“Wardcraft”: Equipping medical students with the procedural knowledge and skills to make them more confident junior doctors

A Quality Improvement Project presentation by

Kate Kiln & Meng Wang

Identified gap in skills and knowledge: “wardcraft”

Aims:1. Identify clinical topics commonly faced by junior doctors

that medical students lack confidence in managing.2. Recruit junior doctors to design and deliver weekly sessions

to final year medical students at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, teaching them the practical knowledge/skills used by junior doctors to tackle the identified clinical topics.

3. Increase the subjective confidence of medical students in managing these clinical problems through our teaching course

Aims

Surveyed medical students to identify topics of interest/need

Designed a teaching programme, based on team members previous experiences involving:~ Short lecture followed by small group teaching~ Scenario based tutorials~ Inclusion of practical skills e.g. prescribing

Recruited junior doctors to facilitate Designed written feedback forms

Planning

1. Prescribing and monitoring antibiotics. 2. Interpreting full blood counts and prescribing blood

products. 3. Practical prescribing and symptom management.4. Practicalities of inpatient diabetes management and

insulin prescription. 5. Interpreting electrolyte derangements and

prescribing IV fluids6. Practical and organizational skills to survive on-call

shifts.

Implementation

Results and actions taken

Student Attendance

Overall Rating

Self-rated Confidence

Sessions

Sessions

CYCLE 1 CYCLE 2 CYCLE 3

Results and actions taken

Student:Facilitator Ratio

Sessions

CYCLE 1 CYCLE 2 CYCLE 3

• Medical students particularly value teaching on practical activities that simulate the role of the junior doctor.

• Junior doctors are an under-utilized resource in medical student teaching, and are well placed to teach the appropriate skills and knowledge required for a new junior doctor

• Ongoing problems include: timing and length of session, recruitment of junior doctor facilitators, continuation of sessions once current committee leave

Future:- AMEE international conference- Cambridge clinical school liaison

Lessons learnt and next steps

Simon BiddieKate KilnBahar Mirshekar-SyahkalEdward PoyntonSnigdha ReddyRussell SenanayakeMeng WangBen Warne

The Stage 3 Medical Students of Cambridge University Clinical School

Team members and thanks