MBChB Keele University

Year 3

SSC Guide

2015-2016

YEAR 3 SSC GUIDE – 2016

CONTENTS

Introduction ……………………………………..……………………………… 2The overall objectives of SSCs …………………..………………….……… 2Range and Choice of SSCs ……………..…………………….…………….. 2Health Library Vouchers ………………………………………………...…... 2Learning Objectives ………………………………………….…………….… 3Written Report – Aim of Written Report ………………….………………. 4Requirements of the Written Report ……………………………………… 4Assessment ……………………………………….…………………..……… 4Assessment Criteria ………………………………………..………………. 5-6Assessment Grades……………………………………………….…..……… 7Plagiarism …………………………….……………………………………….. 8Feedback ………………………………………………………………………. 9Dates and Deadlines for SSC ………………………………………….…… 10Planned Timetable ……………………………………………………………. 11Learning Objectives and Self-Assessment Form (SSC3) ……………… 12Reviewing and Recording your Professional Development ……….….. 13-14Sessions Attended (SSC5) ………………………………………………….. 15

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INTRODUCTIONIn the Keele curriculum, students acquire a common core of knowledge and skills through case-based learning, the Keele Spine teaching and the clinical skills programme, all of which run through the 'main modules'. These modules alternate with Student Selected Components (years 1-4) and the elective period (year 5). These guidelines are for the SSC attachments in Year 3.

The overall objectives of SSCsThe SSCs allow students to

extend their education in depth and breadth from personally defined objectives acquire in depth knowledge and skills about a specialty or aspect of medicine relate in depth knowledge and skills to a specific case or issue, which may be medical or other

problems relating to a patient, a patient group, a family, a community or health care service critically appraise published research and understand research methodology constantly question and be self-critical communicate clearly in writing and oral presentation by preparing a case report in the style of a

submission to a medical peer-reviewed journal reflect on the long term intellectual and attitudinal demands of a professional life gain insight into clinical specialties in order to make informed decisions about career choice

RANGE AND CHOICE OF SSCs There is a well-established database of SSC placements and supervisors for both clinical, research and non-clinical attachments. Placements are available at UHNM and the other teaching hospitals, the Medical School, Keele University Humanities Departments, The Keele Institute of Science and Technology in Medicine, School of Life Sciences and the Primary Care Research Institute. The range of SSCs is large and influenced by the interests, resources and individual enthusiasms of supervisors. Each SSC attachment has a core theme and indicative content and timetable, but supervisors are encouraged to be very flexible in the exact content so that the attachment can be tailored to the individual student’s desired learning outcomes. Well before the start of an SSC, students will be asked to make their choice of attachment. Choices will be matched to availability. SSC administrators will make every attempt to accommodate students’ choices with the SSCs available and within the logistics of delivering SSCs. If a student has particular requirements for an SSC attachment that is not currently offered, the student will be free to discuss their needs and we, and the student, will make efforts to contact appropriate potential supervisors to determine whether an SSC attachment can be created. Once the SSC placement is confirmed, the student has the responsibility of contacting their supervisor and arranging to meet them on or, preferably, well before the first day of the SSC – contact should be made at least 3 weeks before the start of the SSC. The student will need to submit a document on the KLE to confirm the supervisor meeting has been finalised. By discussing the student's portfolio of past experience with them, supervisors will be able to help students in setting appropriate objectives.

HEALTH LIBRARY VOUCHERSStudents can claim up to £10 worth of library loan vouchers per year for the CEC health library to help towards the cost of books, journals etc. Please contact Sharon Simpson in the Medical School (UGMS1), email s.simpson@keele.ac.uk or telephone 01782 679568 for further details.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVESThe student must: contact the supervisor well before the starting date of the SSC, to discuss outline objectives and organise the

first few days of the SSC to know where to go and whom to meet. at the first meeting with the supervisor, discuss what he/she wants to achieve and how to do this during the

SSC. A blank weekly SSC Timetable (Form SSC2) is provided at the back of these Guidelines for the student to complete with the supervisor.

