If you’re reading this post, you’re hopefully already aware of our growing library of Mini-GEMs (Geriatric E-learning Modules). We started this project at the end of 2013, hoping to use the momentum from the ‘Geriatrics for Juniors‘ conference to create a series of educational resources that were short, focused, easily accessible and with a clear clinical message.
6 months after creating our pilot Mini-GEM, we now have a library of 9 videos from 6 different authors, with more in the pipeline. With no advertising other than social media and word-of-mouth, our YouTube statistics tell us that these videos have been viewed over 1,500 times, in 56 different countries (80% in the UK). We anticipated having to exercise our powers of persuasion to convince colleagues to get involved, but were thrilled to have been proactively approached by people we’d never met before who were keen to be a part of the project. Their enthusiasm has shone through in the videos they’ve created, and we’re delighted with the results.
Awareness of the Mini-GEMs is slowly starting to spread. As well as a recently-published article about the project in the BGS newsletter, we will be presenting the concept at a medical education conference in July, run by Health Education North East. Even more excitingly, we have been approached by Health Education England to be a part of their new Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) gateway that will be launching later this year.
The appetite and interest for this format of concise, portable e-learning is certainly there. We’re honoured to be a part of it, and are delighted to be helping the specialty of Geriatric Medicine make it’s mark in this new era of medical education.
Our collection of Mini-GEMs can be found on YouTube. If you’d like to be involved, and are interested in being an author, we’d love to hear from you – please get in touch!