ScotGEM Stories: Sharing Student Experiences

Background
The novel Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGEM) course had the first intake of students in 2018/19 and is delivered in partnership between the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee. The ScotGEM Stories website was launched by students to publish their reflections and share their experiences. In ScotGEM, students undertake much of their medical education in remote and rural Scotland with the aim to boost future recruitment to these areas.

 Methods
The ScotGEM Stories website is delivered via WordPress with oversight from Student Editors and Staff Reviewers. The website was launched in December 2019 with various social media outlets linked later.
Results
The website has had 6,480 views since launch with 29 posts and 33 hours of watch time on YouTube, sharing the experiences of students and staff involved in the delivery of the course.

 Key messages

There was an appetite amongst the cohort to have an outlet to reflect on their experiences and express themselves. There is also a desire from ScotGEM students - many having taken the long route to studying medicine - to motivate and enthuse potential prospective students to take a similar leap by exploring deeply some of the experiences that have reaffirmed their decision to study medicine. There is a shared value in promoting positive experiences from students and staff that both groups perhaps do not fully realise or experience first-hand. Rural Scotland provides a venue for medical students to realise the doctors they aspire to become - and ScotGEM Stories aims to share their journey.