2024 Medical Student Essay Prize Winner

Congratulations to Andreas Conte, winner of the 2024 Medical student essay prize, for his essay on ‘Improving the suspected Cauda Equina Syndrome pathway’.

Andreas is a final-year medical student studying at King’s College London. His passion for orthopaedic surgery has guided his extra-curricular academic research. He is currently in the process of publishing two textbook chapters in the Oxford Textbook of Trauma and Orthopaedics, has presented work at international conferences, and is currently involved in orthopaedic research.

Essay summary:

The Quality Improvement Project (QIP) focused on addressing delays in obtaining emergency MRI scans for suspected Cauda Equina Syndrome (CES) at Medway Maritime Hospital. CES, characterised by spinal root compression, requires rapid MRI diagnosis and surgical intervention to prevent severe outcomes like paralysis and incontinence. According to national GIRFT guidelines, MRI should be provided within four hours of request, yet audits revealed Medway’s average time to MRI was significantly delayed, averaging ten hours.

Recommendations for improvement involve implementing a standardised CES MRI request form with red flags to minimise unnecessary imaging, ongoing CES-specific audits, and potentially extending MRI operation hours to 10 pm. These changes aim to improve timely MRI access, though broader interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for sustainable progress. Challenges faced included departmental coordination issues and delays from junior doctor strikes during later PDSA cycles, underlining the need for a larger patient sample in future audits to gauge more accurate results.

You can read the winning essay on Orthopaedics Online at www.boa.ac.uk/O2 where we will be featuring the highest ranked essays throughout December.