1. Learning from Foundation Year (FY) doctors: clinical shadowing and preparation for practice Kaz Iwata BSc, MBBS, MRCPsych, MSc, FHEA & Deborah Gill, Sarah Bennett, Alison Sturrock UCL Medical School Academic Centre for Medical Education

2. Background Medicine is a vocational course To become competent Foundation Year (FY) doctors –First year doctors on the wards –“House doctor”, “interns”, “baby doctors”, “junior doctors” Benefits of spending time with people doing their future jobs

3. Aims of presentation Discuss about a FY doctor shadowing program for first year medical students Implications and impact on training and employability Questions

4. Clinical shadowing Program developed in 2011 First year students spend 4-hours with a FY doctor on one occasion Emphasis on shadowing –No specific teaching

5. Program evaluation Program run twice so far: May 2011 and May 2012 680 students completed this activity over two years 341 (50%) responded to the questionnaire Overall rating: >68% rated Very Good (41.1%) or Excellent (28%)

6. Perceived benefits 48%Appreciating the job of a junior doctor 21%Experiencing the clinical setting 12%Seeing relevance of course material 11%Seeing patients 8%Being able to visualize their future role

7. Perceived benefits: illustrative comments “Not only were we able to gain an insight into their working lives of junior doctors but we were able to ask questions and gain tips on many different things.” “I got a realistic view of what being a junior doctor will entail and what kind of tasks I will be carrying out.” “Putting knowledge learned during the year (both academic and professional development) into practice in a clinical scenario was useful.”

8. Difficulties encountered 26%Unpredictable nature of workplace 23%Junior doctor was too busy 18%Difficulty finding their allocated doctor 26%Not having enough background knowledge 5%Physically demanding

9. Difficulties encountered: illustrative comments “Doctors were very busy and didn’t have much time to explain what they were doing” “Lack of structure – have a set program of things to follow.” “It was quite tiring to be on my feet for the whole afternoon, and some patients were challenging to deal with.” “Not being able to perform anything”

10. Emerging themes Students generally had a good experience – role modelling works! Adapting to “real-life” situations was difficult – lack of structure or background knowledge –BUT: The unexpected nature of the clinical environment and dealing with uncertainty are integral to learning clinical medicine. FY doctors are an under-utilized yet powerful teaching resource –Role models and near-peers

11. Transition from medical students to doctors Final year students undertake longer periods of FY doctor shadowing –4 weeks of full assistantship More prepared for practice Details in poster presentation by Dr Sarah Bennett

12. Conclusion Role modelling is very powerful Exposure to their future career path early in their training can be a useful “reality check” Similar activities can be useful in many other disciplines to help students prepare for their future careers

13. ANY QUESTIONS??