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SUMMARY: Background: Shared decision making (SDM), whereby patients and clinicians work collaboratively to make health care decisions, brings multiple benefits. It has, however, been slow to integrate into clinical practice. There are some examples of SDM being embedded and evaluated within medical undergraduate curricula but, despite role models being important in promoting students' patient‐centred attitudes, these examples do not involve students reflecting on clinicians' use of SDM in practice. Methods: We undertook a qualitative evaluation of a small group educational intervention. A key element was the students' use of a structured reflective template, drawing on the SHARE (seek, help, assess, reach, evaluate) SDM tool, to analyse examples of clinicians using SDM in practice critically. We undertook a thematic analysis of students' completed templates and evaluated their engagement with the SHARE tool. Findings: A total of 44 templates were analysed. Four main themes were identified, including new learning about SDM, noticing and deconstructing SDM, participants' responses to SDM and struggles in learning. Students were positive about SHARE and used it to critique experiences and suggest specific ways that clinicians could have improved SDM. Discussion: A structured training intervention that promotes critical reflection on clinical role models can help to shift undergraduate medical students' understanding of, and attitudes towards, SDM. The ethical arguments for SDM, evidence for its benefits and the alignment of SDM with participants' own core values appeared to help achieve student 'buy in'. Students struggled with notions of power, risk and time constraints, and empathised with both patients and clinicians. They highlighted the scarcity of SDM in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Doctors are increasingly expected to improve the health and well‐being of populations, as well as to care for individuals. However, despite extensive efforts to integrate population health into undergraduate programmes, engaging students in such learning is notoriously challenging. Threshold concepts are transformative, integrative, irreversible and fundamental to understanding a discipline. Grasping such concepts requires learners to cross a liminal space, which often involves struggle. Methods: We employed a form of transactional curriculum enquiry, involving qualitative and quantitative methods, with experienced population health medical educators to identify and explore threshold and troublesome concepts in population health. Results: Attributing causality, inequalities in health and doctors' responsibility for populations not just individuals were the concepts most participants thought were threshold. The value of qualitative research, health as politically and socially determined and not taking evidence at face value were the concepts ranked as most troublesome for learners. Participants found the notions of threshold and troublesome concepts helpful and empowering. They described ways these new ideas would influence how they taught population health. Discussion: Transactional curriculum enquiry can offer insights into which population health concepts may be threshold and troublesome. The number of such concepts identified in this study may help explain why students often struggle to engage in population health learning. Understanding which concepts are threshold and particularly which are troublesome can help teachers to better support learners and can also inform curriculum design. If our students are to ... take responsibility for populations as well as individuals ... it is vital that they cross these fundamental thresholds in learning [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: The hidden curriculum (HC) refers to unscripted, ad hoc learning that occurs outside the formal, taught curriculum and can have a powerful influence on the professional development of students. While this learning may be positive, it may conflict with that taught in the formal curriculum. Medical schools take a range of steps to address these negative effects; however, the existence and nature of the concept tends to be hidden from students. Methods: Since 2007, our medical school has incorporated into its small group programme an educational activity exploring the concept of the hidden curriculum. We undertook a qualitative evaluation of our intervention, conducting a thematic analysis of students' wiki reflections about the HC. We also analysed students' responses to a short questionnaire about the educational approach used. Findings: The majority of students felt that the HC session was important and relevant. Most appeared able to identify positive and negative HC experiences and consider how these might influence their learning and development, although a few students found the concept of the HC hard to grasp. Discussion: Revealing and naming the hidden curriculum can make students aware of its existence and understand its potential impact. The hidden curriculum may also be a useful tool for triggering debate about issues such as power, patient centredness, personal resilience and career stereotypes in medicine. Supporting students to think critically about HC experiences may empower them to make active choices about which messages to take on board. The hidden curriculum can have a powerful influence on the professional development of students [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Aim: To understand the experiences of students and problem‐based learning (PBL) facilitators during an evidence‐based curriculum change to a PBL programme within an undergraduate medical course in South West England. Methods: Four novel PBL cases were designed and implemented, based on educational theory and evidence. Eight focus groups were undertaken with Year‐1 and ‐2 students (n = 18) and PBL facilitators (n = 14) to explore the experiences of participants. Thematic analysis and conceptual abstraction led to insights into the intended and unintended consequences of the change. Results: Participant responses to the change process were influenced by the perceived relevance and value of the change (e.g. benefit to student learning), which was shaped by individual beliefs and preferences (e.g. presumed purpose of PBL, relative value placed on different curriculum topics, and desire for uniform educational experience), and the wider education context (e.g. expectations of assessment). It appears that the three distinct elements must align for the changes to be received positively. We updated our PBL curriculum in response to new evidence Discussion: This study describes how we updated our PBL curriculum in response to new evidence, and demonstrates the importance of communicating the pedagogic rationale behind changes, and meticulous planning, preparation and alignment, even in distant parts of the curriculum. Engaging with existing views and attitudes is an essential requirement for successful curriculum change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the growing recognition for capability in higher education as a vital component of professional expertise. Topics discussed include how capability is distinct from the capability approach, what capability requires from individuals, and how can people educate for capability, as well as competency.