“ They Will Help to Make Students Become Better Doctors”: an Evaluation of Student Selected Units in Year 1 at the University of Southampton Kathleen Kendall, Jenny Skidmore, Marcus Parry and Linda Turner Introduction Description of the Year 1 SSUs Key Findings Aims of the SSUs The overall aims of the SSUs are to: Complement the core medical curriculum and give students an opportunity to explore health-related topics of their choice. Allow students to pursue areas of personal, academic and vocational interest. Enable students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they will need for independent learning, team working and reflective practice. Enable students to develop the ability to empathise and communicate with a wide range of people. Both units achieved the overall SSU aims. Students and facilitators enjoyed the SSUs. Community groups used the project outcomes locally, nationally and internationally. While most students believed that the SSUs would help to make them better doctors, many of them struggled to identify exactly how this would be achieved. This was especially the case when the clinical relevance of the SSUs was not immediately apparent to the students. Organisation of the SSUs was time and resource intensive. Evaluation Methodology Conclusion The University of Southampton’s School of Medicine introduced a new curriculum in Year 1 of the Bachelor of Medicine 5 Year Programme during the 2007/2008 academic year. A new Year 2 curriculum will be implemented in the 2008/09 academic year. A key innovation across both years is the Student Selected Unit (SSU). One afternoon each week all students have an opportunity to explore, in groups, a health-related topic of their choice in the following areas: Year 1 Semester 1: Community Engagement Semester 2: Medical Humanities Year 2 Semester 3: Appraising Medical Evidence Semester 4: Peer Teaching Community Engagement Students worked with one of twenty local community organisations on an agreed project. This resulted in a variety of activities, information pamphlets, videos and posters which addressed the following issues: Alzheimer’s Disease Cancer Deafness Disabilities Domestic violence Healthy eating & exercise Learning difficulties Multiple Sclerosis Refugee and immigrant health Stroke Young carers Medical Humanities Students worked with one of eight facilitated groups to produce a creative outcome in the following areas: Art Creative writing Drawing Ethics through writing & drama Film Music Shakespearean drama Theatre Outcomes included art installations, drawings, films, scripts, poems, sculptures, short stories, photography, and theatrical and musical performances. The Year 1 SSUs were evaluated during the 2007/08 academic year using the following methods: Three student and two facilitator focus groups. One facilitator and two student questionnaires. Two group observations. SSUs can successfully extend learning experiences in content and beyond the core curriculum but are organisationally time and resource intensive. While their clinical relevance was not always appreciated, students generally enjoyed the SSUs and felt that they would help to make them better doctors. Students were assessed through the following methods: Group reflection and peer assessment Project outcome Project advisor’s report on group performance Reflective account Members of the local city and university communities were invited to an event showcasing the SSUs outcomes.