Mind the Bleep's
Applicants must submit an educational project proposal. Details & Criteria below.
Open: 1st August 2024 to 31st October 2024
Eligibility: Open to all junior doctors & final year medical students
Awards: One winner & 2 Highly Commended by 30th November 2024
Project Proposal
Mind the Bleep is all about making the lives of medical students & junior doctors better by the provision of free medical education. We’re looking for project proposals that support our ethos.
Applicants should submit an educational project proposal that’s aimed at any grade of junior doctor and/or final year medical students.
Winners will be supported in delivering their project in any format including but not limited to webinars, eLearning course, online resources, articles, tutorials or in-person courses. If certain criteria are needed for future applications or portfolios, we will work with them to maximise this. Unfortunately, as a free platform, we won’t be able financially support projects.
1
Will your project benefit the lives of doctors or medical students?
2
Can your project be realistically implemented with support from the team?
3
Do you bring what's needed to build this project?
Contact us if you have any questions!
Referral Cheat Sheet – provides junior doctors key information required to make referrals
Finance Course – provides an eLearning course on basic financial principles
Radiology Course – comprehensive tutorials on interpreting radiological imaging
FY1 Survival Guide – a booklet covering the top things all those starting FY1 must know
Others examples include our PSA Course, SFP content & everything else on the site!
Several members of the team from different specialties & backgrounds will review & score each application based on the three criteria above. They will not know the names or details of applicants.
The winners & runner ups will receive a letter confirming that they have won an award open to all junior doctors & final year medical students.
Additionally we hope by implementing the project, you will be able to develop skills and score points in teaching, QI, leadership & presentations but this will depend on the scope of your project and your portfolio needs.
Of course. There is an extra box at the bottom of the form which allows you to list others in your team. We’d recommend listing the skills & experiences of the whole team in the box asking this.
Contact us on [email protected]
Team: Dr Upamanyu Nath (SHO)
What is the aim of the project?
Junior doctors often face PALS complaints or even GMC tribunals. It has been shown to cause them severe mental distress as they have very little guidance regarding professional indemnity, what to expect and do during investigations. We propose the ‘Crisis Crash Course’ to equip doctors to deal with such situations.
How would you develop & implement it?
The Crisis Crash Course would include,
1. A seminar and online resources to spread awareness about professional indemnity, including steps that the doctor should take once under investigation – contacting their ES/CS, consulting their indemnity provider, cooperating with investigations while maintaining their integrity as medical professionals.
2. A talk by a doctor who has faced a GMC tribunal/ a departmental investigation to give a first hand account of what follows so that doctors have an idea of what happens if they are in a similar situation.
3. Sign post to appropriate resources if they are having mental health issues.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
A pre-seminar Knowledge-Attitude-Practice survey for all attendees including a section where they can ask specific questions they may have regarding indemnity and investigations.
A post-seminar feedback form to know if we have answered their doubts and how we can further help them such as organising communication skills workshops which is the most common reason for patients’ complaints.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
We have previously worked in highly litigious specialties such as Obstetrics and Orthopedics and have individually dealt with incident reports and patient complaints which have been resolved amicably. Having been mentors for medical students, we have developed communication and leadership skills to understand and alleviate their concerns. Recent testimonies of doctors having mental health crises during investigations has spurred us to translate our passion for promoting mental health in the medical community into action.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
We would need to collaborate with the Mind The Bleep team to utilise its significant reach to promote the seminar/webinar to all doctors throughout the nation and to upload the online resources on their platform so that it is readily accessible.
What is the aim of the project?
The aim of this project is to match medical students and foundation trainees to supervisors i.e registrars and consultants who are leading research projects. This project aims to bridge the gap between students and junior doctors and their opportunity to be involved in good quality research.
How would you develop & implement it?
This project would involve building a platform where supervisors will be able to submit information about their project as well as any criteria for applicants they deem essential or desirable. These projects will then be categorised according to specialty, study design etc.
Medical students and foundation trainees will be able to sign up and express their interest/apply to be involved in projects. Following successful ‘matching’, subsequent project work will be carried out with the involvement of both parties away from the platform. We then aim to follow up on projects to establish outcomes for each one.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
Success of the project will be assessed by recording the number of projects which are completed including how many of these projects lead to publications, poster presentations, prizes etc.
