MD resources for clinician educators

Advanced Studies Supervisor

Advanced Studies Research Supervisors provide guidance, supervision and support to MD students who choose to undertake the Advanced Studies research pathway. Supervisors commence discussions with students in Year 1 and work closely with their students until project completion in Year 4.

All Doctor of Medicine (MD) students engage in Advanced Studies research and scholarship over the course of their four-year degree. Students can elect to undertake one of two pathways: research or coursework. The research pathway provides students with opportunities to undertake research that impacts the health of our communities - an ideal mechanism for MD students to move from consumers to producers of research.

To facilitate research opportunities, the Advanced Studies team seek expressions of interest for Advanced Studies research supervisors. You may have a project in mind, or you may wish to be included as a potential supervisor and work with a student to collaboratively develop a project of mutual interest.

If you have an idea for a research project or you would like to join the supervisor list, please contact the Advanced Studies team to discuss how you might become involved!

• Information for Potential Supervisors (projects commencing 2022)
• Research Project Proforma (projects commencing 2022)
• Email: md.advancedstudies@flinders.edu.au

Case and questions writers and examiners

Assessment is an integral part of students’ learning experience at Flinders University. Well designed and implemented assessment practices are important for student success, a key element of the University's underlying ethos of being student-centred.

Academic Status holders provide questions and case studies for written and clinical assessments.

Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE)

In 2020 Flinders developed a new format for the MD Year 3 OSCE (formerly known as the PCE). This proved successful and we are now developing a bank of questions, to reduce the time pressure of case writing.

Case and question writers and examiners 

We are calling on clinicians to contribute to the Case Writing Group, to develop and refine new cases for the OSCE assessment. We also seek examiners from all disciplines for the OSCE.

Progress Test (PT)

Students from MD Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 sit four Progress Tests each year. To ensure quality of the examinations we require 120 questions per test (or 480 questions per year) and these are not reused for 5 years. We are always in need of new questions!

The 2021 Progress Tests consist of key-feature approach cases. These include a description of a patient case or problem, and questions that require essential decisions. The Progress Test Committee welcomes the submission of questions all year and collates these on 1 September and 1 December.

Email: md.advancedstudies@flinders.edu.au

Transition to Internship (TIP) Facilitators

Transition to Internship is a topic for final year medical students. These interactive lectures and workshops are delivered by clinicians from all disciplines and aim to prepare students for internship. Sessions are held each week for 2 hours

Clinical Placement Supervisors & Bedside Teachers

Placements enable MD students to enter a clinical setting, interact with real patients, practice clinical skills, and observe professional behaviours. Students learn from the patients who present for medical care and from the clinicians who are providing that care. Second year medical students complete observational placements in General Practice while students in third and fourth years undertake clinical placement rotations in Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Psychiatry, Medicine (General and Specialty), Surgery (General and Specialty), General Practice, Acute Care and Rural Medicine.

If you’re a junior doctor, trainee or consultant interested in student supervision or bedside teaching please contact the Clinician Support Team for more information.

Email: clinicians@flinders.edu.au

Learning Coach

To support students to develop their capacity as self-regulated learners, each student is assigned a Learning Coach at the start of the MD program. The Learning Coach is a rewarding role which involves supporting students to utilise feedback to inform their learning across eight course learning outcomes. Learning Coaches have one-on-one meetings with their students once per semester (twice per year) throughout the four-year degree medical program.

Email: cmph.learningcoach@flinders.edu.au

Lecturers

Clinicians share their expertise with Flinders students via face-to-face or pre-recorded lectures. These are delivered/ recorded at Flinders campuses or remotely via our online systems.

Email: clinicians@flinders.edu.au

Team-Based Learning (TBL) Facilitators

TBL Facilitators lead or contribute to the development and delivery of team-based learning sessions, where MD students work together to solve clinical problems. TBL Facilitators contribute their clinical expertise and provide clinical context for the students.

TBL is based on three important learning principles. These are that (1) learning occurs best when it's meaningful, as opposed to rote memorisation, (2) learning is an active process of connecting new knowledge to existing knowledge, and (3) learning take place more effectively as a collaborative process. By having students learn repertory material before the group sessions, requiring them to apply that learning in the case and solved it and by doing this in a group these principles are incorporated in TBL. As such, TBL differs substantially from the traditional lecture. The traditional lecture more useful to give an overview of subject matter as an introductory lecture or to fill in the gaps as an interactive conclusive lecture.

As part of the TBL development and facilitation team, you have the opportunity to write one or more short or long clinical cases, which use the information what was provided to the students in the pre-readings and other teaching sessions during the week preceding the TBL. Your expertise and clinical experience will provide the essential contextualisation of this basic information, by applying it to clinical scenarios for the students. Students will work in teams through the TBL case(s), led by the clinical facilitator(s). Group discussions and student-led explanations are encouraged, in order to further develop the active learning style on which TBL is based.