Medical and Physician Associate Students Learning in Clinical Settings
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the teaching and learning approaches of medical and physician associate students in clinical settings
IRAS ID
277530
Contact name
Agra Dilshani Hunukumbure
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Hillingdon Hospital
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, days
Research summary
At Hillingdon Hospital, we have many students who undertake their clinical attachments on various wards. For decades, we have had medical students from Imperial College London of all clinical years; however in the last 3 years, Physician Associate (PA) students from Brunel University have been introduced. Subsequently, there have been reports that the increasing number of students on the wards has created competition in the clinical workplace for learning opportunities, in particular hands-on experience or practical procedures. Several clinicians have also reported that PA students integrate better into their clinical teams, and consequently medical students have reported feeling disadvantaged due to this competition.
In this study, we aim to evaluate the differing learning approaches between medical and PA students in the clinical setting and gain an understanding of potential underlying reasons for their differing approaches. We intend to identify the successful learning behaviours of these students with a view to sharing best learning practice between the student groups. We will explore the perspectives of key stakeholders. Thus, our study participants will be both sets of students, senior faculty from Imperial College and Brunel University, and Hillingdon Hospital clinicians teaching the students.
This research project will be a qualitative study with a social constructionist approach. We plan to collect data using semi-structured interviews of all the above parties between February to May 2020, and analyse and interpret data in June and July 2020. We will carry these interviews at a mutually convenient time; students’ interviews in the education centre of Hillingdon Hospital, senior faculty and clinicians at their preferred locations: consultant rooms, Imperial College London or Brunel University. We are also planning to obtain ethical approval from Imperial College and Brunel University.
REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A