Medical teaching beyond graduation: undergraduate study groups

Continuing with our series of discussion papers on extension activities and their importance for present-day medical training, we will now cover undergraduate study groups within medicine. Although there are different formats for such entities, we can define them as nonprofit student organizations that create opportunities for instructional, scientific, cultural and social activities for their members, always covering a certain field within healthcare, with the aims of achieving learning and development. They are administered by the students themselves, but with guidance from teaching staff. This is because many students end up leaving aside activities belonging to the medical course in order to dedicate themselves to activities within undergraduate study groups. Another negative point that has been made is that some students regard such activities as a chance to achieve "early specialization". Thus, they dedicate themselves excessively to one field, for example plastic surgery or rheumatology, without taking sufficient interest in other, equally important areas of general training. owever, the positive points that can be made in relation to the activities of undergraduate study groups seem to be preponderant. These groups provide a further opportunity for learning, which end up taking place in a more dynamic manner, given that the activities are developed by the students themselves. Activities relating to theory can be conducted, such as classes, seminars, discussions on texts or presentation of clinical cases. Practical activities can also be conducted: for example, attending patients, developing scientific projects, witnessing surgical procedures, training in techniques (such as orotracheal intubation), application of dressings, and so on. It seems clear that experiencing day-to-day practice in one specific field will end up influencing the choice of specialty. Nonetheless, it is important not to allow this to interfere with the basic learning process within the undergraduate course. he regulations of an undergraduate study group should lay down what its aims are, what its members' obligations are, how the group is to be led and what its activities should be. These rules should also define who the participants will be, through specifying which students (from which courses, years and institutions) can take part and how many places are available. Groups that are most sought after require selection procedures, usually consisting of written appraisals, given that the number of students interested in such groups often exceeds the number of places available. Currently, because of the multiprofessional nature of healthcare, it is common for undergraduate study groups to bring together students from different courses, such as medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, nutrition, speech therapy and occupational therapy.