It would also be imperative that we obtain feedback from supervisors, medical students and junior doctors regarding their experience using the platform as well as their experience working with each other. This will be done using feedback forms and will allow us to constantly evaluate the platform and make necessary changes.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
Working as the Widening Participation Lead for an undergraduate teaching committee, being the university representative for the Medical Womens Federation as well as being an events co-ordinator for the university Women in Medicine Society means I have organised and lead multiple events and projects. I have the necessary leadership skills to run this project as well as the ability to use various platforms and methods to advertise the initiative to supervisors and applicants.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
Mind the Bleep will be able to support the project by allowing us to utilise the expertise and skills of their team to help build the platform. In addition to this, they will be able to help us advertise the ‘Research Match’ initiative to potential supervisors, medical students and foundation trainees.
Team: Dr Eleanor Hennebry (SHO)
What is the aim of the project?
Although students may shadow doctors on-call, there is limited opportunity for students to realistically experience being on-call independently. We created a simulated on-call, with the novel element of using a simulated electronic patient record system, enabling students to practise key skills related to being on-call: organisation, prioritisation, escalation and prescribing.
How would you develop & implement it?
Using a simulated electronic patient record system (SimEPR) we created realistic records for twelve patients. The students attend a session briefing, shown how to use the system, before returning to the wards with their training bleep. Over two hours they receive bleeps to complete tasks on SimEPR. Example tasks include: reviewing NG tube placement, prescribing laxatives, and reviewing bloods and actioning abnormalities. This system allows students to document, prescribe and request investigations for the simulated patient. Following the session there is a debrief where the technical queries are reviewed and organisation, prioritisation and escalation are discussed in more depth.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
To measure the impact of the session we would do pre- and post-course questionnaires to gain quantitative evidence of improvement in confidence over our four domains: organisation, prioritisation, escalation and prescribing. This would be done online, with an anonymous way of linking both pre and post responses. Students could be followed longitudinally and re-surveyed after starting F1, to better assess if this session has prepared them for clinical practice.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
We are currently Undergraduate Education Fellows providing teaching for Imperial, St George’s and BSMS. Eleanor has a PGCert in Medical Education and is currently pursuing a PGDip, and Lizzie is currently undertaking a PGCert in Clinical Education. Having been in this role for almost a year, we have considerable experience in teaching across a wide variety of formats. Our teaching ability has been reflected by numerous nominations from students, including being nominated for the BSMS top staff awards. Importantly, we both view education as a key part of our careers and both plan to continue to work in medical education.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
We hope to expand this idea and increase the number of scenarios. Scenarios run on any device with internet access, creating an interesting possibility for this to be run completely remotely, with a programme that bleeps students and provides handover. Further development could use generative AI acting as senior support.
Team: Dr Ben Howarth (SHO) and Dr Iram Lodhi (Clinical Fellow)
What is the aim of the project?
An MDU survey states that 88% of doctors have experienced an incident where they have provided emergency care whilst off duty, yet many clinicians feel apprehensive about facing such scenarios. This project aims to equip doctors with the knowledge, confidence and legal expertise to tackle medical emergencies in non-medical settings.
How would you develop & implement it?
This project would run as a one-day interactive course delivered to final-year medical students during their assistantship placement. The day would focus on managing scenarios including a road traffic accident, cardiac arrest on an aeroplane, drowning and childbirth. In addition, we plan to run parallel sessions on legal considerations and human factors in emergencies. Regarding implementation, we are in the process of recruiting a multidisciplinary faculty – involving paramedics, midwives, and specialty doctors – to help deliver the teaching. We have also already involved the MDU to ensure the correct advice is being given regarding legal obligations, alcohol and GMC ethical guidance.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
Providing emergency care whilst off duty is an area which causes significant fear among medical students and doctors, and to our knowledge there is little training to prepare doctors for these scenarios. To measure the impact of the course we would conduct pre- and post-course questionnaires to gain quantitative evidence of improvement in both knowledge and confidence domains. This can be done online via QR codes to maintain anonymity. We would also aim to conduct interviews with a randomised selection of students to obtain more detailed, qualitative feedback about the session, to help improve future iterations of the course.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
As a team of three Clinical Teaching Fellows, one of us has an iBSc in Medical Education and the other two are currently undertaking a PGCert in Clinical Education. We work with four different medical schools and have Honorary Teaching Titles with both Southampton and Imperial Universities. Working in an educational role, we have extensive experience delivering interactive teaching in a variety of formats including simulation, and dedicated time to develop ambitious teaching initiatives. Furthermore, we are all qualified to deliver a Human Factors in Healthcare course, which we have delivered with and to a range of allied health professionals.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
We hope you can help develop this in-person course into an interactive eLearning experience, and assist with creating video content of the scenarios. The use of your online platform would help us share these resources with a wider audience, inspiring others to develop similar initiatives, and ultimately improving patient safety.
