What changes will improve student experience and satisfaction in an undergraduate module for medical students that teaches the importance of community-based care over a period of fifteen months?

Problem

The Community Follow Up (CFU) module is an undergraduate medical primary-care led module at the University of Nottingham in which students follow the healthcare journey of a patient over a 15 month time span and write a critical evaluation of an aspect of their care. Following a review of the module, the authors identified several areas which can be amended in order to optimise the student and tutor experience. The changes were put forward in a proposal which included: a change to scheduled GP visits such that they synergised with another primary care module, switching from a 2:1 to 1:1 student patient visit ratio and also the rescheduling of the oral presentation assessment to an stage of the module as a means of assessing progress and affording students to then focus on the written assessment.

Change can be resisted, chaotic and disruptive. On reviewing the literature, a process of change management was adopted to overcome the challenges that change in an attempt to improve the student experience of the module.

Approach

In order for the changes proposed to be realised a consultation on changes to CFU was devised. As part of the consultation a change proposal and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis was disseminated throughout the University of Nottingham Primary Care Education Unit. The qualitative feedback was analysed and a feedback opportunity was provided at a CFU training meeting in order to discuss concerns and ideas. A series of stakeholder meetings were then organised to look in-depth at the feasibility and logistic aspects of the changes. The outcomes of the meetings will be used to inform the implementation of the changes for the next academic year.

Findings

By approaching change in a structured approach involving the key stakeholders who will be affected by the change, it was possible to realise unanticipated barriers, answer questions and make amendments to the proposed changes when appropriate. This helped to ensure a more cohesive, unified approach to the changes and also helped develop a structure for which further module changes could be based on. The use of a SWOT analysis proved invaluable in identifying areas of future improvement which can then be implemented at a later stage.

Consequences

Change can cause problems with resistance/ opposition, therefore, it important to consider how to approach change in a way that promotes cohesion in the organisation and reduces barriers to change implementation. The practical demonstration of the change management theory can be used as a template for that for further changes both in the module and within the university department.