Medical students throughout the UK are getting a boost to their studies thanks to a digital learning programme developed by Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS).
The quiz-based mobile app and learning platform CAPSULE consists of over 690 medical, surgical, and therapeutic clinical scenarios, spanning the entire undergraduate curriculum and providing detailed feedback to help students learn from their decisions. The cases also include relevant diagnostic images and blood results to make cases more realistic, all provided in an engaging quiz format.
Launched to BSMS medical students in 2016, the app received extremely positive feedback and formed a significant complement to clinical placements. Now, courtesy of the Medical Schools Council, this unique learning resource is being made freely available to all UK medical schools during this critical time, until March 2021, and 90% of schools have taken up the offer so far.
Tim Vincent, Senior Learning Technologist and Project Coordinator at BSMS, said: “The absence of clinical placements across the country presents a real challenge for students and course leads. We are extremely pleased to share CAPSULE with other medical schools to help students continue their studies as much as possible. Before the current crisis, several other medical schools in the UK and abroad had taken up CAPSULE for their students. When all medical schools were forced to halt clinical placements, it made sense to share the resource during this difficult time to support their students’ new way of learning.
“We continue in our belief that investing in a great digital experience is the best way to ensure learning resources are actually used by students. We firmly believe that CAPSULE, offered free to students via their medical school, provides a unique and valuable learning opportunity for our future doctors, especially at this time.”
UK medical students are expected to meet the high standards set by the regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), before they are able to graduate. Medical schools have therefore adapted to online learning methods and are working together to ensure that medical education continues during these unprecedented times.
The clinical cases that CAPSULE provides are mapped to the GMC’s Outcomes for graduates and linked to more than 3500 questions across 39 disciplines.
Creating a high-quality digital learning resource has taken years of development, starting from student feedback followed by vast input from local clinicians writing and editing content to keep it accurate and aligned to the curriculum.
Feedback from students using CAPSULE at BSMS has been consistently positive, and there have been very high levels of use throughout the academic year, especially during the period leading up to assessments. After taking a quiz, students receive detailed feedback to maximise their learning, while the reporting system provides the medical school with insight into how students are engaging and how the cases are being used.
On the new relationship with CAPSULE, Dr Katie Petty-Saphon, Chief Executive of the Medical Schools Council, said: “Continuing medical education is critical in ensuring our students graduate as safe, competent doctors who meet the high standards we expect from our medical professionals. Utilising technology not only allows learning to continue but it provides opportunities for innovation and will undoubtedly evolve traditional methods of education.”
Professor David Howlett, Honorary Clinical Professor, BSMS, and Consultant Radiologist at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, led the project at BSMS, working with Ocasta Studios, a Brighton-based digital solutions company, to offer this valuable content in a high-quality mobile app and learning platform. Professor Howlett said: “The latest version of CAPSULE has been newly edited and tagged to the recently published GMC Medical Licensing Assessment content map and will support medical students in their learning across all specialties.
“This launch has been the result of a tremendous amount of work and close collaboration between the BSMS team, Ocasta and the Medical Schools Council with invaluable input also from colleagues at Imperial College London Medical School and a team of volunteer medical school editors from across the UK.”