Jean Ker

Early introduction to interprofessional learning: a simulated ward environment.

Objectives  To develop an interprofessional simulated ward environment for junior medical and nursing students and to identify themes for future evaluations and modify criteria for formative assessment of the exercise.

Developing professional clinical skills for practice – the results of a feasibility study using a reflective approach to intimate examination

Objectives  To develop a student‐selected component (SSC) for junior medical students, to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating the development of skills in carrying out an intimate examination, whilst developing professional thinking skills using a reflective approach.

The use of simulated learning to promote safe blood transfusion practice.

The transfusion of blood and blood products is a complex, multi-professional task which is liable to errors at any point in the journey from donor to recipient. The serious hazards of transfusion (SHOT) scheme has documented reports which consistently demonstrate that the administration of the incorrect blood component is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United Kingdom. Training programmes which focus on different stages of safe effective blood transfusion are currently available but none involve practice in the workplace setting. This paper shares the design, implementation and subsequent evaluation of a simulated ward exercise, which was developed in partnership with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS), NHS Tayside and the University of Dundee Medical School to reinforce learning in a workplace context. The exercise was evaluated from a number of different perspectives. The exercise demonstrated that it is an effective method of reinforcing safe transfusion practice in a non-threatening realistic workplace environment. Costs in terms of time, finance and staff numbers may however preclude large scale implementation in practice.

How we developed a core curriculum in clinical skills

This article describes the process that the authors have used in the Dundee Clinical Skills Centre to develop and maintain the core curriculum for the second-year programme in clinical skills. The programme provides medical students with basic, generic skills required in clinical medicine.

Using simulation to support doctors in difficulty

Background:  A small percentage of medical trainees will have performance concerns identified within their clinical practice. These trainees require specific interventions to address these concerns. The Postgraduate Ward Simulation Exercise (PgWSE) was developed as a joint collaboration between the University of Dundee and NHS Education for Scotland (NES).

Over the counter clinical skills for pharmacists

Background:  This paper describes the development, implementation and evaluation of a clinical skills course for pharmacist independent and supplementary prescribers. The aim of the course was to develop the clinical and procedural skills of pharmacists to enable safe practice at an advanced level, in conjunction with their prescribing role.

Simulated patient programmes in Europe: Collegiality or separate development?

Background: Simulated patients (SPs) are widely used in medical education yet little is known about how individual schools recruit, develop, use, evaluate and maintain SPs. Opportunities for sharing SP development expertise and materials among institutions are not often utilised. Aims: In order for different SP programmes to learn from each other, there needs to be some basis for establishing meaningful comparisons. Method: In 2006, the Association of Standardized Patient Educators (ASPE) piloted a survey instrument that would facilitate comparisons of SP educational practices in different institutions. Four European countries at varying stages of SP programme development were selected as representative of the spread of SP experience in Europe (Belgium, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands). Key SP contacts were identified in each medical school. Contacts were asked to complete a 49-item questionnaire developed collaboratively between ASPE and the authors. The overall response rate was 86%. Results: There were considerable differences between countries in terms of their approach to developing SPs and quality assuring their performance. Whilst SP education was regarded as an expensive enterprise, there was little evidence of resource sharing between different centres in the same country. Conclusions: There is a clear need to facilitate closer collaboration between centres in developing and quality assuring SPs.

Direct observed procedural skills assessment in the undergraduate setting

Background:  Medical students are required to undertake procedural clinical skills training before they qualify as doctors, and an assessment of these skills is a critical element of their fitness to practice.

Innovative teaching in situational awareness

In the UK the publication of the Health Select Committee Report highlighted the need to incorporate human factors training in health care education. In response there has been a rise in health care professional training in human factors, focusing on non‐technical skills, such as teamwork, leadership and situational awareness.

Using video-reflexive ethnography to capture the complexity of leadership enactment in the healthcare workplace

Abstract Current theoretical thinking asserts that leadership should be distributed across many levels of healthcare organisations to improve the patient experience and staff morale. However, much healthcare leadership education focusses on the training and competence of individuals and little attention is paid to the interprofessional workplace and how its inherent complexities might contribute to the emergence of leadership. Underpinned by complexity theory, this research aimed to explore how interprofessional healthcare teams enact leadership at a micro-level through influential acts of organising. A whole (interprofessional) team workplace-based study utilising video-reflexive ethnography occurred in two UK clinical sites. Thematic framework analyses of the video data (video-observation and video-reflexivity sessions) were undertaken, followed by in-depth analyses of human–human and human–material interactions. Data analysis revealed a complex interprofessional environment where leadership is a dynamic process, negotiated and renegotiated in various ways throughout interactions (both formal and informal). Being able to “see” themselves at work gave participants the opportunity to discuss and analyse their everyday leadership practices and challenge some of their sometimes deeply entrenched values, beliefs, practices and assumptions about healthcare leadership. These study findings therefore indicate a need to redefine the way that medical and healthcare educators facilitate leadership development and argue for new approaches to research which shifts the focus from leaders to leadership.