The Insider’s guide to the Academic Foundation Programme!

1. The Insider’s guide to the Academic Foundation Programme! Dr Peter Steed Dr Hannah Smith Academic F2 Doctors Bristol Royal Infirmary/UoB

2. Introduction • A bit about us and how we ended up doing an Academic Foundation Programme • What we did for our research projects • A week in the life of an AF2 • The best and worst things about being an AF2 • Top tips + Questions

3. Pete • Intercalated BSc Physiological Sciences (2005) • Graduated 2008 University of Bristol MBChB (Hons) • F1 Year BRI Surgery/Respiratory Medicine/Palliative Care • AF2 Year BRI: Laboratory science/ITU/Paeds (renal)

4. Career Intentions • Applying for ACCS (Acute Care Common Stem) • Physiology tutor to the 1st year medical students • Keen to be involved in medical education – hope to undertake certificate in medical education (MSc) in the future

5. My research • Working in physiology department with Julian Paton • Looking at the pathogenesis of essential hypertension “A Comparative Histological Study of Basilar Artery Morphology in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats and Normotensive Controls”

6. Expected Outcomes • Still in process of collecting data • Will be submitting an abstract in march for Physiology 2010 in Manchester (annual meeting of the Physiological Society) • Starting to write draft paper for publication

7. Hannah • Didn’t fancy intercalating • BSc not essential for AF2 – but be prepared to justify! • Graduated 2008 University of Bristol MBChB(Hons) • Doing “Clinical Epidemiology/Public Health” AF2 • F1: Respiratory Med/Palliative Care/Surgery • F2: Research/GUM/Paeds A+E

8. My Research • Knew I wanted to do Orthopaedics since medical school • Strategically applied for Epidemiology AF2 Post as knew it was relevant to all specialties • Very flexible – supervisor agreed I could do a project relevant to Orthopaedics

9. My Research Cont’d • Given dataset from previous cohort study (“Kinemax Outcomes Study”) • Brilliant because: • Ethics approval already obtained • Data already collected • All I had to do was analyse the data and write up the paper

10. My Research Cont’d • “The impact of total knee arthroplasty on the natural history of the contralateral knee” • 772 patients followed up for 2 years, both knees scored at 4 timepoints • The hypothesis: If a patient has a bad outcome after primary arthroplasty then their contralateral knee with deteriorate more quickly • Currently: • Abstract submitted to BOA Conference 2010 • Provisional draft of paper to co-authors • Submit to journal in Jan

11. A week in the life of an AF2 Research Post Clinical Postx2 (4 months) (4 months) Monday LabHospital Tuesday TeachingHospital Wednesday HospitalLab Thursday LabHospital Friday LabHospital

12. The best things about AF2 • Great experience in research that other F2’s don’t have • Dedicated academic teaching programme • Great for the CV – will get publications/posters/presentations etc • Can do other qualifications eg. STATA course, teaching courses etc

13. The best things about AF2 • Flexible in what you do your project in (some) • Prestigious – competitive entry as undergraduate • Good hours so can revise for membership exams (not officially supposed to!) • Social • ? Advantage at CT/ST Training applications

14. The worst things about AF2 • Got to achieve same clinical competencies as non-academic colleagues in 2/3 of the time • “Slackademics” – reputation • Some jobs unbanded • We nearly ended up on the F1 on call rota – vulnerable minority!

15. The worst things about AF2 • Research component can be lonely/frustrating • For the surgeons: placements all quite medically biased, only one surgical AF2 post • For unfortunate few – projects don’t take off, too big to do in 4 months, ethics approval issues etc

16. Top Tips • BSc not vital: can demonstrate academic potential via ranking/distinctions/publications etc • Think carefully about how it fits in with your career intentions • Surgeons may want to look at other deaneries • Prepare for the interview • Good luck!

17. Questions