Welcome to the 26th WONCA Europe Virtual Conference Programme Scheduling

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Background - The Covid-19 epidemic imposed a rapid shift in medical education and caused an immediate transfer from face to face learning to virtual learning experience. Blended learning is a combination of face to face and synchronic or a synchronic e- learning. Resilience is the human ability to cope and overcome an objective crisis. The continuous medical education program for family medicine residence in the Technion, Israel, endorsed the blended learning method during the covid-19 epidemic. The program includes 115 residents, divided to 4 academic years. In this study we aspire to evaluate the blended learning quality and experience ( cognitive, emotional, social, behavioral and technological ) as described by the residents and find its' relation to the residents resilience as reported in a valid questioner.

Methods - A mixed methods research which combines the qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods. A questioner composed of 5 parts: 1. Demographics 2. Personal resilience questioner 3. 2 statement regarding residents contentment from the program 4. 19 statements regarding blended learning and remote learning which are rated through likert scale (1-5) 5. 2 open questions regarding the learning experience throughout this area and the possible association to the sense of resilience.

Results - 91 questioner were completed. The overall satisfaction from the medical education program was 70%. 44% of the learner were satisfied with the blended learning method. The overall learner's resilience score is 3.8/5 +/-. A qualitative analysis should be preformed.

Conclusion - We found a great variation among the learners experiences and learning evaluation. Final analysis should be preformed.

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Background and purpose: Nutrition is the leading cause of chronic disease globally, yet the nutritional component of medical education remains insufficient. In the context of Irish General Practice it is unknown how much nutritional education GP trainees receive and how well equipped they feel to manage the nutritional aspect of chronic disease. The purpose was to identify GP trainee attitudes to the nutritional component of chronic disease in GP training and to compare with the programme directors who deliver this training.

Methods: A multicentre online survey questionnaire of 542 GP trainees in Ireland and 63 GP training scheme programme directors.All 14 Irish GP training schemes in Ireland were invited to have their trainees and programme directors answer an online survey over a 2 week period in September 2019.

Results: 93 trainees (16%) and 9 programme directors (14%) answered. There was consensus and agreement for the following; it is the role of the GP to promote a healthy diet; there are barriers to providing optimal nutritional management; and there would be interest in further training. Barriers identified included a lack of access to dietitians and inadequate education. ANOVA analysis found that there was agreement in the assertion that nutritional education to date is not adequate.

Conclusions: There is agreement between GP trainees and their programme directors that the nutritional educational component of GP training is currently an unmet need. This study highlights the need for an improvement in nutritional education to maximise the management of chronic disease in Irish general practice.

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Background/purpose: The menstrual cup (MC) is an alternative in the management of menstruation, being little known. This study aim was to answer the question “do medical students of the Lisbon School of Medicine (FMUL) know the menstrual cup?”.

Methods: In the first phase of the study, a bibliographic review was carried out and a questionnaire was structured and tested in a pilot population. The second phase started after approval by the Ethics Committee and consisted on giving the questionnaire to all medical students of FMUL.

Results: Of the 2169 students who received the questionnaire, were obtained 970 valid responses. The majority of the participants heard of the MC (93.8%) mainly from social networks, friends and media and less frequently from classes, medical appointments and scientific events. Most of them were familiar with the functions of the MC, although they had some misconceptions about it. Of the 755 women, 108 already used the MC, being more recently used. Most women (39.6%) considered its use, with those with average to heavy menstrual flow and those who use tampons being the most susceptible to use it.

Conclusions: Although FMUL medical students have already heard about the MC, there is still a lack of knowledge of all its potentialities. Due to this, it is necessary to provide information about it in academic/scientific events and healthcare centers. Finally, there should be a bigger investment in the medical curriculum regarding menses management, allowing future doctors to be able and comfortable to handle with this theme.

