Doctor: Healer, Scientist, Innovator
In February 2019, the Topol Review made recommendations for the NHS workforce to evolve and adapt with the technologies and developments of the future such as ‘genomics, artificial intelligence, digital medicine and robotics’.
The report mentions that ‘educating the current and future NHS workforce is key to enabling the implementation of the revolutionary changes to healthcare practice that technological advancements will bring for the benefits of the patients’.
Sanchita Bhatia, CUReS President said: “As the future of the NHS, we as students need to not only learn essential clinical knowledge, but also develop versatile skills in how to critically approach the world around us, question and innovate.”
Cardiff University Research Society (CUReS) is a student-led group that has been actively involved in inspiring medical students to get involved in research. Sanchita explains: “We believe that it is incredibly important to learn how to push the boundaries of current healthcare practice through research and scientific discovery.”
CUReS provide research mentorship opportunities for students through taster days and longer summer research projects to develop the indispensable skills in a range of areas: from molecular medicine to large-scale population studies.
Sanchita continues: “With the ever-evolving multi-faceted role demanded of the future clinician, we also believe that it is incredibly important to teach students to question the norm, identify current problems in clinical practice and strive for developing solutions. With the introduction of our Innovation arm 3 years ago, CUReS have made strides in addressing the gaps in current medical education helping to equip the clinicians of the future.”
Learning to innovate
Three years ago, CUReS launched its annual Dragons’ Den event, and in 2018, this was integrated into the wider Cardiff University Innovation for All Festival, and expanded not only to MEDIC, but also to School of Healthcare Sciences. CUReS hosted workshops on learning how to think innovatively, and have received funding to develop this into a longer Learn2Innovate bootcamp to equip students with entrepreneurial and technical skills to make their vision a reality.
Bedside to bench
Clinicians are in a unique position where they can put the patient first and gain the insight of what questions need to be answered to improve their care, and root that back towards the science to find the answers. As a result, bedside to bench has been a short series of expert talks from various specialities providing students with an insight into their clinical practice and their research and how it is actively contributing in improving patient care.
Research for clinicians
Last year, CUReS conducted a review of research skills taught to students and identified key, highly relevant skills that are not taught to students currently. Following this, CUReS developed a short hands-on course providing an in-depth knowledge of critical appraisal and how to write a paper. One of the Society’s aims is to inspire students who have never considered academia as part of their clinical careers and to show the importance of understanding where current clinical practice guidelines come from, and how they evolve – in order to become better clinicians and strengthen decision-making skills.
This is a shortened version of the full article that features in edition 31 of ReMEDy.
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