How do medical students want to learn ENT? Perspectives from a consensus forum

Abstract

Objective: The UK Medical Licensing Assessment curriculum represents a consensus on core content, including ENT-related content for newly qualified doctors. No similar consensus exists as to how ENT content should be taught at medical school.

Method: A virtual consensus forum was held at the 2nd East of England ENT Conference in April 2021. A syllabus of ENT-related items was divided into 'Presentations', 'Conditions' and 'Practical procedures'. Twenty-seven students, 11 foundation doctors and 7 other junior doctors voted via anonymous polling for the best three of nine methods for teaching each syllabus item.

Results: For 'Presentations' and 'Conditions', work-based or clinical-based learning and small-group seminars were more popular than other teaching methods. For 'Practical procedures', practical teaching methods were more popular than theoretical methods.

Conclusion: Students and junior doctors expressed a clear preference for clinical-based teaching and small-group seminars when learning ENT content. E-learning was poorly favoured despite its increasing use.

Keywords: Otolaryngology; curriculum; medical students; teaching; undergraduate medical education.