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Background and purpose

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a rapid and significant increase in the number of remote medical consultations (over telephone or video). Coupled with social distancing rules, this has had a profound effect on undergraduate medical education. Medical students on their general practice placements now experience consultations predominantly remotely. Current evidence demonstrates effectiveness of remote consultations for clinicians and patients but highlights a paucity of guidance to facilitate this teaching modality. This study aims to evaluate the use of remote consultations to teach medical students in this setting.

Methods

The study uses a realist evaluation, an approach used to evaluate interventions which are not yet well understood. It is used to explore features of the teaching intervention that lead to success or failure. Participants will include medical students and GP tutors who have experienced teaching or learning through remote consultations in primary care. Participants’ experiences will be gathered using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews

Results

Initial programme theory identified multiple contextual drivers for optimum teaching and learning outcomes. These are broadly categorised into five themes; engagement, motivation, perception, preparation and experience. These theories will be explored and tested in the second phase of data collection within a realist evaluation, which is under way.

Conclusions

With a shortfall in students choosing a career in general practice, fostering a positive learning experience is important, particularly in the current climate where learning is significantly disrupted. It is intended that managing the identified facilitators and barriers to learning with remote consultations will help to improve experiences for medical students and GP tutors.

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Background and purpose

Portfolios can be deployed to support Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). While there is theoretical ground for the utility of portfolios for SRL, current research – mainly consisting of quantitative questionnaires - shows mixed results. Since questionnaires mostly consider user opinions instead of the feelings, cognitions and behaviour on which those opinions are based, it remains unclear which factors are responsible for these results. Our research question therefore was: What are the experiences, feelings and cognitions of portfolio users concerning SRL?

Methods

We organized nine focus groups with trainees, supervisors and faculty of the Dutch General Practitioner speciality training. The transcripts of the focus groups were analysed with the use of template analysis.

Results

Trainees experienced little flexibility or autonomy to shape their e-portfolio according to their own learning needs, as faculty (in)directly requested them to provide a comprehensive overview of tasks, responsibilities and skills. Faculty aimed for such an overview, as they used the e-portfolio to monitor and assess progress of trainees. While trainees and faculty expected supervisors to actively engage with the e-portfolio, supervisors did not consider themselves to be a relevant stakeholder in the e-portfolio process. Functionality factors, e.g. user-friendliness, were mentioned by all groups to limit value and use of the e-portfolio.

Conclusions

Functionality issues and differing views concerning purpose and division of roles impair a portfolio’s worth for the support of SRL. A clear purpose and proper instructions and training might mitigate these impairments when implementing portfolios to support SRL.

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Background and purpose: Several studies revealed the impact of stress and burnout among the medical students’ community, with repercussions on students' quality of life and their levels of compassion and self-compassion. Thus, the aim of this work is to study whether the promotion of self-knowledge based on the Enneagram of Personalities has an impact on the levels of these variables, promoting the awareness of its importance and possible application in medical schools.

Methods: A sample of 48 medical students, before and after an intervention, answered an online questionnaire with 6 scales - Perceived Quality of Life (EQ-VAS), Perceived Stress (PSS), Burnout (MBI-SS), Self-Compassion (SELFCS), Compassion (CS), and Self-Reflection and Insight (SRIS). The intervention group, consisting of 24 volunteer participants, held a self-knowledge and communication course using the Enneagram of Personalities. The control group (24 volunteers) was recruited by matching sociodemographic variables with the intervention group. The data obtained was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis using the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests, and to qualitative analysis of content analysis.

Results: There was a significant beneficial effect of this intervention in the Perceived Quality of Life (p=0.002), Perceived Stress (p=0.001), Self-Compassion (p=0.030) and its 2 subscales Isolation (p=0.016) and Overidentification (p=0.010), in the intervention group.

Conclusion: The results obtained in the present clinical trial suggest the beneficial effect of a self-knowledge intervention on quality of life, stress, burnout, self-compassion and compassion in medical students. Thus, this course could be a strategy to promote and maintain the mental health of medical students.