Yesterday, KMMS held a multidisciplinary all-day conference on ‘Compassion and Respect in Healthcare: An Intersectional Approach’ for second-year students on the module Professional Development and Person-Centered Practice 2 (PDPCP2).
The conference began with two keynote speakers. The first was Dr Enam Haque, Senior Clinical Lecturer from the University of Manchester, who gave a lecture entitled ‘Feeling Like You Belong: Improving the Experience of Medical School’. Enam encouraged students to speak out and challenge prejudice encountered in medical school.
This was followed by Dr Jeremy Law, Dean of Chapel, from Canterbury Christ Church University, who gave a talk on ‘Evolutionary and Theological Perspectives on Compassion’, encouraging students to be compassionate to themselves and others.
For the rest of the day, students rotated between several sessions. Dr Nicole George-St Louis, Teaching Fellow at KMMS, conducted inclusivity research, looking at the reading list for the PDPCP module. Dr Hina Shahid, Duaa Jamal Karim and Hasan Pandor led a session entitled ‘KMMS: Community of Enquiry’. Sarah Newman, Nathan Moody and Georgie Topsfield led a session entitled ‘Care Experienced Young People’s Perspectives of Healthcare’. Adam Sherwood, Patient Educator with KMMS, led a session on ‘Romani Identity and Access to Healthcare’. Dr Kush Kanodia, Disability Rights and Race Equality Champion at the University of Kent, led a session intersectionality, focusing on race and disability. KMMS undergraduate student Zeynab Caba led a compassionate care workshop.
Speaking of the event, Dr Enam Haque said: “It is really powerful to have faculty listen with students, making them aware of the importance of compassion and ensuring that the medical school is a supportive place, it has been a privilege to meet so many wonderful people”
Ms Cathy Bernal, KMMS Lead for PDPCP2 and conference chair said: “This conference, organised in collaboration with students, was honoured by the participation of so many diverse and inspiring speakers, many of them representing voices seldom heard in medical education, and all of them commanding respect for their insights and experiences. We were particularly fortunate to be able to feature two undergraduate students amongst our workshop presenters. We are looking forward to planning the next of these annual conferences already.”
And Mr Adam Sherwood, KMMS Patient Educator said: “It was important to speak to students at KMMS because my Romani and Showmen communities are underrepresented in many areas of society and having unheard voices heard in healthcare is so important. It was great to see the students being actively engaged with the presentations and asking important and thought-provoking questions.”
A photo gallery of the event can be found on our Facebook page.