Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, and Dental School, Cork University Hospital 1

1. Tomorrow’s doctors: Medical & Dental Students’ Understanding the Roles of the Qualified Professional Hillary Widdifield, Tony Ryan, Eleanor O’Sullivan Tomorrow’s doctors Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, and Dental School, Cork University Hospital1 Abstract Introduction: The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada developed a competency framework to assist future specialists in responding to challenges as health care providers. The CanMeds project described 7 essential roles of Specialist Physicians include Health Advocate, Manager, Scholar, Medical Expert, Professional, Communicator and Collaborator (HMSEPC2). The object of the current study was to investigate whether medical students and dental students in Ireland recognised these essential roles. Methods: Medical and dental students (year 1 and year 4) were asked to mind map the responsibilities of qualified doctors/dentists. The comments on the mind map were applied to one of the 7 CanMed roles. Results: Students had the greatest number of responses referring to the Medical Expert (257) and Professional (227) roles. This was followed by Communicator (130), Scholar (107) and Health Advocate (82) roles. There were relatively few responses relating to Manager (12) and Collaborator (i.e. teamwork) roles (30). There were no differences in responses between Dental Students and Medical Students and between 1st year and 4th year students. Similarly there were no differences between the responses of Irish students (n =95; 68%) and International students (n =45; 32%) Conclusion: Students are aware of their role as Medical or Dental experts (diagnostic and therapeutic skills) for ethical and effective patient care (professional role). They are somewhat aware of the Communicator, Scholar and Health Advocate roles. In general they have little concept of the importance of management skills (utilising resources effectively), and of collaboration (teamwork and consulting effectively with other physicians and Health care Professionals). Medical and Dental Educators and Curriculum Committees should address these important deficiencies. • The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada proposed 7 competencies for their doctors of tomorrow (below). We organized them into the mnemonic HMSEPC2 • Our Aims • to see if students understand their future roles • to determine which roles are underappreciated • To determine which roles should be taught explicitedly METHODS: Examples of Student Responses “Visit schools to run healthy lifestyle workshop” = Health advocate “Run an efficient and patient-friendly practice” = Manager. “Participating in continuing education programs = Scholar “Proper diagnosis and treatment” = Medical Expert “Honest when describing diagnosis and treatment” = Professional “Knowing what’s going on in my patients’ lives” = Communication “Discussing diagnosis & treatment with specialists= Collaboration Results 128 students Irish95 (68%) International 45 (32%) . 1.Health Advocate Identify the important determinants of health affecting patients- 2. ManagerUtilize resources effectively to balance patient care, learning needs, outside activities 3. ScholarDevelop a personal continuing education strategycontribute to development of new knowledge 4. Expert Develop a personal continuing education strategycontribute to development of new knowledge 5. ProfessionalDeliver highest quality care with integrity, honesty and compassion 6. CollaboratorConsult effectively & contribute effectively to other interdisciplinary team activities7.CommunicatorEstablish therapeutic relationships- listen effectively • Distribution of comments on mind maps • (484 comments from 128 students) Medical Expert 257 • Professional227 • Communicator130 • Scholar 107 • Health Advocate 82 • Manager 12 • Collaborator 30 • CONCLUSIONS • Students are aware of their role as Medical or Dental Eexperts • They are somewhat aware of the Communicator, Scholar and Health Advocate roles. • They have little concept of the importance of management skills (utilising resources effectively), and of collaboration (teamwork). Implications • We cannot rely on the Hidden Curriculum to teach the competencies required by the 20th century physician • We can use CANMEDS as overarching principles to formulate the medical curriculum, • We can also use the CANMEDS framework in teaching, learning and assessment of Medical Students, the Doctors of Tomorrow.