Surfacing the delivery of Year 3 undergraduate teaching in the context of a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC): Cardiff School of Medicine Community and Rural Education Route (CARER)

Background:

Cardiff’s fully dispersed immersed (Worley et al. 2016) Year 3 longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) scheme, known as CARER, has run in two hubs (Bangor and Aberystwyth) since 2018. Students are embedded within a GP practice for 10 months. Many purported educational benefits of LICs include educational continuity, following the patient journey over time and forming stronger, more trusting relationships with patients and GP tutors (Bartlett et al. 2019; Webb 2020). While Cardiff’s longitudinal evaluation shows CARER students’ Progress Test scores are comparable with Year 3 students on the main programme (Webb 2020), little is known about the various teaching and learning approaches used to help students achieve this knowledge. 

Aims:

The main aims are to establish the teaching and learning approaches used within GP practices, any hospital-based teaching and to explore the role of the hidden curriculum. 

Methods:

This exploratory mixed-methods study will collect both qualitative and quantitative data from students (n~25) and their GP tutors (n~23) enrolled on the LIC September 2021. Online surveys containing both open- and closed-questions will explore teaching and learning approaches, the setting and hidden curriculum. Focus groups will gather personal accounts regarding experiences of teaching and learning. Quantitative data will be analysed using SPSS. Qualitative data will undergo both thematic and narrative analysis.

Results:

We are currently collecting data and will present findings at the academic meeting.

References:

Bartlett, M. et al. 2019. Dundee's Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship: drivers, implementation and early evaluation. Education for Primary Care 30(2), pp. 72-79

Webb, K. 2020. Longitudinal Evaluation of the Community and Rural Education Route (CARER) - Year 2 Report. Report to funder: School of Medicine, Cardiff University

Worley, P. et al. 2016. A typology of longitudinal integrated clerkships. Med Educ 50(9), pp. 922-932. doi: 10.1111/medu.13084