Team: Miss Vishali Sharma (CT2) & Mr Andrew Brodie (Consultant)
What is the aim of the project?
Generic Foundation Competencies don’t support FY1s in accessing educational opportunities at work. Rotational Training means FY1s are often unaware of educational opportunities and approaching seniors to request them can be intimidating. A ‘Passport’ containing a list of speciality-specific educational opportunities can help maximise FY1 learning during a rotation.
How would you develop & implement it?
The current design is a 6-page Passport for Urology FY1s. 25 Domains including Procedures, Clinical Scenarios and Portfolio Opportunities are ‘signed off’. The Passport acts as a prompt, informing FY1s of learning opportunities available and reminding Seniors of their teaching responsibilities. This fosters an education focussed environment in the Department. Prizes are awarded to the ‘Best FY1’ who receives the most Domain sign-offs and the ‘Best Educator’ who signs off the most Domains. FY1s meet regularly with a Mentor who guides their educational goals and facilitates them approaching Seniors for portfolio projects. When required, they may also offer pastoral support.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
In the short term, Likert feedback scores can be obtained on a rotation-by-rotation basis directly from both Foundation Doctors and Mentors.
Using Horus Portfolio Data, the quality and quantity of CBDs, DOPs, TABs and PSGs will help to ascertain the level of Education offered by the Department.
In the medium to long term, accessing data from Foundation Programme and GMC Surveys will help to tailor the Passport to match the requirements of future Foundation Doctors.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
Joshua has successfully led Quality Improvement Projects in the experiences of Foundation Doctors at two Hospitals. He also founded the Mid-Yorkshire Surgical Society to coach and support Foundation Doctors applying to Core Surgical Training.
Vishali has held various leadership roles to improve Doctors experiences, including Foundation Trainee Representative, Chief Resident and Urology Junior Trainee Representative. Vishali has founded an SJT preparation course, been a facilitator on Medical School and Core Trainee interview courses and currently works as a Mentor with The Portfolio Clinic, supporting International Medical Graduates applying to Core Surgical Training.
They have both completed RCS Training the Trainers.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
Like the ‘Referrals Cheat Sheet’, educationally minded doctors could submit Passports for other specialties which could be downloaded and adapted by colleagues nationwide.
Mind The Bleep’s support in developing a Passport App would reduce its carbon footprint and make it more portable.
What is the aim of the project?
As a carer, learning difficulties & cognitive impairment complicate NHS access. Physicians’ exposure to this patient cohort varies, limiting care uniformity. I propose a webinar course to highlight these patients’ needs, aiming to improve inequality awareness, discuss communication barriers and maximise patient autonomy; improving junior doctor confidence and patient experience.
How would you develop & implement it?
The course will be 6 weekly 1 hour webinars for medical students and junior doctors covering 6 topics:
A cheat sheet (QR code/ email) will be downloadable after each talk, and I am liaising with local specialist teams to verify/contribute content or present, including: learning disabilities team, CAMHS, crisis team, stroke nurses, Mencap, Dementia UK nurses and medicolegal advisors.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
Attendees who have registered to join will be asked to complete pre- and post-session feedback questionnaires to evaluate their confidence and preparedness for management and interaction with the cohort in question. Course impact will be judged through qualitative data using linear scoring of 1-10 regarding opinions of the course, and feedback can be utilised for webinar development, alongside 1-3 single-best answer questions that are asked before and after the webinar to assess consolidation of learning. Multiple PDSA cycles in the form a quality improvement project would maximise content delivery.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
I am AFHEA certified as an associate fellow in medical education, with over 10 years of science/medical high school, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, simulation facilitation and clinical skills teaching. I completed the “Teach the Teacher” course to consolidate learning strategies. I also designed and distributed a trust-based junior doctor survey, and >70% had low or moderate confidence in clerking and communicating with patients with learning difficulties & cognitive impairment, alongside assessing agitated presentations, interpreting medicolegal legislation (>90%) and assessing DNACPR status (>90%). 93% stated further teaching would be moderate to very helpful and relevant to their roles.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
I require support with webinar execution and advertising to a national audience of medical students and junior doctors, alongside assisting certificate release to encourage enrollment. I would like to repeat the course for a quality improvement project, and in future publish recordings as online content with Mind the Bleep.
