| CODE | MDS3008 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Medical Leadership - Intrapersonal Communication Skills 2 and Reflective Practice | ||||||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Faculty of Medicine and Surgery | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Tutorials on Reflection of Hospital Experience In their 3rd year of study, the students will commence their clinical placements. To complement this experience, students will be given the opportunity to share their various experiences with their fellow students, and to air fears, doubts, and thoughts that they may have about their work. The training and teaching of medical students addresses three main areas: knowledge, skill and attitude. The purpose of these tutorials focuses mainly on professional attitude and personal growth. Purposely set in 3rd year when students are exposed substantially to the clinical field and patient care for the first time, students are encouraged and supported in reflecting and processing what they see around them. This entails that they are in small groups of 6 to 8 students [as assigned by administration]. For the hospital experience, they will then be given placement rotations mostly in surgery and medicine. They are required to contact the particular firm/consultant they are assigned to, to join up and attend ward rounds, out-patient clinics and theatre sessions etc. This is a student led process and depends on student initiatives and how they work together in their assigned groups. This experience needs good team work and good communication between the students and the assigned firm. It can also create disquieting situations between the team members. The tutorials are meant to offer support and guidance as well as teaching to aid students to gain more from this experience of working in a team, depending on each other and working in different firms. The tutorials are also aimed at fostering the development of a professional attitude amongst students/future doctors and guide their development as reflective, ethical practitioners who are able to provide patient-centred care. The method of the tutorial is experiential and led by the tutor, also in response to student needs. Important themes, such as how to maintain appropriate boundaries with patients, how to recognize and deal with issues that may bring students in touch with their own vulnerabilities, how to cope with distressing situations they might be encountering in the work place, issues of power within the medical profession and the relevance of humility, compassion and respect, and recognizing limitations and accountability will all be discussed. For this purpose, a number of small-group tutorials will be organized per semester. The format of the tutorial is not didactic but exploratory through sharing and reflecting. Intrapersonal Skills 2 Seminar Description Intrapersonal Skills II is the last medical leadership seminar in your medical leadership journey. Medical leadership, originally considered to be the domain of doctor managers, is now recognised to be critically important for all doctors to engage collaboratively within complex systems and deal effectively with different aspects that work pressure brings about, for 2 major outcomes: best health gain and patient satisfaction. Intrapersonal Skills 2 is meant to tie different strands explored together in the previous Medical Leadership Seminars. Medical leadership involves personal and professional development. It is meant to be a more in depth reflective experience as it continues to encourage you to get to know yourself more closely, especially with regards to your thoughts and emotions related to your career choice. During the tutorials, issues like breaking bad news to patients and relatives, handling difficult patients, dealing with emotions evoked in a doctor – patient situation, maintaining healthy boundaries between doctor and patient, and transference issues between doctor and patient, have been explored. This seminar aims at pulling these different aspects together. Referring to the relevant competencies outlined in the General Medical Council Document - Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practise (September, 2009) entitled “Tomorrow’s doctors: Outcomes & Standards for undergraduate medical education,” this Intrapersonal Skills 2 seminar should enable the students to: Develop specific competencies related to the demonstration of linking intrapersonal qualities to professional qualities. More specifically this involves, consolidating aspects explored in Intrapersonal Skills 1: • Self-awareness: i.e. you should be more in touch with your values, principles, emotions, prejudices, strengths and limitations which were brought to the forefront throughout this clinical year; • Managing oneself: reflecting on the impact of one’s emotions both in your personal life and in your work at hospital; • Being aware how these emotions leave an impact on others in your personal and professional life (e.g. at home, with friends, on the ward rounds); • Practicing self-regulation and healthy coping strategies: consolidating your ability to fulfil your duties and commitments whilst being flexible and maintaining good health. The themes explored will aim at consolidating your reflections about the “doctor” in you. You will have the opportunity to reflect on issues both relevant to yourselves as persons, and to yourselves in relation to the patient. You will also have the opportunity to become aware of the benefit of peer support as a tool in helping you to become better practitioners. You will, in addition, be helped to become aware of your strengths, hopes and fears in relation to becoming a doctor / dentist; you will be helped to work towards becoming the person that you want to be; you will have the opportunity to address issues relevant to the doctor – patient situation. Moreover, you will have the opportunity to learn to include contextual factors when reflecting on the issues that your patients bring into the clinic. The method of learning is experiential, and a number to DVD clips will be used to elicit this learning approach. The study-unit will be residential. Study-unit Aims: The programme enables the student to engage in self & group reflection: 1. to familiarise himself or herself with his or her strengths, resources and limitations; 2. to develop the knowledge and skills so that the student can work on oneself and change oneself to become more of who he or she wants to be; 3. to realise that both physician and patient can learn and teach each other about themselves and about one another; 4. to experience growth and change as a human and a life process; 5. to empathise with patients & significant others in the journey of illness; 6. to explore the impact of the dynamic interplay between the patient, significant other & the health care system. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. maintain appropriate boundaries with patients; 2. recognise and start to learn how to deal with issues that may bring him or her in touch with own vulnerabilities; 3. cope with distressing situations that might be encountered in the work place; 4. be open to new learning and to reflect about him or herself; 5. be aware of strengths, resources, and limits; 6. realise that both doctor and patient can learn and teach each other about themselves and about one another; 7. recognize that growth and change is a human and a life process; 8. recognize & address psychological issues related to patient care & health care system that can affect their own harmony; 9. discuss issues of power within the medical profession and the relevance of humility, compassion and respect, recognizing also limitations and accountability. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. maintain appropriate boundaries with patients; 2. recognise and start to learn how to deal with issues that may bring him or her in touch with own vulnerabilities; 3. cope with distressing situations that might be encountered in the work place; 4. be open to new learning and to reflect about him or herself; 5. be aware of strengths, resources, and limits; 6. recognise that a person can work on him or herself to become more of who one wants to be; 7. realise that both doctor and patient can learn and teach each other about themselves and about one another; 8. recognize that growth and change is a human and a life process; 9. recognize & address psychological issues related to patient care & health care system that can affect their own harmony. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: 1. Material provided in Seminar & group teaching. 2. Medical Leadership Competency Framework, Academy of Royal Medical Colleges. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Study-units: MDS1011, MDS2025 Please note that a pass in each assessment component is obligatory for an overall pass mark to be awarded. Students will be allowed to resit the Assignment component in the September Exam Session if they pass the Competencies component of the respective section. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Seminar and Tutorial | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Oscar Aquilina Walter Busuttil David Cassar David Grillo Anne Marie Micallef Audrey Sciberras |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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