We started back in 2017. Since then we have grown to nearly twenty, a mix of medical students, doctors in training and senior clinicians. Whilst we remain interested in pedagogical research and FOAM (Free Open Access Medical education), we have continued to expand our interests.
Currently we are working on a number of big data projects focused around patient safety reporting at a national level in the UK, paediatric intensive care and oncology characteristics, occupational health and doctor well being, medical student study habits and changes in post-graduate medical education in the UK.
Metro came about almost by accident. The two founding members, JB and JR, had done a little primary research looking at learning styles at one medical school, but wanted to see if the findings applied nationally, or at least in many other settings. JB came up with the plan of developing local leads who would deliver the primary research in their medical schools, in return for collaboration on the work.
The research on FOAM and patterns of learning was a useful output from this, but by then a small group of interested students had learnt how to work with each other. This happened organically under the mentorship of JB and JR. Interactions between this group and publication success here spawned further ideas, exploring data from the GMC national trainee survey, datix submissions, PICANet, Practitioner Health, BADGERNet and others.
These students graduated, but crucially recruited further students in their medical schools in lower years, in turn mentoring them. As the group grew, further ideas and projects emerged, focussing on oncology, neonatal care and practitioner health datasets.
In terms of its working, the group obtains large datasets and explores them, gaining new knowledge from these. The group writes the findings up, presenting and publishing in appropriate conferences and journals. This requires a degree of strategic thinking, literature review, statistical work, writing and presenting skills.
For many, this is the first time they have used research skills. More experienced team members therefore help in the mentoring of others. Newer recruits often begin with literature review, before moving on to writing, statistical analysis or leading a team working on a particular project. As members become more experienced, their skills develop, often running in parallel with their career development as SFY or ACFs.
The Metro team meets for a monthly 1-2 hour online ‘lab meeting’ where we discuss all the current projects, and ensure that there are enough resources to keep each project moving. The work generated from these activities takes quite a bit of time, and all activities are voluntary.
The big paybacks are both the experience gained and the peer reviewed output. With a wide portfolio, most members will be able to present at international meetings. Many will end up as first authors on publications, and contribute to many other papers.
For the older members, there is also a great joy in seeing how newer members have developed their research skills.
There are several critical processes that keeps Metro working.
The first is generation of ideas with an associated research question. This might point towards a dataset that then needs to be accessed, but sometimes the offer of a dataset leads to research questions.
Next is acquisition of data. This comes either freely available (the patient safety and GMC data was simply downloaded), via application (PICANet data) or by collaboration with those who curate a dataset (BADGERNet and PH). This is always a very lengthy process, taking 1-2 years.
Usually by this stage, interested individuals within the group have come forward. A project lead is appointed, who will probably end up as first author, but will also have to do the coordination of literature work, writing, data analysis and other aspects of the write up. The group is online, so a WhatsApp group is created to coordinate, and a google drive formed to share work.
The group is entirely voluntary. Because all members are working on projects alongside medical studies, exams and training, this can limit the capacity to rapidly deliver on projects. Team members are all learning research skills, so there is a degree of mentoring and experimentation in our work. As we are not funded by grants or institutions, there is freedom from deadlines and we can take on a broad portfolio of projects, meeting the interests of our members.