What is the aim of the project?
During my career as a medical student, I have come across the difficulties that the Deaf community faces in accessing the National Health Service (NHS). This inspired me to develop a course on Deaf awareness and British Sign Language (BSL) specifically tailored to healthcare students. The aim is to teach basic common and medical BSL terminology, therefore increasing the number of healthcare professionals who can interact with d/Deaf patients. Also, the aim is to raise awareness of the inequalities and challenges that deaf people experience when accessing the NHS. I believe this project will make medical students more inclusive and insightful doctors, who will be able to facilitate the journey of a d/Deaf person within healthcare, contributing to reducing health inequalities.
How would you develop & implement it?
Collaborate with the Swansea Community Centre for Deaf People to design and develop a booklet containing basic terminology and medical terminology needed for basic clerking skills. This is a 6 weeks course, 2 hours per week in the evenings to work around medical students’ curriculum timings. The teachers delivering the course are Deaf, leading the participants to have to use sign language as the only mean of communication (making learning a faster and more efficient process). The course has an element of Deaf Awareness, meaning the participants will learn about the health inequalities the Deaf community faces when accessing healthcare. The course will be paid for by the Greatest Needs Fund – grant applied for by course organiser (myself). The grant will allow for over 30 students to complete this course. Each 6 weeks course will host 10 participants.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
At the end of each course the participants are sent a feedback form that they need to complete prior to receiving the certificate of completion of the course. Feedback from each course will be implemented for the next group if appropriate to do so.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
Leadership and communication skills. Networking with the community centre and being proactive about how to deliver the course meant that their engagement to this initiative was very enthusiastic from the start. Support from the university in advertising the course meant that we could reach as many healthcare students as possible. This is the 4th edition of the course, having myself attended the pilot course two years ago.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
It would be nice to make this project a default that can be reproduced in other universities across the country. Mind the Bleep has the ability to reach out nationally and make people aware about this project and how to set it up locally.
What is the aim of the project?
Teaching junior doctors and medical students about what end of life (EOL) conversation entails and how to prescribe anticipatory medication. Aim is to improve confidence in prescribing anticipatory medications and choosing the appropriate medications in patients approaching end of life care, and how to approach end of life conversations with patients.
How would you develop & implement it?
Usually EOL conversations and anticipatory medications prescription can be very daunting for junior doctors and there has not been formal teaching for doctors. I would like to organise a series of online/ face to face teaching course about 30 minutes every week for a month, mainly involving palliative care topics. I would also like to organise a simulated EOL conversation in a safe environment with experienced doctors/ ACP being present to give feedback to the doctors.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
Benefit can be assessed by using Survey Monkey/ Google form to assess learner’s confidence. A comparison can be used to assess the confidence level before and after attending the teaching in prescribing and approaching EOL conversation using a 5- point Likert scale. The survey will also be able to provide feedbacks for the teaching which can contribute to the improvement of the teaching course.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
I will be able to produce questionnaire and collect the survey to understand the confidence level of medical students/ junior doctors in my hospital. I have experience in organising a national teaching series for SJT exams for final year medical students, which helps me in understanding the process of organising successful teaching programme, collecting feedbacks and improving teaching methods, recruiting other teachers and participants via social media. I was involved as a tutor in a nationwide course involving doctors from 35 different countries in preparing them to be FY1 in UK, which will be beneficial to design the teaching course.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
In collaboration with Mind The Bleep, I hope to use your online platform and reach out to more junior doctors and medical students. I would also require support in promoting the course to recruit more speakers for the course.
What is the aim of the project?
