Generic Scientific Skills for Medicine Jim Aiton Bute Medical School University of St Andrews

Pre - HonoursHonours Year 1 MD2000Year 3 MD4000Year 2 MD3000 Foundations of Medicine 1 Musculo-skeleta l Cardiovascular Renal Nervous System Research Dissertation Applied Medical Science Respiratory Reproductive Gastrointestinal Endocrine Patient Strand, Communication skills, Clinical Skills, Health Psychology, ePortfolio, Ethics, Public Health Medicine, Generic Research Skills Family interview GP Attachments Hospital ElectivesCommunity Health Attachments Foundations of Medicine 2 Introduction to Medicine

Generic scientific skills matrix

Mapping skills in the curriculum

MD2001: The Scientific Method 1. Identify the key features of a refereed scientific paper - how is a scientific paper constructed? how is the information presented? how are the conclusions reported? 2. What is evidence based medicine? Who is Dr Gillian McKeith? 3. Quality of information the NHS Scotland eLibrary Ovid, PubMed, Google Scholar

MD2001: Reading a Scientific Paper Was this good science? Workbook-based task to –analyse the structure of a scientific paper –understand the use of control and experimental groups –interpret data

Example workbook tasks 4Explain how the patients were selected for the study 7Describe the experimental findings reported in Figure 1 13Give three reasons why references are used in a scientific paper 14Write a short scientific abstract of the Wakefield paper in the style of the British Medical Journal (BMJ)

MD2002 Write a scientific report on a recent development in medicine (1500 words) –Searching Cochrane, Ovid and PubMed –Scientific writing and referencing –Plagiarism and plagiarism detection Student submission to ‘Turnitin’

MD3001 Evidence based medicine –Research study design –Key statistical concepts –Literature searching (NHS Scotland eLibrary) and citation management (RefWorks) Interpreting the literature –Exercise physiology practical report methods for measuring health status and fitness (BMI, body fat, and VO 2 max) assess the validity of these methods

Example workbook tasks Read the Gallagher study (Gallagher et al. 1996) which tested the hypothesis that body mass index (BMI) is representative of body fatness independent of age, sex or ethnicity. What age range did the authors use in their study? –Are you within this age range? Yes/No What BMI range did the authors use in this study? –Are you within this BMI range? Yes/No Look at the data on pages 232 and 233 of the paper –Does the raw data look widely scattered or relatively tight?

MD4001: Analysing and summarising You are provided with an edited version of a paper (introduction and methods), a glossary and the figures from the results section. Interpret the figures and draw your own conclusions.

Questions about Figure In this experiment, how is indomethacin being administered? 31. What is the purpose of this route of administration for this experiment? (you may need to re-read the method section to answer this) 32. What do the two left-hand columns compare and what conclusion can you draw?

MD4002: Honours research dissertation Student-Selected Component (SSC) which allows students to pursue an area of particular interest Applied Physiology and Pharmacology Health Psychology / Healthcare in the Community Molecular Oncology Musculo-skeletal System Practice of Medicine

MD4002 Learning outcomes Develop an understanding of scientific methods Use research and scientific methodologies to interpret an investigation Demonstrate critical thinking and analysis of the scientific literature Display competency in accessing on-line sources of information Present the dissertation findings as an oral presentation Formulate a work plan to complete a task in a defined time frame Reflect on a significant learning event

Conclusions A progressive approach to the acquisition of generic scientific research skills has been effective Curriculum time constraints limit the scope of training The curriculum mapping process helped reveal research- teaching linkages

Thanks to: Simon Guild - Director of Teaching Julie Struthers - Learning Technology Consultant Sue Whiten - MD2000 Module Controller Bob Pitman - MD3000 and 4001 Module controller Amanda Fleet - MD3000 and 4001 Module controller Andrew Riches - MD4002 Module Controller