Medical Students – Lancashire & South Cumbria Library Blog

BMJ Best Practice

Clinical decision-making support just a tap away

BMJ Best Practice is a clinical decision-making resource provided free by Health Education England to all NHS staff in England and particularly useful for medical students and newly qualified and junior doctors.

Rated as one of the best support tools worldwide, BMJ Best Practice includes step by step guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention as well as medical calculators, how-to videos and patient information leaflets. Content includes clinical expertise from over 1,600 international authors and 2,500 peer reviewers which means you have up to date references available at your fingertips, anywhere, any time of day or night.

Watch the animation or find out more at bmj.com/hee where you can register using your OpenAthens log in details. Once registered you can also download the mobile app. If you need help getting access please email your Trust library team – they’ll be happy to guide you! academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk

Download the poster for more information and to share with your colleagues.

BMC Medical Education

Promoting positive perceptions of and motivation for research among undergraduate medical students to stimulate future research involvement: a grounded theory study

Research is of great value to make advancements within the medical field and, ultimately, offer the best possible patient care. Physician-scientists are key in contributing to the development of medicine, as they can bridge the gap between research and practice. However, medicine currently faces a physician-scientist shortage. A possible solution to cultivate physician-scientists is to engage medical students in research in early phases of medical school.

Medical Education

Medical students on long-term rural clinical placements and their perceptions of urban and rural internships: a qualitative study

There is some anecdotal evidence that anxiety about the responsibility of an intern influences rural future intentions. Additionally, research has shown that urban interns have reported that they are worried about being ‘forced’ to work in non-metropolitan hospitals in their first year after graduation. This study sought to explore rural medical students’ perceptions and expectations of a rural internship and how local health services and/or their medical school can prepare them best for a rural intern position.

Medical Students – Mental Health

Taking care of our future doctors: a service evaluation of a medical student mental health service

Studies suggest medical students experience high levels of mental distress during training but are less likely, than other students, to access care due to stigma and concerns regarding career progression. In response, The School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge supported the development of the ‘Clinical Student Mental Health Service’ to provide specialist input for this vulnerable group. This study evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of this service.

Read the study here

BMC Medical Education

Patient participation in medical student teaching: a survey of hospital patients

Despite the common practice of involving inpatients in the teaching of medical students little is known about the experience for patients. This study investigated inpatients’ willingness, motivations and experience with participation in medical student bedside teaching.

Medical Education

Development in Danish medical students’ empathy: study protocol of a cross-sectional and longitudinal mixed-methods study

Clinical empathy has been associated with positive outcomes for both physicians and patients such as: more accurate diagnosis and treatment, increased patient satisfaction and compliance, and lower levels of burnout and stress among physicians. International studies show mixed results regarding the development of empathy among future physicians associating medical education with decline, stability or increase in empathy levels. These mixed results are due to several study limitations. In Denmark, no investigation of Danish medical students’ empathy trajectory has yet been conducted wherefore such a study is needed that optimizes the study design of earlier studies.