ICSM battles Barts at MedSoc conference
Written by Seetha Muthalagappan and Ali Hosin
On November 26th and 27th the annual International MedSoc Committee Conference was held at the Birmingham Medical School. The weekend was packed with useful lectures, discussion groups and workshops, all aimed at helping us to improve the running and organisation of MedSocs (and medical Students’ Unions) around the country.
The ICSMSU sent five of its officers to attend the conference weekend. They were warmly welcomed by Birmingham’s MedSoc, and the keynote lecture followed soon afterwards. It was delivered by Dr Adam Feather. Dr Feather is currently the Senior Lecturer in Medical Education at Barts - arguably better known as author of the hallowed ‘EMQs for Medical Students’ series. Topics discussed included the changing of final year exams and job applications. All medical students will be taking the Prescribing Skills Assessment (PSA). This will signify another step towards a national exam in addition to the standardisation work of the Medical Schools Council Assessment Alliance (MSC-AA). The Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which is becoming a part of FPAS (Foundation Programme Application System), was also discussed at great length, with example questions provided. Dr Feather also emphasised the importance of peer teaching and the necessity of strong links between students and Faculty. It was noted that ICSM does this rather well with our comprehensive academic representation system and hard work carried out by MedEd, Muslim Medics and other societies.
Everyone at the conference attended various workshops and discussion groups relevant to our Student Union roles. There were discussions and workshops on leadership, sponsorship, Clubs & Socs, website design to name but a few. Most were led by leaders in their respective fields and others by ex-Presidents of Birmingham’s own MedSoc. One of the design workshops gave a special mention to the ICSMSU website as an example of a particularly well designed website. “The MedSoc also introduced everyone to ‘Heidi’ - a concoction which was sweet at the time, but not the morning after!”
The benefits of these discussion groups and workshops were vast – it gave everyone an insight into what other MedSocs are up to, as well as providing a platform to discuss issues or problems that people have been experiencing and also to find solutions to improve our own MedSocs.
A medical student conference is not complete without it’s socials the this one was no exception. After a delicious dinner at Pizza Express on Broad Street, Birmingham’s MedSoc took us to Bliss, where all the participants received free champagne on arrival and VIP entry and there was even a camera crew outside the nightclub. The MedSoc also introduced everyone to ‘Heidi’ - a concoction which was sweet at the time, but not the morning after! The night out further strengthened the ‘connections’ made between the different MedSoc members earlier in the day.
The second day saw lectures on leadership in the clinical setting and mentoring programmes as well as speeches from GMC representatives. The talks were interesting and thought-provoking, and relevant to both our current representational roles and future jobs as doctors. A research opportunity was also advertised by a Birmingham medical student: ‘Do the number of hours spent undertaking extracurricular activities impact on grades?’ Birmingham MedSoc are hoping to get data from all the medical schools across the country and then write it up as a publication.
Throughout the second day, each MedSoc had to give a poster presentation in an inter-medical school competition. There were some very impressive posters and pitches by all of the medical schools but in the end, Birmingham medical school was judges to have delivered the best poster presentation. At the end of the conference, there was the all important decision of which medical school would host the next MedSoc conference. This resulted in an interesting UH battle between Barts and ICSM. Both medical schools gave very convincing pitches. Finally it was announced that Barts had won the bid to host the next conference. Some speculated that a deciding factor was because the Barts campus is in East London, where the Olympics are happening.
On the whole, this was a fantastic weekend, and a massive thanks and congratulations goes to Birmingham MedSoc for doing a such superb job in hosting the conference. The keynote lectures, discussions and workshops were hugely beneficial to everyone, and it was a really useful experience sharing aspects of best practice with one another. It was a genuine pleasure to meet everyone from the other MedSocs and hopefully everyone is already looking forward to next year’s conference.
Found this article interesting - Tweet or Facebook to share with your friends and followers!