Summarise the discussion with the supervisor in the Learning objectives and self-assessment form (Form SSC3). This must be signed by the supervisor and saved in your student portfolio

Complete weekly Sessions Attended form (SSC5) to be saved in your student portfolio Arrange and meet with their supervisors at least once a week throughout the SSC. Review own progress at regular intervals, discuss their progress with the supervisor and complete Reviewing

and recording professional development through the Year 3/4 SSCs, Part 1 and Part 2 (Form SSC4). This form should be retained in your student portfolio for review at appraisal meetings.

Components of the Learning Objectives

Specific Learning Objectives

In discussion with the supervisor, the student must set some specific learning objectives for this SSC. It is worth spending some time thinking about what objectives to set and whether they are achievable in 4 weeks. The main mistakes people make in setting objectives are (1) to make them too general, and (2) to make them impossible to achieve.

Students should think about the objectives in terms of the following:

1 knowledge and understanding of disease and its management, including public health aspects, prevention, epidemiology and aspects of clinical management.

2 clinical skills - the student may wish to learn and practice specific skills and become proficient in them (eg. intubation).

3 developing attitudes appropriate to the field of study and the medical profession.

4 working with a range of health care professionals.

5 exploration of ethical, legal and moral issues.

6 appreciation of areas of difficulty and uncertainty; exploration of future research and clinical development needs.

7 understanding provision and delivery of health care.

Learning methods

Whilst much of the learning during the SSC clinical attachment will be very similar to their previous clinical attachments in Year 3, the SSC differs in that the student should (within reason) guide the selection of intended learning outcomes and experiences based on their needs and interests. The students must be active in determining their goals for each week of the attachment and assess themselves against these targets to determine whether these have been achieved. After the first week, the supervisor and student should discuss the student's progress and the learning opportunities available. The supervisor should be informed early on if the student's learning expectations are not being met so that the situation may be rectified.

Timetable

A timetable of fixed and variable sessions.

Core and New Skills

The SSC attachments are a good time for students to consolidate skills they have learned in the clinical blocks of Year 3 – to improve their history taking skills, examination skills, formulating diagnoses and practicing practical skills. The SSCs can also be used to learn new skills, be exposed to new clinical environments and specialties and acquire new understandings of clinical medicine away from the timetable learning of the clinical blocks.

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WRITTEN REPORT

Aim of the written reportThe aim of the written report is for the student to enhance her/his written communication skills to be able to concisely and effectively summarise a specific case (which may be a patient, a family, a

community or a health care service) to demonstrate depth of understanding regarding:

underlying pathophysiology or pathological processes rationale underpinning investigations and management current management and how it might be improved in the future multidisciplinary team work, and the roles and contributions of different health care professionals public health aspects including epidemiology and prevention

to relate this in-depth understanding of the above issues and relevant references to the case to construct a written case report in the style of a submission to a peer reviewed medical journal or similar.

(Many students have gone on to get to their case reports published.)

Requirements of the written reportThe report must: be word-processed with font size 10 or greater, text in double line spacing and pages numbered consecutively

Word count must be included in bottom right hand corner of the cover page be 2000 – 3500 words excluding references (5-7 A4 pages with text in double line spacing).

Reports which exceed 3500 words will be penalised by awarding a lower grade and will not be considered for a final grade 5 (excellent)

be organised logically/appropriately include 10 - 20 relevant references (preferably not relying on textbook and web sources) listed in the The

Uniform Requirements style (the Vancouver style) used by the National Library of Medicine (http://www.nlm.nih.gov)

Students are required to:

Submit an electronic copy of your report via Turnitin on the KLE by 12 noon on the final day of the SSC – you must ensure that the filename of the submitted report is the first part of your Keele email only in lower case letters (eg if your email address is z0k23@students.keele.ac.uk, your filename should be z0k23) and saved as a word or PDF document.

