833 Is the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum Aligned to and Is It Facilitating Medical Students to Learn the Ear, Nose and Throat Content in the New UK Medical Licensing Assessment? a Study of One UK Medical School

Abstract

Abstract Aim Every medical student in the United Kingdom (UK) must pass a new Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) from 2024/25 before graduating. This includes Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) content: ‘Conditions’, ‘Patient presentations’ and ‘Practical skills and procedures. Research shows the provision of UK undergraduate ENT training is controversial. This research aimed to determine whether a UK medical school curriculum is aligned to the ENT content in the UK MLA, and if it is facilitating students to learn it. Method A mixed methods approach examined one UK medical school curriculum in relation to the ENT content in the UK MLA. A document analysis reviewed the learning set for ENT. A survey collected the final year medical student cohort's recall and perceptions of their ENT learning. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Results The curriculum documents met 6/10 ENT ‘Conditions’, 6/18 ‘Patient presentations’ and 3/5 ‘Practical skills and procedures. There were 17 (13.1%) survey responses; most students generally recalled learning the ENT content during the curriculum. The teaching activities most commonly used to learn the ENT content generally helped most students to learn it; the activities least commonly used generally helped the fewest students. Conclusions The curriculum is largely aligned and facilitates medical students to learn the ENT content in the UK MLA. The results contribute to the existing literature, with further research needed to determine the degree of student learning. Learning outcomes should be added to the curriculum documents for unmet content with learning redirected to the most helpful teaching activities for curriculum optimisation.