Our project delves into existing and future applications of medical AI. The course explores mechanisms, strengths, and weaknesses of prevalent AI models, emphasizing ethical and technical challenges in AI regulation and clinical validation. Our goal is to empower participants to engage in AI research and use AI-based clinical tools responsibly.
How would you develop & implement it?
We propose to create an online course hosted on the Mind the Bleep platform, featuring a series of structured lessons. These lessons will progressively build doctors’ knowledge of AI in healthcare, starting from fundamentals and progressing to advanced applications. We will incorporate interactive elements, including i) coding exercises on simulated medical datasets, and ii) integration of LLMs into the learning platform for realistic debates regarding the social/ethical challenges of AI use.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
To gauge the course’s effectiveness, we plan to include quizzes at the end of each lesson to assess comprehension. Additionally, feedback forms will be provided at the end of the course for participants to share their insights and suggestions for improvement. Moreover, we aim to foster an online community of AI clinicians to facilitate networking, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
Our team comprises research fellows in clinical AI at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. We hold a unique position within the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, with close ties to UK Health Data Research. This enables us to gain comprehensive expertise beyond computer science and AI. We actively engage with researchers who shape clinical AI policy, navigate data safety, curate datasets responsibly, and understand the intricacies of regulation and clinical validation. Our holistic perspective is essential for clinicians looking to grasp the complete picture of how AI tools can be effectively and ethically integrated into clinical practice.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
We’d seek MTB’s help for platform development, technical support, and promotion, valuing your expertise for project success. We also aim to collaborate with AI-focused specialties like radiology, dermatology, and pathology, enriching our content and broadening the healthcare perspective. Your collaboration and connections are vital for this endeavour.
What is the aim of the project?
Traditionally, final year medical students are expected to learn how to be an effective foundation doctor through shadowing. While this is undeniably valuable, students still report feeling unprepared for foundation practice. This project aims to increase preparedness and teach students key skills required for foundation using an innovative escape room simulation.
How would you develop & implement it?
A webinar will be sent to final year medical students, covering important foundation skills, such as ward rounds and documentation, prescribing, prioritisation and acute patient management. They will later participate in the escape room simulation in groups of 5. The simulated acute patient scenario will require students to practice multiple skills. Participants will be ‘locked’ in a room to solve a series of puzzles and padlocks related to the medical scenario as they progress through their assessment and management and eventually ‘escape’. The simulation will be debriefed and cover key concepts such as teamwork, communication, work pressure and technical skills.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
Students will be asked to complete pre- and post-session feedback questionnaires to evaluate their preparedness for FY1 and confidence in managing an acutely unwell patient, on a scale of 1-10. The change in these levels will allow evaluation of its impact. Qualitative questions will ask participants to feedback on the skills they developed, what they liked about the session and what they felt could be improved. Comments from the debrief will also be noted and used for quality improvement. A pre- and post-session single-best answer (SBA) assessment may also be used as an objective measure of learning.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
I am currently working as an Education Fellow and have just completed my PGCert in Medical Education. I have piloted this escape room with a small group of students, and it has received excellent feedback, including on its enjoyability and on the development of teamwork and clinical reasoning skills. I have extensive experience of teaching at all stages of medical training, including simulation and debriefing. I have organised and developed a variety of courses, with very positive feedback. I have a keen interest in supporting the transition from medical school to foundation and I believe innovation is key.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
I would require support in developing and promoting the course, providing the tutorials on your platform, and finding a location to run the escape room.
What is the aim of the project?
Thursday Fifteen is a teaching platform that was created last year. Our aim was to deliver high yield teaching sessions to medical students and demonstrate how our sessions and material can be an excellent resource to supplement students’ revision and improve their confidence in core medical topics.
How would you develop & implement it? ‘Thursday Fifteen’ was created as a framework to provide high quality interactive virtual sessions each week for medical students revising for their exams. Weekly 45-minute sessions were held virtually over the course of 5 months and was advertised by contacting medical school societies and on Facebook. Each session was led by Foundation Doctors and consisted of a 15-question mock exam followed by explanations of the answers. Each session covered a whole specialty such as cardiology or respiratory. In addition, we are now active on Facebook and Instagram where we post exam tips, OSCE stations and MCQs to help with finals.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
A cross-sectional observational analysis was obtained from feedback forms that participants filled out after each session. This allowed us to collect baseline characteristics from participants the first time they joined us and monitor when new attendees joined. Data was collected from 136 students at 11 universities. Results showed 83.9% of students preferred a virtual format as opposed to in-person, with 87.8% stating that MCQs were a more useful format compared to lectures. Overall, we found that there was a significant improvement in confidence scores (out of 10) of the taught topic before and after the session (5.77 vs 7.96, p<0.001).
