STEPS-UK

Plastic Surgery Training and Education Pathway for Undergraduate Medical Students in the UK (STEPS-UK) Research Collaborative

Steering Group Members: Sydney Barnes, Simpson Shiu Chung Tam, Parth Tagdiwala, Mr Simon Filson

Main Objectives

Explore medical students' understanding and perceptions of the pathways and entry requirements of becoming a plastic surgeon in the UK.
Explore medical students’ access to professional development opportunities including plastic surgery teaching, mentorships, and research opportunities.

Publication policy for collaborating authors

We are looking for 1 research collaborator from each university. They are expected to:

Recruit 5-6 "year leads" who will be responsible for regularly sharing the questionnaire with medical students within their respective year.
Oversee and manage the data collection effort by their recruited "year leads".
Answer any queries promptly, and if unsure, raise them with the Chief Investigator.
All research collaborators must have achieved the minimum requirement of 20 responses (or 15% responses) per year group with the facilitation by recruiting "year leads" by the data collection deadline in order to receive PubMed-citable collaborator status.

We encourage all medical students with or without research experience to apply, as we aim to be as inclusive as possible. Should the application process become oversubscribed, priority will be given to students demonstrating the strongest commitment to PRASSA UK.

All presentations and publications will be made on behalf of the STEPS-UK Research Collaborative. Publication policy will follow The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria (www.icmje.org) for authorship.

Recognition as a PubMed citable collaborator will occur when ALL the role expectation has been fulfilled.

Citable collaborators will receive:

A collaborator certificate outlining their contribution
Collaborator acknowledgement on any presentations
Their local data set for presentation
PubMed citation on any subsequent publications relating to the study. For example, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5977964/
Points for presentations and publications for core surgical training application relating to the study

Those not meeting the requirements of a PubMed-citable collaborator will be acknowledged contributors. Chief Investigator decisions on collaborator status are final.

Acknowledged contributors will have provided data but did not reach the threshold for citation. They will receive a certificate of participation for inclusion in their portfolios and acknowledgement (but not PubMed citation) in the manuscript.

Participating universities

University of Aberdeen

Anglia Ruskin University
Aston University
Bangor University
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Birmingham
Brighton and Sussex Medical School
University of Bristol
Brunel University
University of Buckingham
University of Cambridge
Cardiff University
University of Central Lancashire
University of Chester
University of Dundee
Edge Hill university
University of Edinburgh
University of Exeter
University of Glasgow
Hull York Medical School
Imperial College London
Keele University
Kent and Medway Medical School
King's College London
Lancaster University
University of Leeds
University of Leicester
University of Liverpool
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
University of Manchester
Newcastle University
Norwich Medical School
University of East Anglia
University of Nottingham
University of Lincoln
University of Oxford
University of Plymouth
Queen's University Belfast
University of Sheffield
University of Southampton
University of St Andrews
St George's University of London
University of Sunderland
Swansea University
University College London
Ulster University
University of Warwick
University of Worcester Three Counties Medical School

Please feel free to email Sydney Barnes at research.prassa@gmail.com if you have any questions.