A model for medical school application courses: widening access to student preparation

Ratneswaran, Culadeeban; Mushtaq, Jameel; Steier, Joerg

doi:10.1111/medu.12853

Cited by 5 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…In the Outreach phase, the main aim of the programmes is to engage with targeted schools, students and parents to introduce medicine as a career choice that is available, as part of raising aspirations of students from disadvantaged backgrounds [8,11,15,31]. This is followed by focused preparatory programmes to provide information and coaching to maximize students' chances of applying to and being accepted into medical school [8,13,15,18,[31][32][33][34]. This stage highlights the importance of having positive role models as well as a supportive environment as early as possible to dispel the common myths surrounding medicine "as a career choice for posh people" [8,13,15,[31][32][33][34].…”

Section: Figure 2 Frequency Of Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In each of the programmes, there were designated staff or medical student volunteers leading and delivering the programme throughout the academic year. Most programmes were conducted in small groups, with some including 1-to-1 mentoring by medical students as well [8,13,15,[31][32][33][34]37]. Identification and selection of suitable WA applicants.…”

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These include meeting an agreed level of socioeconomic depravation as well as showing academic potential and commitment, as determined by school teachers and/or mental amplitude tests [8,13,15,[31][32][33][34][35][36]. This is crucial as it is hoped that teachers would be able to identify capable students who may not be performing up to their true potential due to individual and environmental circumstances [8,13,[31][32][33][34][35][36]. Apart from fairness, selecting the most committed applicants may allow for limited resources to be focused on the WAMS students with the best chances of being admitted into medical school [34].…”

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Content of these sessions include: introduction to medicine as a career choice (with or without work-placement opportunities), awareness of application requirements, coaching on entrance tests, CVs and interview practice (clearing key hurdles). In addition, most of the programmes also targeted non-cognitive aspects such as improving confidence and self-image as part of overcoming dispositional barriers typically faced by WAMS students [1,8,13,17,[31][32][33][34][35][36]. Led and delivered by a combination of staff and medical students.…”

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst some WAMS are led and delivered primarily by a dedicated team of university staff [8,[30][31][35][36], others are led by medical student volunteers with supervision from university staff [13,31,[33][34]. The advantage of programmes being led by medical students is the reduction of costs as well as the ability to assign each WAMS applicant a medical student mentor throughout the academic year leading up to applications [8,13,[31][32][33][34][35][36]. Remaining resources can be focused on designing a short (1-2 week) intensive programme to consolidate students' preparation [8,13,15,31,[33][34].…”

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stakeholder perspectives of widening access initiatives to medical school in the UK: A scoping review

Wong

Glen

Williams

2019

Preprint

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Background: Widening access initiatives to medical school (WAMS) have had mixed success. One reason may be the competing interests of different stakeholder groups involved. The aim of this scoping review was to explore stakeholder perspectives of widening access initiatives to medical school in the UK. Methods: Scoping review, including the use of data sources from published literature from 1998 to 2018, CINAHL, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, ProQuest Education Collection, PsychINFO, PubMed, key journals and citation tracking. Results: The review focused on the 12 papers which comprise 11 studies and can be categorised into: 8 studies on Widening Access initiatives done in the UK, 2 studies on stakeholder perspectives only and 1 generic review on “best practices” in WAMS. The 4 main areas targeted by the WAMS initiatives in this review include: outreach, selection, transition, retention and completion. They also display several key features which could have contributed to their success and sustainability, namely: committed personnel and resources, selection of suitable WAMS applicants, focused sessions based on needs of students, led and delivered by a combination of staff and medical students, utilisation of technology and social media and data collection and feedback. The stakeholders identified are as follows: students, parents, school teachers, medical schools’ admissions deans, WAMS facilitators, policy makers, hospital management and the public. Their interests and perspectives have been tabulated. Conclusions: WAMS in the UK have come a long way since their inception, but much remains to be done in achieving their desired results more broadly. As more resources are being allocated to WAMS around the country, a more thorough exploration of stakeholder perspectives and interests may be helpful in understanding how these programmes work.

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Section: Figure 2 Frequency Of Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wams Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stakeholder perspectives of widening access initiatives to medical school in the UK: A scoping review

Wong

Glen

Williams

2019

Preprint

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“It’s going to be hard you know…” Teachers’ perceived role in widening access to medicine

Alexander

Nicholson

Cleland

2020

Adv in Health Sci Educ

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Medical schools worldwide undertake widening access (WA) initiatives (e.g. pipeline, outreach and academic enrichment programmes) to support pupils from high schools which do not traditionally send high numbers of applicants to medicine. UK literature indicates that pupils in these schools feel that their teachers are ill-equipped, cautious or even discouraging towards their aspiration and/or application to medicine. This study aimed to explore teachers' perspectives and practices to include their voice in discussions and consider how medical schools might best engage with them to facilitate WA. Interviews were conducted with high school teachers in three UK regions, working in schools targeted by WA initiatives. Data were analysed thematically using template analysis, using a largely data-driven approach. Findings showed that although medicine was largely seen as a prestigious and worthwhile career, teachers held reservations about advocating this above other choices. Teachers saw it as their role to encourage pupils to educate themselves about medicine, but to ultimately allow pupils to make their own decisions. Their attitudes were influenced by material constraints in their schools, and the perception of daunting, long and emotionally difficult admissions requirements, with low chances of success. Medical schools may wish to work with teachers to understand their hesitations and help them develop the mindset required to advocate a challenging and unfamiliar career, emphasising that this encouragement can further the shared goal of empowering and preparing pupils to feel capable of choosing medicine. Reciprocally, medical schools should ensure pupils have fair opportunities for access, should they choose to apply.

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Massivement histologique : entre continuité et (r)évolution pédagogique. Lancement du premier massive open online course (MOOC) sur des travaux pratiques en histologie à destination de nos étudiants mais aussi du grand public

et al. 2017

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A model for medical school application courses: widening access to student preparation

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

Stakeholder perspectives of widening access initiatives to medical school in the UK: A scoping review

Stakeholder perspectives of widening access initiatives to medical school in the UK: A scoping review

“It’s going to be hard you know…” Teachers’ perceived role in widening access to medicine

Massivement histologique : entre continuité et (r)évolution pédagogique. Lancement du premier massive open online course (MOOC) sur des travaux pratiques en histologie à destination de nos étudiants mais aussi du grand public

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