University of St Andrews at 2022 ADEGS Conference
The University of St Andrews School of Medicine will be well represented at the annual Departments of General Practice in Scotland (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow & St Andrews: ADEGS) conference scheduled to take place on the 20th of January 2022. This event will be hosted by Glasgow University School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, with the University of St Andrews poised to host next year’s conference. The Scotland-wide meeting of Universities’ departments of General Practice has been held annually for over forty years and has in the past two editions moved virtual, in response to the pandemic.
Four speakers from the School of Medicine will be presenting at the conference. PhD student, Lisa-Christin Wetzlmair, will speak on the need for the future of workforce to prepare for a digitized healthcare setting. With the increasing importance of telehealth in modern healthcare systems, Lisa believes that the use of technology in healthcare needs special consideration and different skills than face-to-face interaction between practitioners and patients. This project also contributes to the understanding of the acceptance of teleconsultation and telecommunication in undergraduate medical curricula and forms the foundation for the development of a teleconsultation core curriculum.
NRS Fellow, Margaret Mccartney will present her research which examines current practice in how healthcare professionals declare their interests. Data shows that financial conflicts of interest, in particular, are associated with poorer quality and more expensive healthcare, highlighting the importance of this study. The focus will be on analyses done on current practice in the NHS in Scotland and England.
PhD Students at the School of Medicine, Lamorna Brown and Keith Moffat will also be speaking at the conference. Brown will be giving a presentation on an analysis carried out using electronic health records to identify risk of lung cancer in smokers. Her PhD research looks at the use of electronic health records to identify smokers at high-risk of developing lung cancer. Moffat will be speaking on the factors associated with recruitment to randomised controlled trials in general practice identified through a systematic mixed studies review.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Professor Sullivan emphasized the importance of this event, saying it gives opportunities to younger researchers to present their work. With the University of St Andrews’ School of Medicine hosting the conference in 2023, Professor Sullivan expects the conference to continue in its tradition of delivering well-acclaimed scientific presentations, with high-profile keynote speakers attending from the Mayo Clinic and Limerick . He hopes the situation around the pandemic will have improved enough for the conference to be held in person, reigniting much of the in-person networking and social events the conference has seen in times past.