TNMU Continues Cooperation with the University of Manchester School of Medicine

As part of the cooperation between Ternopil National Medical University and the School of Medicine of the University of Manchester, a series of online webinars for educators continues.

On March 12, 2024, an online webinar “Diagnosing Learner Performance: Learning Conversations” was held by Professor Jess Grundy, Associate Director of MBChB Programme “Staff Development and Leadership for Professionals in Medical Education: PRiME” and Head of the Medical Education Unit and Health Education PGCert.

During the event, a lot of attention was paid to learning conversations, communication and interaction with students. The participants also discussed the techniques of effective feedback, the possibilities of “diagnosis” of students’ performance, the search for “weaknesses” and the identification of “growth areas” using learning conversations.

“Learning conversations” are a dialogue with students in a calm atmosphere using the principles of humanity and empathy. It is during such a conversation that one can identify “weaknesses” and “growth areas”, discuss and jointly decide how to move forward, while showing respect and sincere interest in the interlocutor.

Previous interactive workshop “Recognizing and managing stress; preventing burnout” took place on January 23, 2024. The event was organized by Manchester Medical School professors Dr Elizabeth Shackley and Dr Rebecca Farrington. Rebecca Farrington has extensive experience working with migrants and currently works for the GMMH Trust’s Specialist Asylum Seeker Service and is Chair of WONCA (World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians) organisation Migrant Health. Liz Shackley is a Cardiology Paediatrician, 5th Year Medical School Academic Lead and Associate Head of Staff Development at Manchester Medical School, Compassionate Leadership Ambassador.

At the seminar, a detailed algorithm was presented on how to recognize stress, as evidenced by “red” flags, which are ways of experiencing stress. Colleagues from Manchester did not ignore the extremely important and currently relevant problem of post-traumatic stress disorder and explained step by step how to act in such a case.

It is important to be aware of what we can control and what is beyond our control. At the end of the workshop, the mechanisms of effective time management were considered as a tool for combating chronic stress and burnout. The speakers also drew attention to such simple but effective little things as a 5-minute break during each hour of work, taking care of personal needs, which prevent overtiredness.

We express our appreciation to our colleagues at the School of Medicine of the University of Manchester for their cooperation and collaboration.

The information was provided by Oksana Shevchuk and Sofia Husak.