Developing a Website to Facilitate the Transfer of Reflective Learning within a Junior Doctor Population

摘要

OBJECTIVE: In this article we describe the efforts of two British Foundation Year Junior Doctors to create a website allowing other junior doctors to share reflective type articles. METHOD: We used a software package called vbulletin, which allowed us to create a forum based website. We used Gibbs reflective framework as a standard for article structure. RESULTS: Our website received and published 31 articles during a 12 month period. 22 from Foundation Year trainees, 5 from Senior House Officer trainees, 2 from Registrar trainees, and 2 articles commissioned from Consultants. The website forum recorded 164 registered users. CONCLUSION: We discuss our thought process and reasoning behind this project, and the limitations to our method and the lessons learnt for future Internet entrepreneurs. This project demonstrates the willingness of junior trainees to not only reflect, but also to share their own reflections. Furthermore our project demonstrates the ambition of junior doctors to develop new positive methods of utilising IT for educational purposes. Introduction The Internet has changed the way medical education is delivered1. As a medical student and now a doctor I have witnessed this first hand. Hand-outs from lectures have turned into online audio presentations; and my scruffy ring bound paper logbook from medical school is now an all encompassing postgraduate NHS eportfolio. As change occurs it is crucial not only to embrace it, but also build and develop current practice. In this case study we describe the efforts of two foundation year junior doctors to develop a website2 with the intention of facilitating the transfer of reflective type articles among the British junior doctor population. Method We used a software package called vbulletin, which allowed us to create the template of a forum and homepage website. This was purchased for a fee. From this we were able to build customised section pages, add navigation widgets and a host of other useful features. For the minimal-moderately computer savvy individual this was an excellent choice. It still required some IT knowledge to purchase a web domain and server space, then upload the website package; but from then on it was very user friendly. It allowed new web pages to be created remotely, with no need to constantly access the web server and build items from scratch. We stated reflective articles as those written about a clinical scenario or encounter with a clear learning point, but specifically not a case report. Author guidance was provided on the website, using Gibbs’ framework for reflection3 as a standard for article structure. Website sub-sections included those articles from Foundation trainees, and also “Day in the Life” type reflective articles from Senior House Officer and Registrar level authors. We later offered Consultant written “Advice” articles.Articles were submitted via email, in MS Word format. We, the two founders, acted as editorial staff. Results We received and published 31 articles during a 12 month period, with the majority originating from a Foundation Year trainee author (Table 1).The website forum recorded 164 registered users.