This case-study was submitted to us by Dr Kyle
Stewart, an Academic F2 trainee in gastroenterolgy, who works for
the South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust:
When I was in 4th year of medical school at
Birmingham I was fortunate enough to be able to do my elective in
Dubai. While I was there I did a study on the occupational injuries
within the hospital workforce which was subsequently accepted to a
conference in Cape Town as a poster presentation. This made me
realise how much I enjoyed presenting and getting my name out
there, which lead me to take an active role in the rest of medical
school and my F1 year with teaching and trying for publications. In
that time I managed an audit which was accepted to 2 national
conferences and an article in the British Journal or Cardiology
entitled “Discharge Medication For the Secondary Prevention of
Myocardial Infarction”.
I decided to apply for the role of
academic F2 for a number of reasons. By the end of F1 I felt
comfortable with ward work and felt ready for a new challenge. I
also felt that I was not able to dedicate a lot of time to teaching
and publications as I was purely ward based. The academic F2 role
at Torbay gave me the opportunity to spend 4 months of my time
(spread across the year) to dedicate to my own projects, teaching
programmes, papers, posters and anything I wanted to set my mind
to. For me, this was a lease of freedom which I could not have
found in another job. The academic programme is a fantastic way to
boost your CV as the application process is very competitive and at
the end you will have completed a PGCE (teaching qualification
course funded for you). It is more than likely you will have a
number of publications in various formats to your name which your
peers will not be able to match.
Be aware however that all academic
programmes are different, some are research oriented and others are
teaching oriented with a set background specialty that you will not
have the option to change. Make sure when you apply that you know
what the focus of the academic programme is and you are happy being
in one specialty for a year (gastroenterology in my case)
For me, the application process involved
completing a form with standard questions ie. Qualifications, why
do you want to do the academic programme etc.
From this I was invited to interview
infront of a mixed panel of clinicians and administration staff. I
prepared a portfolio with evidence of previous teaching sessions I
had done along with my medical degree certificates and anything
else I could find which might impress. The main focus of the
interview was:
1.
Why did I want to do the academic role?
2.
How have I previously been involved in teaching and
academia?
3.
How will I use the PGCE in the future?
I was also given a clinical scenario to
discuss. These vary, in my instance it was “A 60-year old Jehova’s
witness on warfarin for AF is admitted with massive haematemesis.”
Questions involved patient management ie. The issue of blood
transfusion, crystalloid v colloid resuscitation, definitive
management, rapid reversal of warfarin. I found out shortly after
that I was successful with my application.
At present, I am involved in several
research projects that hope to achieve international recognition,
ongoing audits and teaching programmes for nurses, medical
students, colleagues and other members of the multi-disciplinary
team. The academic programme also gives me my own time to explore
possible careers options, discover other medical interests and
revise for exams. I can be flexible with my time and work around
other commitments I have.
I would recommend the academic programme
to hard-working individuals who have an interest in teaching or
academia, are motivated enough to work in a self-directed fashion
and have the maturity to work in an independent fashion.
Please note the content and
opinions expressed in all case studies are those of the writer and
do not necessarily reflect the views
of NHS medical careers.