Internship with KPMG - Health Advisory. By Adam Gwozdz

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to join the Health Advisory Team at KPMG for 4-weeks in August, and extremely grateful for the welcoming and engaging working environment created by the team – thank you Hilary, Sarah, Helena, and Scott. It would have been very easy for KPMG to limit my involvement to shadowing a consultancy team for the duration of my internship. Instead, I was immediately introduced to the team that I would working with and spent my first day in various meetings learning about the project objectives and my role within the team in completing them.

By being given a specific role, I was able to learn a great deal about the project, which involved a review of acute services within the NHS, and how real changes were implemented in the NHS. There were also many lessons to learn about leadership and management that seemed foreign to a medical student like me, but commonplace in the world of medical consultancy, making the workplace environment at KPMG an ideal setting for this. I also had many opportunities to apply these skills by participating in conference calls, workshops, and face-to-face meetings with project leaders, medical professionals, and NHS managers.

My project responsibilities included assembling a literature review of best practice evidence that focused on both clinical and management practices, to ensure that future proposals incorporated the most up to date national and international published evidence and guidelines. Having written review papers in the past, I was already familiar with Medline/Pubmed databases, however, I learned that resources such as the King’s Fund and BMJ Best Practice contained excellent publications on health policy and management, a topic that I found was not well referenced in many scientific databases.

In this particular case, the assembled document was applied to the case for change, and was discussed in detail at various client meetings. I found the exercise extremely helpful in learning how to identify and implement change within a structured organization.

Overall, I had a great experience, and I would recommend taking this unique opportunity to learn about medical consultancy, and management and gain transferable skills from an incredibly talented group of people at KPMG, regardless of whether you see your future career within the NHS or not.

MSc in Medical Leadership - Warwick Medical School by Dr L Hayward

If you have ever been interested in undertaking a higher degree in Medical Leadership, but have been concerned about how on earth you might find the time – look no further than the part-time MSc in Medical Leadership by the Institute of Clinical Leadership at Warwick Medical School. It is perfect for those of us trying to establish that all-too-tricky work-life balance.

I am a flexible ST4 psychiatry trainee, working 4 days a week in Bristol , with a husband, and two very small children (2.5 and 1.5years old). I have always wanted to do a Masters or MBA, but had to search at length for a course which was viable both financially and time-wise alongside my family commitments.

That’s where Warwick hit the spot!

The Warwick course, partnered with the internationally renowned Warwick Business School is designed to run for 3-5yrs depending upon how quickly you wish to complete, and consists of two course options: 1) An MSc with Professional Project which consists of 5 core & 2 optional modules plus a project with an 8-10,000 word report, or 2) An MSc with Dissertation which consists of 5 core & 1 optional module plus a dissertation of 15-20,000 words.

The course starts each April, with students usually undertaking the 5 core and 1 or 2 optional modules in the first 2 years. The 5 Core modules have to completed before the optional, of which there are approx 10 to choose from, after which the project/dissertation comes in to play.

Each module is run over approximately 16 weeks, with 4 taught days, split into 2 sets of 2days, with 6-8 weeks in between. In the gap between days 1-2 and 3-4, you are expected to undertake an un-marked practical assignment, generally related to your organisation, and have to feedback your findings to the group orally on day 3 of the module. After day 4, you have 8 weeks in which to submit a 4000 word written assignment. The next module starts just before the assignment for the preceding module is submitted.

The course itself costs £15k, and with plenty of reasonably priced B&B’s close to or at the University
(£35 – 100 per night), additional costs can be kept low.

The fifth core module (Comparative Healthcare systems), potentially involves a foreign trip (for us, Milan), which is self-funded, but, there are options available for those who are unable to go abroad.

I would highly recommend Warwick for several reasons:
1) The lecturing staff are superb and often nationally recognised figures – (eg. Prof Steve Field)
2) It generally requires a maximum of 4 days/nights away from home every 16 weeks (though some commute, and others stay only 1 night), which means it works well if you have other commitments.
3) The cohorts are mixed – primarily consultants & medical/clinical directors, but a handful of Registrars too & the variety of experience offers great networking/learning opportunities.

I am currently in my first year, at the end of module 2, and still managing to juggle my family, work & MSc balls with a smile. Ii clearly isn’t a breeze, no Masters is when you need to find 120-150hrs study per module, but the Warwick MSc is a challenge which is achievable alongside multiple other commitments.

If you’re interested, Further Information on the course structure can be found at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/study/cpd/subject_index/slm/b91g