Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor

Background: Studies report that medical graduates are not prepared for practice as expected, and interventions have been developed to prepare them for practice. One such intervention is the assistantship, which provides hands‐on opportunities to hone clinical skills and undertake responsibilities un...

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Main Authors: Chow, Aloysius, Chen, Shiwei, Rosby, Lucy, Low‐Beer, Naomi, Shelat, Vishalkumar Girishchandra, Cleland, Jennifer, Bartlam, Bernadette, Smith, Helen Elizabeth
Other Authors: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155428
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-155428
record_format dspace
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Science::Medicine
Transitions to Practice
Undergraduate Medical Education
spellingShingle Science::Medicine
Transitions to Practice
Undergraduate Medical Education
Chow, Aloysius
Chen, Shiwei
Rosby, Lucy
Low‐Beer, Naomi
Shelat, Vishalkumar Girishchandra
Cleland, Jennifer
Bartlam, Bernadette
Smith, Helen Elizabeth
Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor
description Background: Studies report that medical graduates are not prepared for practice as expected, and interventions have been developed to prepare them for practice. One such intervention is the assistantship, which provides hands‐on opportunities to hone clinical skills and undertake responsibilities under supervision. The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMed) is Singapore’s newest medical school, and students undergo a Student Assistantship Programme (SAP) to prepare for practice as junior doctors (PGY1). This study evaluated the SAP from the students’ and clinical supervisors’ perspectives. Methods: Students completed online questionnaires to assess readiness for practice before and after SAP, and a sub‐ sample were interviewed about their experiences of SAP and its impact on their preparedness for PGY1. In addition, after our graduates had begun work as PGY1 doctors, their clinical supervisors completed an online questionnaire and were interviewed about the perceived benefits of SAP and the attributes of our graduates as junior doctors. Results: Fifty (96%) students completed the pre‐SAP questionnaire and 46 (92%) completed the post‐SAP question‐ naire. Levels of preparedness increased post‐SAP (mean scores range pre‐SAP: 2.38 to 4.32 vs post‐SAP: 3.08 to 4.48); so did opportunities to undertake PGY1 duties (pre‐SAP: 56% vs post‐SAP: 96%), and hands‐on experience in medical emergencies (pre‐SAP: 76% vs post‐SAP: 89%).Experience of acute care situations increased except “paracetamol over‐ dose”. Readiness to be first respondents in ten acute situations improved (statistically significant for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation, gastrointestinal bleed, sepsis, and adverse drug reactions). Three themes emerged from twenty‐five student interviews: learning about the work environment, opportunities to learn in a safe environment, and enhancing SAP for future students. Thirty‐three supervisors completed the questionnaire, and 70% rated SAP positively in preparing students for PGY1. Eight supervisors interviewed shared positively about the con‐ tent, timing, and duration of SAP; and suggested future SAPs help students to develop coping and reflective skills. Conclusions: The SAP improved students’ preparedness and experience across clinical areas, and students felt the SAP helped bridge undergraduate curriculum and work, provided opportunities to hone their skills and learn from junior doctors. Most clinical supervisors rated the SAP effective in preparing students for PGY1. This is the first formal evaluation of an assistantship in Singapore, and the findings are encouraging from the perspective of students and PGY1 supervisors.
author2 Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
author_facet Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
Chow, Aloysius
Chen, Shiwei
Rosby, Lucy
Low‐Beer, Naomi
Shelat, Vishalkumar Girishchandra
Cleland, Jennifer
Bartlam, Bernadette
Smith, Helen Elizabeth
format Article
author Chow, Aloysius
Chen, Shiwei
Rosby, Lucy
Low‐Beer, Naomi
Shelat, Vishalkumar Girishchandra
Cleland, Jennifer
Bartlam, Bernadette
Smith, Helen Elizabeth
author_sort Chow, Aloysius
title Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor
title_short Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor
title_full Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor
title_fullStr Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor
title_full_unstemmed Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor
title_sort student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155428
_version_ 1759853572658298880
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1554282023-03-05T16:43:31Z Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor Chow, Aloysius Chen, Shiwei Rosby, Lucy Low‐Beer, Naomi Shelat, Vishalkumar Girishchandra Cleland, Jennifer Bartlam, Bernadette Smith, Helen Elizabeth Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Tan Tock Seng Hospital Science::Medicine Transitions to Practice Undergraduate Medical Education Background: Studies report that medical graduates are not prepared for practice as expected, and interventions have been developed to prepare them for practice. One such intervention is the assistantship, which provides hands‐on opportunities to hone clinical skills and undertake responsibilities under supervision. The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMed) is Singapore’s newest medical school, and students undergo a Student Assistantship Programme (SAP) to prepare for practice as junior doctors (PGY1). This study evaluated the SAP from the students’ and clinical supervisors’ perspectives. Methods: Students completed online questionnaires to assess readiness for practice before and after SAP, and a sub‐ sample were interviewed about their experiences of SAP and its impact on their preparedness for PGY1. In addition, after our graduates had begun work as PGY1 doctors, their clinical supervisors completed an online questionnaire and were interviewed about the perceived benefits of SAP and the attributes of our graduates as junior doctors. Results: Fifty (96%) students completed the pre‐SAP questionnaire and 46 (92%) completed the post‐SAP question‐ naire. Levels of preparedness increased post‐SAP (mean scores range pre‐SAP: 2.38 to 4.32 vs post‐SAP: 3.08 to 4.48); so did opportunities to undertake PGY1 duties (pre‐SAP: 56% vs post‐SAP: 96%), and hands‐on experience in medical emergencies (pre‐SAP: 76% vs post‐SAP: 89%).Experience of acute care situations increased except “paracetamol over‐ dose”. Readiness to be first respondents in ten acute situations improved (statistically significant for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation, gastrointestinal bleed, sepsis, and adverse drug reactions). Three themes emerged from twenty‐five student interviews: learning about the work environment, opportunities to learn in a safe environment, and enhancing SAP for future students. Thirty‐three supervisors completed the questionnaire, and 70% rated SAP positively in preparing students for PGY1. Eight supervisors interviewed shared positively about the con‐ tent, timing, and duration of SAP; and suggested future SAPs help students to develop coping and reflective skills. Conclusions: The SAP improved students’ preparedness and experience across clinical areas, and students felt the SAP helped bridge undergraduate curriculum and work, provided opportunities to hone their skills and learn from junior doctors. Most clinical supervisors rated the SAP effective in preparing students for PGY1. This is the first formal evaluation of an assistantship in Singapore, and the findings are encouraging from the perspective of students and PGY1 supervisors. Nanyang Technological University Published version This project received internal funding from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Singapore. 2022-02-24T01:04:43Z 2022-02-24T01:04:43Z 2022 Journal Article Chow, A., Chen, S., Rosby, L., Low‐Beer, N., Shelat, V. G., Cleland, J., Bartlam, B. & Smith, H. E. (2022). Student assistantship programme : an evaluation of impact on readiness to transit from medical student to junior doctor. BMC Medical Education, 22, 99-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03159-3 1472-6920 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155428 10.1186/s12909-022-03159-3 22 99 en BMC Medical Education © 2022 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. application/pdf