Save a signed copy of your Learning Objectives Form in your portfolio (SSC3) Complete Sessions Attended timetable for each of the 4 weeks (SSC5) and save a copy in your

portfolio

Failure to submit the written work by the given time will result in a maximum mark of 3 (satisfactory) being awarded. Work handed in more than 72 hours late will score 0 (unsatisfactory)

If a student wishes to document any extenuating circumstances they will need to do this via the new online system accessible from E-Vision. (http://www.keele.ac.uk/ec/) Correspondence with staff members and/or the School of Medicine Student Support Service will not in itself represent documented extenuating circumstances.  All medical students who submit extenuating circumstances will be offered an appointment with the School of Medicine Student Support Service. Please note: The School of Medicine does not take extenuating circumstances into account when awarding marks.  However for students failing resit examinations, mitigating circumstances, where present, and correctly documented, will be considered at the School of Medicine Progress Committee.  The Progress Committee’s terms of reference state that students should raise mitigating circumstances in writing via E-Vision as soon as they are aware of them and no later than 5 working days following the relevant examination.

RESUBMISSIONS/RESITSA maximum mark of 3 (satisfactory) will be awarded when handed in by the deadline. SSCs handed in after this will score 0 (unsatisfactory). Resit SSC for other reasons i.e poor attendance, lack of engagement etc will also be

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capped at satisfactory.

ASSESSMENTAssessment domains

The supervisor will assess the following:

Attendance: Students are required to have 100% attendance for clinical SSC. In other SSC placements, such as Humanities, students are expected to attend and engage in all sessions that they are assigned. Unauthorized leave will lead to a failed SSC, with a capped mark at satisfactory on re-sitting. 

1. Work habits and performanceStudent and supervisor must meet in the last week of the SSC for an appraisal and assessment of how far the student achieved the objectives of the SSC. However, the supervisor must inform the Assessments Office early on if there are concerns about a student’s attendance, attitude or behaviour so that attempts may be made to remedy the situation before the end of the SSC

2. Written reportThe written report will be assessed by the Supervisor. It will also be assessed by another assessor if a fail, borderline pass/fail is awarded by the supervisor. If the two grades differ it will be reviewed by a third assessor.

Assessment criteriaThe following are the assessment criteria for the 3 domains.(For Qualitative Research, ISTM and Life Science SSCs please see separate criteria on the KLE)

Domain Assessment criteria

1. Attendance and

punctuality

100% attendance is required.

2. Work habits

and performance

• Ability to identify own strengths and weaknesses and confront issues of concern

• Motivation, enthusiasm and active participation

• Seek and take advantage of available learning opportunities and resources

• Application of knowledge and skills

• Exploration of ethical, legal and moral issues

• Working with health care professionals other than doctors

• Achievement of specific learning objectives

3. Written reportPresentation

word processed with font size 10 or greater and double-spaced

word count 2000-3500 excluding references (5-7 A4 pages)

Note: an excessively long report (>350 words extra) will be penalised by awarding a

lower grade and will not be awarded an excellent mark.

organised into logical sections

tables and figures used appropriately

in the style of a case report in a medical journal

Abstract/Summary

5

maximum 300 words

clear and accurate summary of the content

Content

concise description of a specific case

understanding of a medical topic related to the case (which may be issues such as

disease mechanism, public health aspects, prevention, epidemiology, treatment

options and future development relating to a patient or group of patients, a family, a

community or a health care service)

understanding illustrated through clear explanations and analyses

available information appraised critically and interpreted correctly

Use of literature

10-20 references and preferably not textbooks/web material

appropriate range and pertinent to the topic

cited accurately and in a consistent style

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Assessment grades:

Students will be marked as follows in all domains.

