Innovative Teaching

The department has been involved in teaching using simulation for many years.  A large amount of anaesthetic practice is focussed on skills development.  Postgraduate trainees use simulation to develop bronchoscopic skills, gain familiarity with some of the newer airway devices as well as using high-fidelity simulation to develop human skills in emergency scenarios.

Anaesthetists have also been involved in teaching clinical and procedural skills to undergraduates as part of the requirements for Tomorrow’s Doctors (2009). This type of training is always popular with students, as it introduces them to key medical skills and establishes a means of development of expertise without harming patients.  Recent simulation teaching has involved preparing students for practice, helping students to manage acute patient management scenarios of the kind they will have to manage as year-one foundation doctors.  Anaesthetists throughout Wales have led in this teaching, and students have seen this as a vital bridge to practice as newly qualified doctors.

A new pilot teaching development uses simulation to teach surface anatomy to year five undergraduate students, led by Dr Iliaz Hodzovic and staff at BIOSCI.  This fits in with the spiral curriculum philosophy of C21, enabling students to revisit basic sciences at a time that is most relevant for their learning.  Initial student feedback for this initiative has been extremely encouraging.

The new Bill Mapleson Centre will have facilities for teaching using simulation, led by Dr Cristina Diaz-Navarro.  Many of our short courses that use simulation will move there.  As the postgraduate and undergraduate trainee learning needs change, we have a new space to develop and innovate.

Brian Jenkins