Family Attachment Scheme Course Review 4 th April 2007

Outline 1.45 Review of changes to the Family Attachment scheme and student feedback 2.15 Small group work to consider problems and solutions ( 3 groups ) 2.45 plenary session for small group feedback 3.15 Summary and action points 3.30 close

Course Structure Recently changed to 3 semesters instead of 4 – As a result of student feedback – To cope with increasing numbers of students Has largely remained unchanged over past 12 years Now 2 x tutorials in first and second semester and 1 x tutorial in third semester

Student Feedback Electronic survey sent out to all 2 nd year students with 138 replies Electronic Survey sent out to 3 rd 4 th and final year students with 317 replies Electronic survey results (2 nd year) Electronic survey Electronic survey results (3 rd 4 th and 5 th years) Electronic survey

What did you like? “patient contact so early on. was a good experience. prepared you for going to clinical skills” “Meeting actual patients for first time. Observing how diseases and chronic illnesses affected the wider family.” tutorial sessions with our assigned doctor. it gave us a different insight to other patients problems and how they deal with these problems. it was also a learning experience with the doctor elaborating on different medical conditions. for example how they come about, similar scenarios, what the future holds for such patients etc!

What did you like contd: “I really enjoyed getting to meet a family and stick with them to see their illness was effecting their day to day life and how it developed. It was a great learning curve on how to comunicate and deal with issues such as grief and depression”. “During 1st semester 1st year it was the only patient contact we had and so was a novelty. It was good experience to see how the patient manages their illness around daily living.”

What did you not like? “The large amount of time that it took, the complete lack of knowledge relating to the patients condition, the acute, ever-present sense that the scheme was both invasive and uncomfortable for the family being visited (without any justifying benefit to them or the students), and the feeling that I gained nothing from the entire scheme that wasn't covered better in the clinical attachments of phase two. Writing the report in the week before christmas (when other assignements are due and exams are looming large) was a mind-numbingly boring, frustrating, and time consuming experience.”

What did you not like (contd.) “Patients died during the attachment, hence it was quite a rush to get the relavant information needed to write the report when we were allocated a new patient.” “The GP was unfriendly and made the attachment unenjoyable. The attachment lost its function in second semester as we began to see real patients every week and it lost its appeal. It became a chore to complete the report when we had Stats assignments, SSC assignments and studying to do simultaneously.”

Students’ suggestions “make sure patients are willing to talk about their problems/have good communication skills as well as a good understanding of their condition, as the patient who we were assigned didnt feel comfortable talking to use about their problem! this made it hard to complete our report. once we looked at the patients medical records it was only then that we had discovered several medical conditions which they had suffered from as a result of their initial diagnosis!”

Students’ suggestions “a set timetable each week to revise before going” “More guidance. It seems a pity having to do a lot of work and going to places far from where I live and yet the scheme not actually counting towards anything really, unlike the student selected components with which people had to balance their essay writing times. “ “Condensed down into a years. More frquent tutorials”

Students’ suggestsions “it might be a good idea to submit a draft assignment half way through or even complete a reflective diary of each visit to be checked by gp. more relevence on comparisons with other families would be a good idea i think”.

Questions and Discussion Points Should we shorten the Family Attachment? Could we have more student contact / more sessions? Would it be practical for students to visit more than one family? How? Could we change the assessment process and if so to what? Can we standardize GP tutorials better?