1 = Unsatisfactory (fail)2 = Borderline3 = Satisfactory (pass)4 = Good 5 = Excellent SSC Outcome: SSC outcome will be as follows.

Failed SSC: Less than 24/40 marks (60%) overall Marked unsatisfactory in any domain.

Satisfactory: 24/40 or moreGood: 32/40 or moreExcellent: 40/40

Please note that students may not be permitted to progress to the next year of the curriculum if they

fail to fulfil attendance requirements fail to complete the SSC fail to submit the written report fail to meet their supervisor for appraisal and assessmentget an Unsatisfactory grade

In the event of failure arrangements to repeat a SSC Module in vacation time must be made after discussion with the Director of Undergraduate Programmes and/or Academic Lead. Students will have limited choice (if any) in the repeat topic. Failure in a repeat Module will result in referral to Progress Committee.

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NOT ACCEPTABLE

Late submissions

Inability to complete and submit written report on timing owing to:

Computer problems USB problems Internet failure Supervisor not checking work in time

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the theft or expropriation of someone else's work without proper acknowledgement, presenting the material as if it was one's own. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and the consequences are severe. It is important that you read the MBChB Handbook which gives information on what constitutes plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice. Please realise that you can even plagiarise your OWN work! This is commonly done by, for example, a student choosing to do an SSC on a topic that they have previously researched. Please avoid this.

Understand that the SSC report you submit for assessment will be checked electronically for plagiarism. Web- based, electronic software (e.g., TURNITIN) is now employed by the School to scan documents for matching content with virtually any text that appears in electronic form. The system will pick up text that has had a few words rearranged in a sentence, or sentences that occur in a similar sequence to another text found elsewhere. Be sure, then, that you are reading information, and conveying that information in your own words, in your own style, with your own organisation.

Excessive quotations, or cutting and pasting text from other sources Although it CAN occasionally be suitable to make a quote for an written report - particularly in humanities based (e.g., history) reports - this is very rare. It should only be used in cases where the words themselves are historical words that should be quoted exactly. For example, if you were writing about the response of the 2006 Nobel Prize winners for Medicine to their winning the Prize, it might be appropriate to quote an interview of the Prize winners to indicate how they expressed their joy at winning the prize. For example one might write that Andrew Fire responded to winning the prize by saying , “I don't think this is an expected thing for anybody anytime. You know, it's obviously a great honour.” (Nobel Prize Organisation, 2007). Merely cutting and pasting information from documents is not acceptable EVEN IF YOU REFERENCE THEM CORRECTLY. The idea of the SSC is for you to research the topic, absorb the information you find, and express it in your own words. It is rarely appropriate to reference and quote text taken from a scientific paper, and it is not appropriate to quote excessively in your report as this can quickly become plagiarism. Do NOT cut and paste text from various sources to put together your SSC. This is not an indication of your understanding of the topic, or an understanding of the information that belongs in the topic.

Professional Level of Resources? (eg Wikipedia)Wikipedia has become a powerful internet tool for a plethora of information. It is, however, NOT a peer-reviewed source of information, and is, in fact, open to a great deal of inaccuracies or even fabrication. You should be careful when using Wikipedia as a source of information, and consider that the information contained within it could have been generated by anyone with virtually any level of understanding of the subject being written on. There are certainly occasions when the website has reported very inaccurate information, and (in the case of medicine) even instances where companies with vested interests in promoting their (eg pharmaceutical) products may put misguiding information on a topic of your research. Your SSC is meant to be a research of professional, peer- reviewed information, and it is not advised to use Wikipedia as a fount of knowledge on any topic.

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FEEDBACKFrom supervisor to studentRegular contact between supervisor and student should provide regular opportunities for feedback. The end-of-

SSC appraisal gives more formal feedback. In particular, the learning contract gives both parties a 'yardstick' to

measure progress.

From student to supervisorStudents may feel reserved but it is hoped that supervisors will encourage students to give feedback on SSC

attachment.