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
Thursday Fifteen was set up by 3 Foundation doctors with a keen interest in medical education who graduated in the midst of the pandemic and distance learning and found the benefit of online teaching methods. We realised we all used various techniques of active recall as a core learning method and wanted to utilise this to ensure students could retain maximum information in short digestible sessions. We incorporated key organisational, marketing and leadership skills we developed by being part of university and foundation societies such as BMA and surgical society, enabling us to to set up this nationwide teaching platform.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
We are proud of the reach that we’ve had so far and pleased to now be funded by Health Education England. Collaborating with Mind the Bleep would give us a wider reach and help innovate new projects such as implementing bigger revision sessions and launching an app or online platform.
What is the aim of the project?
Medical schools under-prepare students for the practicality of working out-of-hours shifts as a doctor. Bleep101 primarily involves simulated on-call teaching, which aims to increase preparedness and confidence among final year medical students for their first ward cover shifts as F1s.
How would you develop & implement it?
We have created 20 on-call scenarios, divided into medical, surgical, prescribing, communication and distractor tasks. There are 3 ready-made circuits for teaching sessions lasting between 1.5-2hours. They include all resources: facilitator guides (including a training video), patient notes, drugs charts, feedback forms and circuit maps, which can be printed or used electronically. The sessions would mandate 1-2 final year students and 1-2 facilitators (F1+) signing up. In addition, at least 1 bleep would be required for the students to carry, and a telephone/room from which the facilitators can call/bleep the students.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
The session can be evaluated through standardised anonymised pre- and post-session paperless surveys. These would explore comparison of confidence in various domains, such as completing out-of-hours shifts, operating a bleep, task prioritisation, gathering and providing information, and handover. Furthermore, the survey would provide feedback for the specific delivery of their session and for the facilitator to allow for praise and areas for improvement.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
I have experienced co-leading Bleep101 over the last year at my local hospital in Bristol, which has allowed me to co-ordinate and teach medical students in addition to managing my time effectively whilst on a full-time SHO rota. For four years I formally taught, gathered feedback and was appointed peer tutor lead of clinical skills in London, where I led and worked with 200+ peer tutors and 20+ clinicians to deliver excellent clinical skills teaching to Y1-3 students. My experiences have also enabled me to publish and share my experiences in the renowned Clinical Teacher journal.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
Bleep101 is a free and accessible online resource that enables educators to easily set up simulated on-call teaching. In partnership with yourselves, we would love to share and expand our simulated on-call teaching programme and therefore support educational fellows in setting it up at their local hospitals across the country.
What is the aim of the project?
Teaching junior doctors and medical students about minor trauma, which is not commonly covered in medical school but frequently encountered in ED and GP rotations. Aim – to improve confidence in independently assessing wounds and managing extremity lacerations, ocular injuries and burns (superficial/partial thickness), and recognising when to refer to specialist.
How would you develop & implement it?
The principles of management for the aforementioned topics can be delivered as either a series of webinars lasting 20-30 minutes per topic or together as a 2 hour webinar. These would be delivered by experienced ED registrars/consultants and emergency nurse practitioners.
In addition to webinar(s), a summary sheet can be created for each topic to remind learners of the salient management steps for these injuries.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
Benefit can be measured by undertaking a survey assessing learner’s confidence in managing the injuries. A comparison can be made between the average group confidence prior to attending the teaching and after attending the teaching. Confidence can be measured using a 5-point Likert scale, from not at all confident to very confident.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
I have collected the survey to understand the confidence levels (in managing minor trauma) of FY1/FY2 doctors at my local hospital, which has emphasised the relevance of this teaching proposal.
