Specialty
HIV / GUM (human immunodeficiency virus and genito-urinary medicine).

Educational technique
Weekly departmental academic meeting.

Details
The HIV/GUM team holds a weekly in-house academic meeting that all members of the department can attend. Although this is of particular interest to specialist trainees, all members of the team are actively involved in the learning opportunity.

Taking place within a morning session once each week, the academic meeting rotates through different types of activities on a week-by-week basis. These activities include:

• Journal clubs (led by specialist trainees)
• Audit presentations (all trainees)
• Research presentations and meetings (all member of team)
• External speakers
• Internal expert speakers
• Conference feedback (all member of team)
• Weekly HIV virtual clinic (led by specialist trainees)
• Clinical governance session
• Other presentations and teaching sessions led by each specialist area within the HIV/GUM specialty, such as human t-lymphotropic virus (HTLV), sexual dysfunction, GUM, HIV, research, pharmacy, and dietician.

This innovative, rotating meeting is held in addition to monthly formal learning opportunities for specialist trainees. These additional formal sessions are held in-house, or across the north Thames GUM/HIV hospital network. This formalised teaching is augmented further through participation in pan-London HIV/GUM training, arranged by different GUM/HIV departments across London, three times annually.

Attendance at these Wednesday teaching sessions is compulsorily and clinic cover is provided so that the care of patients is never compromised. Trainees are actively involved in organising these meetings and decide which topics they would like covered. Employing a flexible approach within a rigid framework means that learning is relevant and adaptive.

For trainees with an interest in infectious diseases, there is an additional bi-weekly, voluntary, pan-disciplinary clinical meeting.

All of these internal learning opportunities are in addition to external events, many of which are externally funded. The professionals within this department are encouraged to organise events that trainees from across the region can attend, such as an integrating sexual health care event, organised by Dr Ali Mears for February 2011.