, I head to the library to do some work on\nmy Masters project.&nbsp; I completed GP\ntraining 18 months ago, but extended my ST3 year in order to complete an\nExtended Integrated Training Post (ITP) in Medical Education.&nbsp; During this ITP post, I completed the\nCertificate and Diploma in Medical Education.&nbsp;\nI am now doing the Masters in Medical Education, which involves\ncompleting a research project and dissertation.&nbsp;\nOne of the benefits (of both ITP and post-CCT teaching fellow posts) is\nthat there is usually funding included for a post-graduate qualification in\nMedical Education.&nbsp; The Certificate in\nMedical Education is particularly relevant to those who wish to develop and\nimprove their own personal teaching practices.&nbsp;\nMy Masters project is exploring how a change in teaching role is\naffecting motivation to teach in third year GP clinical teachers. &nbsp;&nbsp;This project came about because significant\ncurricula changes at Newcastle University have resulted in a change in the\nteaching role of third year GP clinical teachers, e.g. GP clinical teachers are\nnow providing academic mentorship and taking increasing responsibility to teach\ncore clinical topics.&nbsp; This is great news\nfor General Practice as it means students are having increased exposure to GP\nrole models and generalist medicine, but such changes have the potential to\nboth positively and negatively affect teacher motivation.&nbsp; Understanding this is important because many\nmedical schools are struggling to recruit and retain enough GP clinical\nteachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Tough\u2019 Tuesday<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>On Tuesday morning, I am on-call at the practice and have a\nvery busy morning.&nbsp; I manage to get away\nat 1.30pm, which is later than I had hoped for. &nbsp;&nbsp;One of the challenges of this post is\njuggling the different jobs, and I find getting away on time on a Tuesday\nparticularly challenging!&nbsp; However, I\nhave no doubt that my organisation and time management skills have improved as\na result of this and previous teaching posts, and others have reported the\nsame.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the afternoon, I check\nmy e-mails and do some preparatory work for teaching later on in the week,\nbefore a Facetime video call at 5pm with an Academic Clinical Fellow and GP from\nExeter University.&nbsp; He contacted our team\na few weeks prior wanting to share ideas and collaborate regarding how best to promote\nand encourage GP Specialities trainees (GPSTs) to teach.&nbsp; Our team has done some previous work looking\nat the barriers to involving GPSTs in the teaching of medical students in\nprimary care. Health Education England, in its report \u2018By Choice not by\nChance\u2019, made recommendations that \u2018positive and enthusiastic General\nPractitioner role models should be identified and made visible across all medical\nschools\u2019.&nbsp; Yet, whilst hospital doctors\nare often found on the wards teaching medical students, GPSTs whilst on\nplacement in primary care seem to be less involved in teaching than their\nhospital-based peers.&nbsp; This seems a huge\nmissed opportunity because GPSTs can be great role models to medical students,\nand students value being taught my doctors closer in age and stage to them (so-called\n\u2018near peer\u2019 teaching).&nbsp; We discuss ways\nin which it may be possible to promote GPSTs as teachers, and agree a plan of\nhow to proceed from here regarding future collaborations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Thoughtful\u2019 Thursday <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of the post-CCT teaching\nfellow role, I am currently supervising fourth year medical students who are\nundertaking a Student Selected Component (SSC) in Medical Education.&nbsp; SSCs are six-week rotations that are selected\nby the student: the SSC in Medical Education specifically gives students the\nopportunity to get involved in some hands-on teaching, learn some basic\neducational theory and carry out a small educational project.&nbsp; The SSCs runs consecutively for three blocks\nafter Christmas, and this is the first week of the first block.&nbsp; Today, we have an introductory session, in\nwhich we cover the structure of the SSC, the student\u2019s own goals for the\nrotation, and the learning opportunities available to her.&nbsp; We then have a 40 minutes seminar on basic\nteaching methods and lesson planning.&nbsp; I\nam always surprised by the huge amount of teaching experience the students who\nchoose this SSC already have: the current SSC student is a tutor for A-level\nmaths to sixth form students!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This post has certainly allowed me to\ndevelop my own teaching skills, as well as skills of mentorship and supervision.&nbsp; I think that these latter skills are\nparticularly important in modern General Practice, with increasing numbers of\nlearners situated in primary care ,e.g.&nbsp;\nnurse practitioners, physios, paramedics, requiring supervision and\nmentorship, usually from GPs.