Exploring Medical Student Attitudes Regarding Inter-university Learning: A Pilot Study.

Introduction The United Kingdom needs to educate more medical students to meet workforce demands. With static numbers of clinical teachers available, novel and efficient approaches are required to prepare students for real-life work where doctors routinely work with colleagues from different medical schools. This innovative project was designed to investigate student attitudes towards inter-university learning (IUL), whereby two medical students from different universities learn together. Materials and methods Thirteen students at Great Western Hospital, Swindon, England, volunteered and were randomly paired with a student from another university. Pairs completed a 20-minute simulated clinical scenario and observed three others. Students completed pre- and post-session questionnaires adapted from the Readiness for Inter-Professional Learning scale. Seven students took part in semi-structured interviews which underwent thematic analysis. Results Quantitative analysis of post-session questionnaires demonstrated a positive response to IUL. Thematic analysis generated six themes: impact on learning, impact on career, working together, recognising differences, practical considerations, and psychosocial perspectives. Discussion Students enjoyed the social learning opportunity to practise team-working, communication, and role delegation with unknown peers whilst sharing different clinical approaches. Differences in course structure meant students displayed varying strengths, although unexpected findings centred around pre-conceptions of both universities and social comparison behaviours. Conclusion IUL's strength was deemed to be in non-technical skill development to prepare for real-life work, ultimately enhancing patient safety. Practicalities to consider include session design and psychological safety. IUL provides a novel solution to efficiently educate future healthcare professionals and further work to explore its benefits on a wider scale is suggested.
Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Swindon Academy Medical Education Research Committee issued approval Not applicable. The committee concluded that the project met the minimum ethical standards for conducting medical education research at Swindon Academy on the 10th of December 2021. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
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