Introduction of an academic internship in Ireland: views of undergraduate medical students

Evaluation of an early career clinical academic training programme using the CIPP model

OBJECTIVES

This study describes the successful implementation and outputs of a combined clinical academic training programme for doctors in their first postgraduate year in Ireland, the Academic Internship Track (AIT).

DESIGN

The AIT was evaluated using the Context, Input, Process and Product model. Literature reviews, meetings with key stakeholders, reviews of similar established programmes overseas, a survey of undergraduate medical students, exit survey, scientific outputs and career trajectory monitoring were all implemented in the programme evaluation.

SETTING

The AIT represents collaboration amongst all six intern training networks in Ireland.

RESULTS

Key stakeholders indicated support and significant interest in establishing the AIT. The input evaluation informed programme design which incorporates protected time to carry out a research project, a named supervisor, a bursary and access to dedicated study days. Since the programme's launch in 2017, there has been 100% uptake of posts and 0% attrition. Exiting participants indicate high levels of satisfaction with the programme; 92% reported having benefited from participation. Over 90% intend remaining in Ireland in both the immediate and longer terms. Fifty-seven per cent of participants in the first 3 years of the programme had succeeded in publishing a research article or review paper in a peer-reviewed journal.

CONCLUSIONS

Now in its fourth year, AIT remains a highly sought-after programme and is perceived to be beneficial to one's career. Participants in the programme have contributed significantly to their field of interest despite being in the earliest career stages. The programme has the potential to help retain medical talent in Ireland.

Enhancing research and scholarly experiences based on students' awareness and perception of the research-teaching nexus: A student-centred approach

OBJECTIVES

Research is a core competency of a modern-day doctor and evidence-based practice underpins a career in medicine. Early exposure encourages graduates to embed research in their medical career and improves graduate attributes and student experience. However, there is wide variability of research and scholarly experiences offered in medicals schools, many developed with a significant degree of pragmatism based on resources and financial and time constraints. We examined undergraduate medical students' awareness and experience of research throughout their degree to provide recommendations for implementation and improvement of research and scholarly experiences.

METHOD

Focus groups were conducted with medical students at all five stages of the medical degree programme. Data was coded to facilitate qualitative analysis for identification of important themes from each stage.

RESULTS

Students reported positive impacts of research on undergraduate experience, future career and society in general. Two important themes emerged from the data, the opportunity for research and timing of research experiences. Early-stage students were concerned by their lack of experience and opportunity, whereas later-stage students identified the importance of research to employability, personal development and good medical practice, but ironically suggested it should be integrated in early stages of the course due to limitations of time.

CONCLUSIONS

Students provided feedback for improving research and scholarly experiences, ideally involving early exposure, a clear programme overview, with equality of access and a longitudinal approach. An emerging framework is proposed summarising the important issues identified by students and the positive impacts research experiences provide for them. These recommendations can be applied to both existing and new research programmes to provide a student-centred approach designed to augment the students' critical analysis, inspire life-long learning, enhance the student experience and inevitably train better physicians.

The Case for Junior Doctor Academic Internships: A Narrative Review of the Published Literature

INTRODUCTION

There is a growing concern with the dwindling academic workforce especially in medicine. Academic internships refer to a hybrid internship during which an intern spends a period of time (typically 3-6 months) in academic/research endeavours. These may serve as initial research experience for junior doctors. However, the merits of this programme have not been assessed to date.

METHODS

Studies on integrated academic internships by junior doctors (ie, interns) were included in the present review. The identified articles were grouped into themes. For each article, the methodological approach (and subsequent implemented methods) was noted. The articles were also critically appraised for methodological soundness (both at the study-level, and the outcome-level).

RESULTS

A total of 1621 publication titles were identified and screened, of which 8 publications were included in the final review. The major themes of the identified publications are: overview of the academic internship programme, evaluation of a programme's experience and outcomes, and other miscellaneous publications.

DISCUSSION

The studies to date have only reported on "soft outcomes", but overall, interns and supervisors alike appear to be satisfied with the programme. Whether the programme increases the likelihood of future academic careers is difficult to establish at this juncture. The academic internship posts appear to be competitive, which reflect their popularity among graduating medical students.