Glasgow Medical School Research Articles

The challenges of widening access to the medical profession: how to facilitate medical careers for those at a genuine disadvantage.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Widening Participation (WP) for medical school entry has been politically encouraged to ensure access and participation for underrepresented groups that are rarely able to gain access to this high demand profession. Those who reside in the 20% most deprived postcodes in Scotland (SIMD20, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) are much less likely to apply for medical school entry and even less likely to succeed. The National outreach programme of Scotland (Reach) aims to rectify the existing situation by encouraging and supporting students from working class backgrounds to apply to high demand courses, including medicine, and has achieved great success in helping pupils from low progression secondary schools to gain a place in Glasgow Medical School. However, some of the Reach students have similar demographics as the rest of the medical school class and arguably do not genuinely belong in the target group. To address this, a second flag, based on SIMD20/40 residence, was employed. Applying more than one WP flag however - while substantially improving the accurate targeting of this programme and helping those who truly are multiply deprived - reduces the Reach-eligible applicant pool to the point of undermining the high WP targets imposed on Universities. But using only a single criterion of SIMD20/40 residence or school progression rate would inappropriately benefit some pupils that are actually not genuinely disadvantaged. Ideally, individualised indicators such as eligibility for Free School Meals, receipt of an Educational Maintenance Allowance and/or a UKCAT bursary, would complement residential data and school progression rates. This paper reflects on the evolution of the admissions practices at Glasgow Medical School that are designed to meet the targets and create a medical workforce reflecting the population it serves.

The challenges of widening access to the medical profession: how to facilitate medical careers for those at a genuine disadvantage

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Widening Participation (WP) for medical school entry has been politically encouraged to ensure access and participation for underrepresented groups rarely able to gain access to this high demand profession. Those who reside in the 20-40% most deprived postcodes in Scotland (SIMD20) are much less likely to apply for medical school entrance, and even less likely to succeed. The National Reach programme in Scotland aims to rectify the existing situation by encouraging and supporting students from working class backgrounds to apply to high demand courses, including medicine, and has achieved great success in helping pupils from target secondary schools to gain a place in Glasgow Medical School. However, some of the Reach students have similar demographics to the rest of the medical school class and arguably do not genuinely belong in the target group. To address this, a second flag based on SIMD20 residence was employed. However, applying more than one WP flag - while substantially improving the targeting of this programme and helping those who truly are multiply deprived - reduces the Reach-eligible applicant pool to the point of undermining the high WP targets imposed on Universities. But using only a single criterion of MD20 residence or school progression rate would unfairly advantage some pupils that are actually not disadvantaged. Ideally, individualised indicators such as eligibility for Free School Meals, possession of an Educational Maintenance Allowance or receipt of a UKCAT bursary, would complement residential data and school progression rates. This paper reflects on the evolution of the admissions practices in our medical school designed to comply with the targets, but also create a medical workforce reflecting the population it serves.

Interview for Breast Cancer Management with Dr David Montgomery: Marketing Authorization for Pfizer’s Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment, Palbociclib (Ibrance®) in Combination with Endocrine Therapy

David Montgomery* speaks to Roshaine Wijayatunga, Commissioning Editor: David Montgomery is UK medical director for Pfizer Oncology. In that role, he has overseen the launch of four medicines in the UK, with associated The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and Scottish Medicines Consortium submissions. In addition to his role in Pfizer, he chairs the oncology medical directors’ forum at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. He previously sat as the industry representative on the national Cancer Drugs Fund panel and as the industry representative on the National Cancer Research Initiative annual meeting scientific committee. He qualified from the University of Glasgow Medical School before going on to surgical training in the UK, obtaining MRCS from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He then undertook a period of research in the field of breast cancer, specifically looking at innovative methods of follow-up of patients treated with curative intent. More recently, he has obtained the Fellowship of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and is on the General Medical Council specialty register.

Predictive power of UKCAT and other pre-admission measures for performance in a medical school in Glasgow: a cohort study.

