Our day started off with a recap of the previous day and the technique and importance of debriefing. We got to know how to do debriefing mainly based on 3 Fs – Facts, Feelings and Future.
The first session was about Quality Assurance in Medical Education. We reflected upon the three-point plan which would help to improve the health workforce strategies – Right jobs, right skills, right places. Furthermore, we went through the steps of Quality Assurance process, namely establishment of standards or criteria and identification of information relevant to the criteria. This is followed by collecting and analysing information. The information collected is compared with established criteria. A judgement of quality is then made. Corrective action is taken as needed.
We then discussed the Global Core Curriculum, reaching no definite conclusion about the topic, provided the large amount of resources are concerned.
Following this session, we had a session about Advanced Leadership. We highlighted the differences between a leader and a manager, with the leader putting input him/herself in the discussion and the manager facilitating the existing discussion and maintaining order. It was evident that leadership consists of three players: the leader, the followers and the situation – with the leader being the most influential and the factor which is most easily changed. Leadership is learnt through experience, tasks carried out and formal education. Three theories of leadership were put into perspective – Normal Decision Model, Situational Leadership Theory and Path-Goal Theory.
The next session helped us to understand the importance of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and Research. Through this, we learnt about PICO questions – Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome – which are very useful in EBM. The session continued with the importance of research in that it helps the individual face challenges and overcome them, the most common challenges being Time, Limited Opportunities, Methods of Assessment, Remoteness of Research, Students and National Policy. A discussion closed our session about whether research should be mandatory or not.
We closed the day with some tips when giving a presentation. The objectives of every presentation should be to build on existing experience and build confidence in the subjects. The steps of how to prepare a presentation were summarised as follows:
- What’s my purpose? (WIIFM)
- Who’s my audience?
- Data and Content
- How should I structure the data?
- How should I open and close my session?
- Practice!!
The importance of body language, eye contact and short but effective slides was surfaced. Data should be structured in three steps: Tell them what you’re going to tell them -> Tell them -> Tell them what you’ve just told them.
Our day was closed off with a recap of the activities and sessions throughout the day. Surely, the skills obtained will be of use for our future sessions!
Author: Jessica Dowling, MMSA-Malta
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