Sl Middleton

What went wrong with the quality and safety agenda? An essay by Michael Buist and Sarah Middleton

Despite huge investment in quality and safety over the past two decades, healthcare is still failing to learn the lessons from its mistakes. Michael Buist and Sarah Middleton examine the reasons and call for a shift in medical culture

Using thoughtful questions as a new pedagogy for teaching patient-centred care

images, laboratory results, videos and management guidelines. The evaluation mode can be used for the purpose of evaluating students’ decision-making and communication skills. To date, 30 scenarios involving patients with different medical problems have been developed and VPL has been used on a trial basis in Qatar, Lebanon, the UAE, Italy and France. What lessons were learned? Because it is highly authentic and extends beyond the simple acquisition of knowledge, we believe that VPL will gradually replace the traditional less authentic forms of PBL. First-hand experience with this innovative approach showed that most students and faculty staff enjoyed using the tool and that it encouraged them to be more focused and systematic throughout the medical interview. Students seemed to feel more accountable for their decisions and more involved in deciding how to manage the patient’s problem. Further work is needed to explore the potential positive effects of VPL on clinical reasoning and communication skills that might be accrued by introducing such learning support at early or later stages of the medical curriculum.