BackgroundThe UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) and its four subtests are currently used by 24 Medical and Dental Schools in the UK for admissions. This longitudinal study examines the predictive validity of UKCAT for final performance in the undergraduate medical degree programme at one Medical School and compares this with the predictive validity of the selection measures available pre-UKCAT.MethodsThis was a retrospective observational study of one cohort of students, admitted to Glasgow Medical School in 2007. We examined the associations which UKCAT scores, school science grades and pre-admissions interview scores had with performance indicators, particularly final composite scores that determine students’ postgraduate training opportunities and overall ranking (Educational Performance Measure - EPM, and Honours and Commendation – H&C). Analyses were conducted both with and without adjustment for potential socio-demographic confounders (gender, age, ethnicity and area deprivation).ResultsDespite its predictive value declining as students progress through the course, UKCAT was associated with the final composite scores. In mutually adjusted analyses (also adjusted for socio-demographic confounders), only UKCAT total showed independent relationships with both EPM (p = 0.005) and H&C (p = 0.004), school science achievements predicted EPM (p = 0.009), and pre-admissions interview score predicted neither. UKCAT showed less socio-demographic variation than did TSS.ConclusionUKCAT has a modest predictive power for overall course performance at the University of Glasgow Medical School over and above that of school science achievements or pre-admission interview score and we conclude that UKCAT is the most useful predictor of final ranking.

Migration and Medical Education

Irish-born individuals made up a small but important proportion of the medical students attending the University of Glasgow's medical school in the second half of the nineteenth century. They in turn constituted a key part of the largely ignored middle-class Irish migration to Victorian Britain. This paper examines the origins, experiences and later careers of these individuals in Glasgow and beyond. It argues that they came to Glasgow for economic, social and academic reasons. They saw a Scottish education as better equipping them for a medical career and advancement in the profession. Also, underlying their actions may well have been a realisation that personal and professional progress would always necessitate emigration out of Ireland.

John Peter Duffy

John Peter Duffy was educated at St James’ Primary School, Renfrew, and St Mirren’s Academy, Paisley. After national service and working as a medical orderly, John entered Glasgow Medical School...

Lillian Mary Matheson

David Matheson writes: At the time of her death, Lillian had just taken early retirement from her post as consultant clinical oncologist at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and...

Impact of a new course on students' potential behaviour on encountering ethical dilemmas.

To evaluate the effectiveness of small-group ethics teaching in an integrated medical curriculum. A quasi-experimental, pre- and post-test, non-equivalent control group design. University of Glasgow Medical School. 111 first-year students from Glasgow University's new learner-centred medical curriculum, with a control group of 51 students from the last year of the traditional curriculum. Student answers consistent with consensus professional judgement on the ethical dilemmas posed by the vignettes of the Ethics and Health Care Survey Instrument. There was a significantly greater increase in the number of post-test consensus answers in the experimental group (P=0.0048): the odds ratio for obtaining the post-test consensus answer in the experimental group compared with the control group was 1.73 (95% confidence interval 1.28-2.33). Significant movement towards consensus occurred in the areas of autonomy, confidentiality and consent. Among controls there was a significant move away from consensus in the area of "whistle blowing" on colleagues (P=0.017). Small-group ethics teaching, in an integrated medical curriculum, had a positive impact on the first-year students' potential ethical behaviour. It was more effective than a lecture and a large-group seminar-based course in developing students' normative identification with the profession of medicine.

Surgery in Infancy and Childhood, ed. 2, by Wallace M. Dennison, M.D. (Glasg.), F.R.C.S. (Edin.), F.R.S.C. (Glasg.) with contributions from teaching colleagues in the Glasgow Medical School. Edinburgh and London: E. and S. Livingstone, Ltd., 1967, 597 pp., $12.00 (The Williams and Wilkins Company, Baltimore, exclusive U.S. agents)

This handbook on pediatric surgery fills a very special purpose in the education of primary physicians, medical students, and nurses. It does so by providing a broad coverage of surgical topics in an abbreviated, easily comprehensible manner accompanied with ample pictorial and diagrammatic descriptions; there is also a concise discussion of the etiology, clinical manifestations, and methods of therapy of the surgical problems the practitioner is most likely to encounter. The photographs and diagrams of clinical material more than compensate for the text's brevity.

Radiology at Glasgow

Radiology at GlasgowPublished Online:29 May 2014https://doi.org/10.1259/0007-1285-3-36-554-bSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail AboutAbstractThe formal opening of the new radiological department at the Western Infirmary is an event of major importance to the Glasgow medical school. The Infirmary was one of the first institutions to make use of X rays for diagnostic purposes, and its work in ten years has increased from 6,000 to over 19,000 exposures a year. The situation of the Infirmary is one of the finest in Scotland, and the new department benefits by this fact. Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 3, Issue 36December 1930Pages: 533-580 © The British Institute of Radiology History Published onlineMay 29,2014 Metrics Download PDF