'Everyone is trying to outcompete each other': a qualitative study of medical student attitudes to a novel peer-assessed undergraduate teamwork module.

The centrality of teamwork in ensuring the effective functioning of institutions across all sectors is undeniable. However, embedding teamwork into higher education has been hampered due to a range of deeply entrenched practices associated broadly with the foregrounding of knowledge, beliefs about the place of skill training and routines of assessment. As a result, despite an urgent need to address teamwork, little progress has been made with respect to progressing teamwork education. We have designed and evaluated a novel teamwork module delivered to fourth-year undergraduate medical students involving placements, a cocreated piece of work, reflection and summative peer assessment. This paper aimed to investigate whether the module increased students' insight into teamwork, including their own skill development, and whether their perceptions of teamwork changed. Throughout the evaluation, students played a key role, with four final-year medical students working alongside others in the multidisciplinary project team. Five distinct themes emerged from our in-depth, semi-structured interviews: (a) importance and meaning; (b) insight into skill development; (c) transferability; (d) peer assessment; and (e) resistance to teamwork education. Themes had positive and negative components, and student perceptions changed in multiple ways after experiencing a longitudinal educational opportunity to develop their teamwork skills. Before practice, students focused on superficial explanations and on where they might improve. In contrast, after practice, students conveyed deeper insights, contextualisation, focus on how they might improve, and shared structured reflection.

Improving pregnancy and birth experiences of migrant mothers: A report from ORAMMA and continued local impact.

INTRODUCTION: Migration is a growing phenomenon affecting many European countries, with many migrants being of childbearing age. Depending on the country of origin, poorer pregnancy and birth outcomes amongst migrant women have been reported. Providing appropriate culturally sensitive perinatal services is of paramount importance. METHODS: The Operational Refugee And Migrant Mothers Approach (ORAMMA) was a three-site multidisciplinary collaborative research project, designed to develop and test implementation of a high-quality maternity care model including peer supporters for migrant women who have recently arrived in European countries. Community-based activities were undertaken to ensure ongoing local impact for maintaining supportive interactions amongst peer supporters and recently arrived migrant women in the UK. RESULTS: The women who volunteered to become maternity peer supporters were motivated by their own experiences of being newly arrived migrants in the past or a sense of altruism. Forging links with multiple local community groups enabled the continuation of the support provided by maternity peer supporters, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Engagement of maternity peer supporters in supporting newly arrived mothers has multiple advantages of addressing social isolation and marginalisation of migrant communities, with potential benefits of improving access and enhancing health literacy and health outcomes amongst recently arrived migrant women as well as creating a self-supporting network for peer supporters themselves.