REFLECTIONStudents should reflect on the knowledge, skills and attitudes they acquire during the SSC. Supervisors are

encouraged to facilitate this. Columns are provided on the Learning contract, learning objectives and self-assessment form for you to assess yourself according to your specific learning objectives. Form SSC4

(Reviewing and recording professional development through the Year 3) at the back of these guidelines

should also be completed by students and filed in their portfolios. They will be reviewed at time of appraisal.

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Dates and deadlines for the SSC FORM SSC1

Name of Student

Name of Supervisor

Title of SSC

SSC dates

Deadline for first meeting with Supervisor

Dates of weekly meetings with Supervisor

Deadline for submitting written report

Deadline for meeting Supervisor for final appraisal and assessment

CONTACT NUMBERSStudents will find it useful to collect names and contact details of key people who might help during the SSC.

Tel / e-mail

Supervisor

Secretary

Specialist Registrar

Foundation doctors

Library

UG/PG Centre

Other

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Form SSC2

PLANNED TIMETABLEStudents should discuss with the supervisor specific learning objectives and how they might be achieved. Fixed and variable sessions likely to be helpful should be noted.

Day 0800 - 1300:time, session, place

1300 - 1700:time, session, place

after 1700:time, session, place

Mon

Tues

Wed

Thurs

Fri

Sat

Sun

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND SELF ASSESSMENT FORM (SSC3)

Specific objective Learning method Self-assessment1 Date Reflections

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 completed

1 You should decide how confident you currently feel about the objective, on a scale from 1(not at all confident) to 5(very confident)

Student ______________________ Supervisor’s signature __________________________________ Date _____________________

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REVIEWING AND RECORDING YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH YEAR 3 SSCs(to be completed by students)This form has two parts and both should be filed in your portfolio. You should complete Part1 immediately after completing your SSC (before receiving feedback from your SSC supervisor) andPart 2 after receiving your supervisors’ feedback and the grade for your SSC.

You should also file your SSC report together with relevant preparatory documentation (eg your SSC Learning contract, learning objectives and self-assessment form). Your supervisor will discuss your self-review with you, and may ask to see your completed forms.

Part 1:The Module III SSC general learning objectives are listed below. For each objective, write a few sentences to show how well you achieved that objective and what you need to do to make further progress. Use examples to support your statements. Continue overleaf if necessary.

At the end of this SSC you should be able to:1) explain the reason for choosing this SSC

2) reflect on how you worked with health care professionals other than doctors

3) demonstrate that your specific objectives for the SSC were achieved

4) demonstrate an in-depth understanding of one clinically relevant subject, including appropriate allied issues, such as public health aspects, prevention, epidemiology, treatment options and future development

5) relate in-depth understanding of the above subject to the specific 'case' that was studied.

6) produce a word-processed case report on a chosen 'case'

Note the main challenges you encountered and how you addressed them.

Student's name: Date:

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Reviewing and recording your professional development through Year 3 SSCs

Part 2 In the light of the mark for your SSC and any feedback from your SSC supervisor, review and write notes about what you have learned from doing your SSC and how you plan to improve your performance of the relevant objectives in the future.

Your notes should be more than just a description of what you did. They should indicate ‘critical incidents’, which may have contributed to specific learning points about yourself and/or the topic investigated. For example, you might note findings which surprised you, such as things which differed from what you would have expected from a published description of a condition or a treatment outcome, and what you have learned as a result. Continue overleaf if necessary.

What you have learned from doing your SSC

How you plan to improve your performance in specific areas in the future

Student's name: Date:

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SESSIONS ATTENDED (SSC5)Students should record the sessions they attend and indicate the clinical experience, learning activities etc.

Week 1 2 3 4

Day 0800 - 1300:time, session, place

1300 - 1700:time, session, place

after 1700:time, session, place

Mon

Tues

Wed

Thurs

Fri

Sat

Sun

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