University of Bristol at Gloucestershire Academy
Number 111
Monthly News
1st February 2013
Dr Phil Davies, Deputy Dean, Gloucestershire Academy
writes:When you apply to medical school with the intention of training to
be a doctor, you may naively assume that your training will be
delivered by the profession that you entering into, namely
doctors. Although historically this may have been the case, most
medical schools will now acknowledge that other professions will
deliver some of the undergraduate course. Some may only admit
that this will be within multiprofessional teaching (where for
instance physiology or statistics teaching will be delivered to
dental, vetinarary and medical students en masse). More astute
educationalists will recognise that interprofessional learning (note
the subtle change in prefix) is an important part of learning to be
a doctor. Within the Gloucestershire Academy there is now a
strong cohort of ‘non-doctor’ teachers who are delivering an ever
increasing amount of the curriculum. Far from being dismissed
as inferior, these educational opportunities are consistently rated
very highly by medical students. Some of these opportunities are
detailed below.
Clinical Skills Training
The use of a clinical skills lab is not a new concept in medical
education. Training on a ‘dummy’ before you practice your skills
on real patients is now standard practice after the first
mannequins were first produced approximately 25 years ago.
We are fortunate in Gloucestershire Academy that our clinical
skills laboratory is run by the ever enthusiastic Hannah Chant,
our undergraduate clinical skills facilitator. Hannah’s background
is in nursing, and she has been able to use her huge wealth of
clinical experience to establish her role as a corner stone of the
educational experience offered in the Academy.
Since
appointment Hannah has not only built up a huge resource of
models, mannequins and equipment on which medical students
(and other disciplines) can practice but has also taught a large
number of medical students basic skills such as cannulation,
venipuncture, suturing and intimate examination techniques.
Using this experience she has also been highly instrumental in
the design of the CAPS (Consultation and Procedural Skills)
logbook. This offers a practical method for students to
demonstrate competency in the thirty two core skills required by
the General Medical Council in a newly qualified doctor.
Pharmacy Teaching
Gloucestershire Academy has again led the way in its innovative
use of pharmacists for medical student teaching. Our senior
pharmacists, led by Nick Butler, Emily Truscott and Delyth
Morton have delivered a Practical Therapeutics Course over the
DATES FOR YOUR
DIARY:EXAMINERS
REQUIRED:Final (3rd) Objective Long
Case Exam for Year 5
27th February 2013 @
Redwood Education
Centre, GRH
If you are interested in examining
please email
Emily.L.Matthews@glos.nhs.uk
Year 3 Student OSLERs;
7th – 10th May 2013 &
13th – 17th May 2013 @
CGH & GRH – please email
Emily your availability.
USEFUL LINKS:Gloucestershire Academy
Website – Click Here
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last three years. Their success (measured on
the back of excellent feedback and high levels
of success in therapeutic examinations)
demonstrates how they have been able to
engage students by the practical application of
real life examples of good (and not so good!)
prescribing. Students have also been able to
take advantage of the practical guidance of
experienced ward pharmacists such as Pam
Adams on ward rounds, to ensure that they are
prepared for start of the Foundation years.
These teachers have also been an integral part
of our exam preparation, helping out with the
fifth year OSCE preparation.
Physiotherapy
Many consultants (most noticeably orthopods)
often bemoan the fact that medical students’
appreciation of anatomy is not what they would
expect and certainly anatomy teaching has
probably changed considerably since they were
at medical school. More emphasis is now placed
on applied anatomy, with the expectation that
students will revise relevant anatomy during
clinical training.
With the recognition that
anatomy is a core component of physiotherapy
education and practice, we have been able to
offer excellent applied anatomy teaching in the
third year when students are studying in their
musculoskeletal (MDEMO) module.
Terry
Flemons and Helen Williams are extended scope
Physiotherapists based in the Orthopaedic
Department in Gloucester and run a regular
practical session on knee and hip examination
for all students. Their depth of knowledge of
anatomy is evident as they teach essential skills
that will hopefully be firmly embedded when used
again at postgraduate level, whether in the GP
surgery or orthopaedic clinic. They are able to
reinforce this knowledge when students review
patients with them either in their follow up clinics
or when they are on the wards.
Plaster Technicians
Many doctors will never experience any of the
treatments that they prescribe or advise for their
patients. Attendance in the plaster room allows
students to talk with the staff and patients and
gain a better understanding of what it may be like
to cope when your arm or leg is immobilised in a
heavy plaster of Paris cast.
Some brave
students (perhaps those that are naturally
kinaesthetic or tactile learners) even volunteer to
have a cast themselves so that they can gain
firsthand experience. These interactions with the
plaster technicians also give a useful opportunity
for revision of practical applied anatomy.
Student Nurses
As alluded to in the first paragraph,
interprofessional
learning
(IPL)
is
now
recognised as a powerful method of education.
Healthcare is delivered by multidisciplinary
teams, so it seems sensible to train in these
teams (simple, really!).
Gloucestershire
Academy was the first to link IPL with the
simulation training delivered during the Preparing
for Professional Practice unit in year five. Medical
and nursing students are brought together to
learn in the protected environment that
simulation offers. Non technical skills such as
communication, situational awareness and team
working that will be so valuable once qualified
can be highlighted as important at an early stage
of development. Again feedback from both
parties has been excellent.
Night practitioners
As clinicians we are becoming ever more aware
of the need for working beyond the ‘working
week’. To prepare students for the differences of
out of hours working, in year five they are now
expected to be ‘on call’ or ‘on nights’. As well as
spending time at night with Foundation doctors,
Gloucestershire students also spend time with
nurse hospital practitioners and gain valuable
insight into level of skill these practitioners use to
assess acutely unwell patients. Having practised
these skills on an Intermediate Life Support
course (cleverly taught by the NHPs) they will
hopefully be able to practice these skills under
supervision.
The above are only a few examples that show
the dedication that many Trust staff have to
educating medical students. There are many
other examples of formal and more serendipitous
teaching that happen every day. Thank you all to
all those people who give their time to help our
future doctors.