Earlier this year we had a conversation with Dr Rupsha Fraser, part of the core team for HCP-Med, about the new course and their open licensed HCP-Med Integrity Channel on Media Hopper Create.

What is the HCP-Med course?

HCP-Med is a new, shortened route to a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree for existing healthcare professionals (HCPs) in Scotland, who want to transition into Medicine. The HCP-Med students do their first 3 years online for the most part (as the students are based all over Scotland), and thereafter join the undergraduate MBChB students for their clinical years.

 

What went into deciding to create the online media content?

The reason for having the content online is because the HCP-Med students do their first 3 years online for the most part (apart from 3 weeks in September, December and June when they physically attend), and the students are based all over Scotland.

We follow the undergraduate MBChB curriculum, and, for example, for Integrity, I got some core framing questions from the Integrity module lead from the undergraduate MBChB, and made sure all points were covered in the video lectures I created. I added some other material that I felt was missing, and should be covered (e.g., transplantation immunology, basic reproductive immunology, covid pathophysiology, how vaccines work).

Having said that, the main difference between the programmes is that we try to keep our content in HCP-Med concise and simple: rather than hour-long lectures, our videos tend to be 20-30 minutes long on average, and the format is consistent throughout modules, and we also try to do this throughout the whole programme. The material is updated as science/medicine advances, and we intend to continue to be up-to-date with the times.

 

It’s fantastic to see the media being shared on open licence and available for students and healthcare professionals to access and use!

In terms of being available to wider audiences, for example, a lecturer from pharmacology contacted me last year and asked to use one of my lectures, and I was very happy for her use it.

Further, we (the HCP-Med team) have always made it clear to the undergraduate MBChB programme that they are very welcome to use our material, and I believe anyone with access to MediaHopper can access the material.

I curated and provided all the material for another module I lead in Y2 for both the HCP-Med and undergraduate MBChB programmes, as the content was made available such that the undergraduate programme could access it too. The HCP-Med tutorials are, however, in a different format to the undergrad programme.

 

Click here for theHCP-Med Year 1 Integrity channel on Media Hopper