PG10 Theme 2 – Technical personal; professional development, Innovations

Abstract

Description/Justification/Clarification Seventy medical students, who had graduated early joined Leeds Teaching Hospitals as Interim Foundation Year Doctors during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. Introduction/Background To ensure the trainees received the best learning experience to equip them to effectively deliver care on the front line, their induction needed to provide essential clinical skills training, pastoral support and mandatory competency assessments. This required a new method of experimental educational delivery using a blended learning approach. Challenges Inducting trainees during a pandemic raised concerns on how to safely deliver education, Herbert et al1 highlights that implementing blended learning can prove difficult when restructuring education. The challenge was to blend a missed university term, essential induction information and assessing clinical skills in a reduced time-frame. Methods/Summary of Educational Programme/Project Description In 2013 Picciano advocated blending Technology Enhanced Learning with strong face-to-face delivery, and this was our agreed approach.2 A virtual platform was created via Padlet, which allowed traditional didactic delivery in a new virtual classroom, In parallel, a circuit of nine face-to-face clinical skills stations were set up by multidisciplinary clinical educators, combining clinical skills with pastoral support. Trainees engaged with senior staff at interactive question and answer sessions delivered through MS Teams, which provided insight into how video conferencing and other elements of TEL can be deployed for education and pastoral support, as evidenced by Lamba.3 Results/Outcome - table 1 Discussion/Conclusion and Recommendations Covid-19 forced a rapid rethink about how to deliver induction via blended learning. The Padlet link was well received and the face-to-face circuits were successful, ensuring a positive experience for learners whilst achieving learning outcomes. Feedback from trainees about on-line Q&A sessions was positive. However, there were clear disadvantages in not being able to see trainees on the screen. Asking questions using the chat function hampered the smooth flow. Recommendations are - Factor faculty fatigue into future plans – sessions were very intensive with fewer rest breaks for faculty. Consider using a different platform for video conferencing allowing faculty to see participants. Running virtual Q&A sessions with two faculty rather than one to maintain a better flow. References Herbert C, Velan GM, Pryor WM. A model for the use of blended learning in large group teaching sessions. British Medical Council Medical Education 2017;17:197. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-1057-2 Picciano AG, Durban CD, Graham CR. (2013). Blended Learning Research Perspectives. 1st Edition, Volume 2 Routledge. New York. Lamba P. Teleconferencing in medical education: a useful tool. Australasian Medical Journal 2011;4(8):422–447.