&nbsp; The\nmentorship skills I have developed in this post have been transferable to my\nday to day GP work, and I am currently mentoring a nurse practitioner doing her\nAdvanced Nurse Practitioner course at Northumbria University.&nbsp; I certainly would not have felt comfortable\ndoing this had it not been for the experience gained doing this and previous posts.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the afternoon, there is a team\nmeeting at the medical school.&nbsp; There is\nnow an extended team of GP trainees (doing Integrated Training Posts in Medical\nEducation), and GP teaching fellows, all attached to the School of Medical\nEducation.&nbsp; The team is lead by Hugh\nAlberti, sub-dean for Primary and Community Care at Newcastle University.&nbsp; We discuss updates in medical education, such\nas the new Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships being introduced in fourth year\nat Newcastle University, some research methods e.g. one of the teaching fellows\ngave a talk on scoping reviews, and the various educational projects being\nundertaken by members of the group.&nbsp; The\nmeeting allows an opportunity for peer feedback and support. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope this blog gives an insight into\nthe nature of work involved in a post-CCT GP teaching fellow job.&nbsp; What this blog is able to convey less well is\nthe sheer variety of work done: in fact, no two weeks are the same! There are\nteaching opportunities across all years of study, on both the MBBS and\nPhysician Associate programmes\u2026as well as attend conferences, develop academic\nand research skills, publish research papers and develop new teaching\nmaterials.&nbsp; Underpinning all of this work\nis the motivation to raise the profile of General Practice to medical students,\nshowcase its potential as a varied and interesting future career, and provide\nhigh quality and innovative teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A week in the life of an ITP- Dr Helen Finnamore<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"597\" height=\"784\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/IMG_6408-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-138\" style=\"width:283px;height:372px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/IMG_6408-2.png 597w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/files\/2020\/02\/IMG_6408-2-228x300.png 228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Monday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phew! Busy morning as duty doctor \u2013 lots of patients with\nurgent complaints, a couple of ECGs and a wound to review for the nurses, and\nan acute admission to the medical team. &nbsp;&nbsp;Prescriptions to be signed and a handful of\ntelephone triage calls.&nbsp; Just one home\nvisit and then back to the practice for the monthly MDT to discuss some of our\npatients with palliative needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A routine surgery this afternoon \u2013 reviewed a few patients that\nI have seen over the past few weeks \u2013 one has resulted in a referral to gynae,\none is doing much better on his antidepressants and one was after stronger pain\nrelief. There was also a teenage with Downs Syndrome who had been having some\nbehavioural concerns at school \u2013 had to ask my supervisor for some advice with\nthis case.&nbsp; We had a good 30 minute\ndebrief at the end, &nbsp;about how they day\nhas gone in general, and looking at some of my more challenges cases.&nbsp; Next time, I mustn\u2019t forget to let the patient\nstand for 3 minutes before I do their standing BP\u2026&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tuesday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catching up on a couple of emails this morning before\nsitting down to prepare some resources for the new curriculum. The brief is to\nproduce a 3 hour session on dementia for 3<sup>rd<\/sup> years doing their\nmental health rotation. &nbsp;I\u2019ve accessed\nthe university Medical Learning Environment (MLE) to make sure that I have\ncovered their learning outcomes, but also produce a realistic lesson plan so\nthat other GP tutors can easily follow it.&nbsp;\nIt has certainly refreshed my own learning on dementia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This afternoon I\u2019m off to a GP practice in Middlesbrough to\ndeliver a 2.5 hour prescribing tutorial about eight 5<sup>th<\/sup> years on\ntheir GP rotation.&nbsp; The practice had\nprepared the room with a flip chart (no pens that worked though, good job I now\ncarry them round with me!).&nbsp; The students\nwere engaged \u2013 although I wish I\u2019d brought some snacks to keep them going as\nthey were flagging after 2 hours.&nbsp;\nThey\u2019ve filled in some feedback forms that I brought and suggested that\nit could have been a bit more interactive.&nbsp;\nMaybe next time I\u2019ll try a quiz at the beginning to activate their prior\nknowledge.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Home now.