January 2020

The Centre of Medical Education is pleased to announce that it has now become an Institutional Premium member of AMEE (the International Association of Medical Education).

This membership means that the Centre will now have full access to the following AMEE benefits:

  • Individual access to AMEE’s MedEdWorld site – an online global medical and health professions’ education community to promote networking, collaboration and a resource to keep up-to-date with current developments in education in the healthcare professions
  • Opportunity to register an unlimited number of participants from the University of Nicosia Medical School in the AMEE Annual Conference at a reduced rate, and in the AMEE webinars free of charge
  • Opportunity to promote and make more widely known the work of the University of Nicosia Medical School by exhibiting at AMEE conferences at a reduced cost
  • Discount on AMEE Education Guides
  • Vote on issues at the General Assembly
  • Opportunity to participate in the wide range of AMEE activities and to have a say in influencing international policy and practice in health professions’ education

The Director of the Centre, Professor Alexia Papageorgiou, participated last September at the EACH Forum on Healthcare Communication in Leiden, Netherlands as a co-chair of the organising committee and a member of the research committee of EACH.

A total of 120 participants from all over the world attended the forum.  The participants were offered a variety of 18 three-hour workshops and 35 poster presentations under the three broad categories of teaching, research and policy in healthcare communication. Here are some of the highlights in the participants’ own words:

  • “Good network event, international and visitors from all fields.”
  • “Being able to network with different people & learn from their contexts.”
  • “As a front-line worker it was an excellent opportunity to network and engage with those who undertake research which influences our practice.”
  • “The workshops were interactive, engaging and lengthy enough so that all participants could take an active part, and practise with role plays, reflections and discussion.”
  • “I enjoyed and learned a lot from all three workshops I attended; and hope to take something into my clinical or teaching from each one of them.”
  • “Getting new insights in my performance as a trainer and seeing what I do well already. Meeting very inspiring people and being together with my team in an inspiring event for all.”

SIMULATED PATIENTS CONFERENCE
On 14 November 2019, the Centre successfully held its annual simulated patients meeting that took place at UNIC’s, Cine Studio.

Simulated Patients Coordinator Ms Eliana Christoforou opened the meeting by presenting issues related to Simulated Patients and their contribution to the Programme.  Communication Skills Lead, Ms Maria Perdikogianni delivered an interactive workshop on “How to provide constructive feedback from the Simulated Patients to the student”.

Three of our simulated patients, Mohammed Awwad, Natalia Panagiotou and Vasilis Paphitis, who are professional actors, contributed to the meeting by facilitating the “So you think you can…act!” interactive theatre games.  These ice-breaking activities were entertaining and educational for all involved.

The meeting was an occasion for professional updating and the renewal of contacts, providing an opportunity for the Simulated Patients team to bond and to enjoy a pleasant and constructive afternoon.

TRAINING SESSIONS

A number of training sessions took place last Fall to cover the needs of the Medical School. Training focused on assessment (e.g., OSCE assessment training, SBA writing, etc), teaching (e.g., training the trainers in how to teach the Sharing Bad News session), training (a) new simulated patients and interpreters, (b) personal tutors and (c) tutors for delivering our online teaching.

Two staff development workshops have taken place and more will be delivered during the academic year.

In addition, faculty peer reviews, faculty appraisals and staff appraisals yielded a number of areas that will require new training delivery in the future.

RESEARCH NEWS 

PhD Studentships in Medical Education

We are pleased to announce that Ms Martha Kehagias-Marcullis has won the PhD studentship in Medical Education and is currently working on her research proposal that will focus on physician burn out.

Research grants

We are also pleased to announce the launch of the following funded research projects in Medical Education:

  • PharmPBL: The effect of pharmacology teaching on diverse learners in a problem-based learning medical curriculum. More
  • Curriculum Development using VR technology to enhance empathetic communication skills in future health care professionals (EmpathyInHealth). More
  • eCREST: An evaluation of an online patient simulation training tool to improve the clinical decision-making skills of students at the University of Nicosia Medical School. More
  • Concept maps as a novel assessment tool in medical education
    This pilot study entitled is funded by The University of Nicosia Medical School Research Seed Fund. The research team consists of Dr Stella Loizou (PI), Dr Nicoletta Nicolaou, Prof Alexia Papageorgiou and Prof Peter McCrorie. There is strong evidence in the literature that Concept Maps (CMs) can help students visualize relationships between various concepts and test their understanding of complex subjects, thereby fostering the development of meaningful learning and the increase of knowledge retention. This project aims to introduce CMs in a Problem Based Learning (PBL) setting and to investigate their applicability in further enhancing medical student knowledge and improving medical thinking. Future work will focus on the development of an objective measure from the field of graph theory to quantitatively assess a CM as part of assessment.
  • Stay on Track: a web platform to help with adhering to prescribed medication
    The University of Nicosia Medical School is participating in this project which is led by the University of Cyprus and is funded under the Research Promotion Foundation call, Social Innovation. The general objectives of this project are to:
    (1) Develop and pilot a web platform and app that will use innovative reinforcement strategies to help patients adhere to their medication, help clinicians to identify non-adherence so they can act and develop a drug information portal so that patients and clinicians can be up-to-date regarding their prescribed medication
    (2) Carry out high-quality research that will extend the research capacity of the Consortium, including the potential for networking and cooperating with EU research programmes, and to develop future grant applications both at a national and European level and
    (3) Improve local healthcare delivery introducing digital health innovation, ensuring that the health system is evidence-based, empowered and up-to-date.