Report

ASME Conference: A Career Service for Modernising Medical Careers
Thursday 18 January 2007 - RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London
Sponsored by MMC

Introduction

 ASME was asked to pull together a meeting on the career services available to doctors in their foundation programmes by the MMC team. The day was a mixture of plenary and parallel presentations of good practice augmented by handouts and posters together with discussion groups. Full details of the programme, the presentations and papers may be found on the website www.asme.org.uk . This report tries to synthesise some of the standing issues and problems and capture the action plan. It is framed around four questions and challenges given to the participants by Professor Derek Gallen:

1. How do we build on today's sharing of experiences and resources?
   It was very apparent that there had been a lot of development and new initiatives in the career services provided by deaneries to foundation programme doctors and the first clear need was the continued facilitation and co-ordination of these activities. Suggestions included:
   1. ASME to write the synthesis of the meeting and create an e-mail list of current participants, and invite suggestions for others to join the group.
   2. Agree and define who would lead this facilitative work. Suggestions included the Deanery Group of National Educational Advisors, Foundation School Directors, ASME, CHMS, or the newly forming Academy of Medical Educators (AME).
   3. Bring in the undergraduate career services. It was noted that the Cardiff department had undertaken a recent survey, collated by Lorna Tapper-Jones. A preliminary report had been presented at the ASME ASM in September and ASME would contact Lorna for an update to post on the website. The undergraduate services can often have the help of career support and development professionals (AGCAS - the Association of Graduate Career Advisory Service). There seems to be a good link at undergraduate level with AGCAS and Medical Careers Edinburgh (Fiona Simpson) Prospects is a webpage on Edinburgh University in Careers. ( www.prospects.ac.uk  )
   4. Student engagement was thought to be crucial. Various ways were suggested to develop this through the BMJ Careers Forum and doctors.net etc. The meeting heard from Nottingham University about how to form a student careers society (MedCareerSoc) and this might be a useful initiative for medical schools to adopt.
   5. The advantages of a national platform and focus programme of student development as exemplified by the AAMC Careers in Medicine initiative were broadly supported. The KSS Deanery has done some work with the CiM programme to make it relevant for UK medical schools. The meeting thought there was now a lot of UK relevant information that could be built into such a resource and that CHMS could be called on to facilitate some co-ordinated activity.
2.  What is needed to be developed and/or disseminated?
   The meeting debated how to take the broad raft of initiatives forward and agreed that the MMC website should be used to provide a list of resources.
   1. Dr Malvena Stuart-Taylor had done a User's (Hitchhiker's) Guide to web information and this was thought to be usefully put on the MMC site.
   2. Portfolio development was seen to be critical in this area as all students in higher education are required to keep a personal portfolio and careers should be made part of it. The importance of using this should be keyed into various stages in the curriculum with cued questions from mentors/supervisors etc, linked to medical school events along the lines of the AAMC programme. Karen Simpson and Fiona Sykes volunteered to develop the portfolio idea.
   3. Strong vertical links between undergraduate schools and foundation schools needed to be developed but better homogeneity between the activities of all medical schools and all foundation schools would be an advantage for the 25% of students and doctors who wish to change area.
   4. MTAS could create numbers on application ratios based on this round and get this information up well before the next round of foundation programmes.
3. How does this group want to communicate and develop?
   There was some debate over how and what to organise for the future but there was clear support for a further meeting in six months to review progress and to further define a strategy. For that meeting it was decided that a wider group of stakeholders should be invited that included undergraduate career services and student societies.

Agreed Action Points

ASME would:

1. Produce this report.
2. Populate the website of the meeting with the report, powerpoint presentations and papers.
3. Set up an e-mail group of workshop participants and check if everyone is willing to have their contact details shared.
4. 4. Ask participants for other important stakeholders to invite to the workshop e-group.
5. Follow up links suggested at the meeting eg:

1. Lorna Tapper-Jones
2. Prospects and AGCAS
3. Portfolio development with Karen Simpson and Fiona Sykes
4. Maire Shelley and Rose Mortenson on QA development to PMETB standards
5. Offer to facilitate another meeting of the group in six months' time, perhaps using MMC sponsorship.

Frank Smith
22 January 2007

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