Evaluating the usefulness and utility of a webinar as a platform to educate students on a UK clinical academic programme

• Main Authors: Hauwa’u Hayat Nadama, Maria Tennyson, Ankur Khajuria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 2019-12-01
• Series: The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• Subjects: academic foundation programme; clinical academia; clinical academic training; medical education; webcast; webinar
• Online Access: http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/college/journal/evaluating-usefulness-and-utility-webinar-platform-educate-students-uk-clinical

Background The Academic Foundation Programme (AFP) is the first step of the UK’s national integrated clinical academic pathway; however, the application process can be unclear. We evaluated webinars as a teaching medium to enhance knowledge and confidence of prospective applicants. Methods Medical students were invited to attend a free webinar. The webinar was designed by a former academic foundation trainee, outlining the UK integrated clinical academic pathway and how to apply to the AFP. An online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted pre- and post-webinar. Results In total, 118 out of 199 (59.3% response rate) attendees filled out the pre-webinar questionnaire, while 64 out of 199 attendees (32.2% response rate) filled out the post-webinar questionnaire. Of these 83.1% had never previously attended a medical education webinar, and 92.3% agreed webinars offer flexibility and convenience, saving time and money on travel. Matched pre- and post-webinar data showed an increase in participants’ knowledge (p < 0.0001) and confidence (p < 0.001). Conclusions This study has demonstrated the utility of a focused webinar in enhancing medical students’ knowledge and confidence in AFP applications. Webinars are a rarely utilised yet highly acceptable way to engage millennial students and could be used to enhance engagement with clinical academia.