I have experience in organising a national peer-teaching series for medical students, on case-based OSCE examinations and A-E assessment, for the British International Doctors Association. This has familiarised me with the process of creating a successful teaching programme, from approaching speakers for sessions, organising weekly webinars on Zoom, advertising sessions on social media, and collecting feedback using Survey Monkey and evaluating participant feedback to continuously improve future sessions.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
I hope to use your online platform to deliver the webinars nationally to all medical students and junior doctors. The team can support me in contacting experienced speakers. Moreover, I would be able to collect the pre-webinar survey assessing confidence levels in a larger group of junior doctors.
Team: Dr George Clews (SHO)
What is the aim of the project?
Ultrasound-guided cannulation is no longer just for Anaesthetists (recently added to the EM and AM curriculums).
Unfortunately, accreditation is otherwise only possible via paid courses (you even have to pay to supervise).
Everyone can and should learn this skill. I’d like 80% of all FYs & PAs competent by 2026.
How would you develop & implement it?
Despite many being competent to train, and a strong desire from all to learn, uptake is limited by the lack of an official framework. I want to develop my current course into a free, accredited pathway that others can use to deliver training.
I need help taking this proven concept and:
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
There are multiple ways to measure benefit and quality:
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
I’m an Anaesthetic trainee and have been delivering this training for 3+ years. This involved recording videos, leading a team of several juniors and collaborating with individuals outside of my trust.
We have progressed from informal tutorials to an online lecture, procedural workshop template and follow-up supervised practice. I’ve recruited several juniors to help teach 200+ including students, doctors and nurses, across multiple hospitals. Now we are focussing on collaborating with other trainers across KSS, as well as the FPA.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
Ideas, support, contacts and your experience in running and organising large projects. I strongly believe in collaboration. As mentioned I am also working with:
What is the aim of the project?
Medical schools are very poor at preparing students for out-of-hours decision-making. Best Evidence For Foundation Years is a web-based resource which will aim to fundamentally improve the decision-making of newly qualified doctors in the out-of-hours setting, by using the approach stipulated by Evidence-Based Medicine to answer commonly encountered clinical questions from this element of practice. This will allow trainees to have more confidence in their decisions, and reduce patient harm.
How would you develop & implement it?
At present, the plan is to regularly post blogs in the format of similar FOAMEd resources such as the articles of Mind The Bleep. I have established a series of common clinical scenarios that I wish to tackle first, as well as lifestyle elements of F1 (e.g. foundation job choice, managing sleep, commuting etc). I will also work with foundation doctors at my trust to refine and inform further useful content.
Following the publication of content in this initial “core syllabus”, the best approach would be to create a living database of the most up-to-date research with categorisation into medical specialties, surgical specialties etc., as well as producing sections on evidence-based medicine skillsets/ literacy and metacognitive elements of clinical decision making (bias and noise). As well as online content, I think podcasts and YouTube/ social media videos would also be very helpful
There is also the potential to expand this to higher specialty trainees through my links with the local NIHR Allied Research Collaboration; I have already had a discussion about expansion to GPST.
How would you assess the benefit and/or improve the quality of your project?
Website and resource engagement can be automatically recorded via usual online metrics (clicks, visits, email subscribers etc.) on the platform that is currently in use (Ghost.org).
Feedback can be informally assessed through comments on the website, as well as by working with those at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and the local NIHR group to inform the best possible approach to the interface.
I also plan to implement this during my work as a tutor at local universities to gain honest feedback from end users directly.
What skills and/or experience do you possess to help you develop it?
I am a current associate lecturer in Evidence-Based Medicine at local medical schools and have attended a short course on teaching this content at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University. I am also due to undertake an MSc in Epidemiology, so have the knowledge and skillset to quality-check the content.
I am currently leading a scoping review on the topic of Out Of Hours teaching in undergraduate curricula, so have a strong understanding of learner needs in this domain. I am also doing a postgraduate certificate in clinical education, during which I have done work on effective modes of online education.
What support would you need from the Mind the Bleep team to help implement your project?
I currently have the support of the local NIHR Allied Research Collaboration, and links with local medical schools to be able to implement it on a local level. I need the expertise of Mind The Bleep to help with the dissemination of the project via social media, as well as the team’s expertise in website coding, streaming, and social media to have elements beyond simple blog posts.
Mind the Bleep’s Award in Medical Education is open to all final year medical students & junior doctors. You can submit your application until the end of the last day of the application window. For more details on what kinds of projects we’re looking for & how they will be judged please read the above materials. Contact us if you have any questions!