&nbsp; Just got to\nmake sure that I\u2019m prepared for the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> year session in the GP\ntomorrow.&nbsp; I\u2019ve organised for 2 patients\nto come in \u2013 one with a great history of heart failure and one with a murmur\ndue to aortic stenosis.&nbsp; I hope they\nremember to come\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wednesday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both patients turned up that that was a relief! It helps\nhaving the reception staff on board, as they can contact patients to invite\nthem in and remind them the day before.&nbsp;\nOccasionally I have been a bit last minute and this makes it\nstressful.&nbsp; Organisation seems to be the\nkey in this job\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the history and examination, the student pairs\npresented the cases and we discussed areas they could improve.&nbsp; Generally, their communication skills are\ngood, although they still are struggling with \u2018ICE\u2019.&nbsp; They also need to speed up a little in\npreparation for their exams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We did a tutorial on hypertension that had been set by one\nof the other ITPs \u2013 the students had done their pre-reading, which meant that\nwe had a detailed discussion about diagnosis and management.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;(Next week I\u2019ll be at\nthe VTS for the morning so I probably need to ask the other GP tutor to\norganise a respiratory patient)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This afternoon is my half day of personal study.&nbsp; I\u2019ve got a home visit to do, and then I\u2019m\ngoing to head to do some revision for CSA with my peers from the VTS.&nbsp; I need to make sure that I do some more\nlearning logs; I\u2019ve got loads of evidence in the \u2018teaching and training\u2019\nstrand, but need to find some more examples of managing patients with genetic\nrelated issues.&nbsp; The case of the young\nlady with Down\u2019s Syndrome is probably a good example of managing a genetic\ncondition.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thursday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Up to the big city today! Do I bus, train or drive from\nTeesside\u2026?!&nbsp; As part of the ITP, I\u2019m\nstudying the diploma in medical education (I did the certificate last year).&nbsp; It will be a full-on day, as we are working\ntowards a project called \u2018Current Educational Issues\u2019.&nbsp; I\u2019ve prepared a short presentation on the hot\ntopic of \u2018teaching resilience\u2019, and am hoping for some critique from my peers\nand tutor so that I can get on with writing an abstract proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The day went well \u2013 finished by 4.30, but needed to stay\nbehind to catch the tutor to ask some questions.&nbsp; He was really helpful and suggested I email\nhim with any more queries.&nbsp; Going to have\na catch up&nbsp; with some of the others from\nITP who have been at our monthly meeting.&nbsp;\nI had a bit of a clash with my timetabling because of the diploma day,\nwhich is a shame, as it is a good opportunity to hear how other people\u2019s\nresearch projects are going on.&nbsp; I think\nI might have to do some number crunching next week, with the data that we\u2019ve\ngot from the survey we sent out.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back for a day of GP.&nbsp;\nIt feels a nice mix of clinical and educational work each week \u2013 means\nthat I don\u2019t seem to get tired of seeing patients.&nbsp; I\u2019ve heard that there is going to be a lot\nmore opportunity to teach students in primary care over the coming years, due\nto the increased time they spend in GP with their new curriculum.&nbsp; I think this job will stand me in good stead\nas I look for a permanent position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not a bad day overall, quite a few bloods to process by the\nend of the week, and a couple of letters to dictate.&nbsp; It turned into quite a busy afternoon as it\nis a bank holiday weekend, so lots of patients\u2019 worried that they may run out\nof medications or need to be seen.&nbsp; I\u2019m\ndown to do an out of hours shift on the bank holiday Monday morning, so I suspect\nthat will keep me out of trouble\u2026&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barriers and facilitators to engagement within teaching and learning during medical school: a nationwide cross-sectional questionnaire to encourage inclusivity and engagement In this study, jointly conducted with&nbsp;University College London, we explored attitudes towards teaching and learning at medical school. The survey was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper provides insight into the challenges faced &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/blogs\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Blogs&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8476,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-85","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/gpmeded\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}