Newcastle University

Newcastle University and The Royal College of Physicians’ CME Event - A huge success

The International Acute Medicine Conference that took place 10th – 13th February at the Thistle Hotel and the Hospital Sultan Ismail, Johor Bahru, was a success.

This four day event combined a conference which highlighted common clinical scenarios encountered in acutely ill medical patients, with a series of workshops focusing on clinical educator skills. The (then) Director General of Health for Malaysia Dato Tan Sri Merican opened the Medical conference by saying what a privilege it was to have Professors of international standing take time out of their busy schedules to participate in such an event.

Attendees

Keynote speakers included:

• Tan Sri Ismail Merican, (then) Director General for Health, Malaysia
• Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, past President of Royal College of Physicians of London
• Professor Derek Bell, Professor of Acute Medicine, Imperial College London

This international event attracted consultants and trainees who have emergency responsibilities, and those who have clinical leadership.

A truly collaborative event between the UK and Malaysia

The conference was organised between Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed Malaysia)’s two initial partner Hospitals in Johor Bahru, Newcastle University and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).

Promoting quality medical education

The programme was designed to help clinicians improve their knowledge of acute medicine (including emergency cases in diabetes, coronary syndromes, lung & liver problems, collapse, confusion, diarrhoea, pneumonia and asthma) through interactive sessions with the International guest speakers and delegates sharing their knowledge through discussion of local cases. The other focus of the conference was to support clinicians working with juniors and student doctors to feasibly integrate teaching at the bedside into their daily practice in order that they could effectively pass on their knowledge and skills to students while maintaining their work load and an excellent patient experience. There were plenary lectures on Clinical Leadership and further smaller workshops run by a team of educators from the RCP and Newcastle University. The philosophy of Newcastle University’s new medical campus (NUMed Malaysia) in Educity, Johor—developed with the support of the Malaysian Government—is to train students to become qualified doctors of the highest calibre using the practice of the internationally renowned Newcastle University medical degree. A key feature of the Degree in Newcastle is early clinical contact with patients, whilst the students receive excellent levels of supervision in hospital settings to ensure the best experience possible for students, supervisors, medical colleagues and the patients themselves.

Continuing Medical Education

The Director General for Health (having graduated from a UK Medical School) extolled the benefits of teaching alongside clinical practice. He drew comparisons to football, being taught techniques off the pitch but needing to put them into practice on the field. He encouraged clinicians, both in the early years of their careers and those who were consultants, to use opportunities such as this CME conference to forge links with esteemed colleagues in the UK and other countries to broaden their skills and not only become better clinicians but better teachers. He promoted continued medical education and emphasised how doctors must not become complacent.

Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed Malaysia)

Before departing, he highlighted how times were changing, that 30 years ago to obtain a top class medical qualification Malaysians had to study abroad. Now, using the example of NUMed, he commended the opportunity to study a UK degree here in Malaysia with the assistance and support of colleagues both in Malaysia and the UK. Dato Tan Sri Merican quoted the UK General Medical Council stating that patients want doctors who are up to date, skilful, kind, who listen and who the patients trust. The Malaysian Government has a target to improve the doctor to patient ratio to 1:400 by 2020. However, it is the quality of the doctors that is their primary concern and why the Government approached Newcastle University to be the first eminent resident of the exciting Educity development in Nusajaya, JB.

A successful event

The conference participants numbered in excess of 180, attracting doctors of all levels from all states in Malaysia. The finale to the 4 day conference was a further more interactive event hosted by the state of the art Hospital Sultan Ismail, JB, where local cases were discussed through interaction with the panel of guest speakers and still more local delegates from the state of Johor.

The majority of delegates reported that they had found the conference extremely useful, and the evaluations were positive and constructive. The delegates demonstrated their commitment to CME, along with a thirst for knowledge and for keeping up with change. Feedback included “Outstanding, keep it up” and “this conference could lead to managerial change”. There were many suggestions of further topics which could be included in the future, again evidence of how appreciated this event was. There were also requests for repetition of the education workshops with comments such as “Very informative with innovative ideas” and “Would like to attend more of this type of workshop”, and for more “communication skills workshops for the RCP membership exams”, in order that delegates could attend all the sessions of interest.

To summarise, in the words of one delegate: “I truly enjoyed this conference. Very relevant, sharp and straight forward presentations. Well Done!”

Thank you to those involved

Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed Malaysia) would like to thank all those who made the CME event possible: The Ministry of Health, both in Putrajaya and Johor State Health Department, to the organising committee and clinical colleagues from Hospital Sultan Ismail and Hospital Sultanah Aminah, our colleagues at the RCP, and of course the delegates without whose participation the conference wouldn’t have been such as success.

Gallery of Images from the conference:

Further information

• for full programme details dowload the brochure (PDF: 703KB)