Category: Article
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The ‘new’ apprentices
Apprenticeships in health care are trending. The NHS (National Health Service) in England is considering an apprenticeship model for training aspiring doctors and nurses to help alleviate workforce issues.[1] The BBC is calling this a radical plan though it has been the training approach for some health professionals in the past. Indeed, clinical education of doctors even now…
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Ritual
Whatever one may think about the purpose and utility of royalty in the 21st century, the coronation of Charles III was a magnificent but eye-wateringly expensive spectacle. It may be the last of its kind in the UK, and I do feel that Australia will become a republic before too long. This was a costume drama out-of-step…
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Whither professionalism?
Towards the end of the last century, health professional educators began to take a greater interest in the topic of professionalism, and related concepts such as professional development and professional behaviour. Courses such as ‘personal and professional development’ (PPD), for example, were introduced into medical curricula and the number of published articles on the subject increased…
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How do you solve a problem like feedback?
Feedback – health professional educators and learners discuss feedback regularly. The literature on the subject is large. Yet we still don’t seem to be able to get it right or get the outcomes we want from the feedback processes we use. I attended an online presentation this week on feedback, which also asked the question: why after…
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Shared decision making: it takes two
Of the many articles I read each year, only a few have an immediate and lasting impact on the way I practise. Two papers had a great effect on me as a GP and educator in 1999. The topic of both was shared decision making. I am from a generation of medical students who did not…
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RCTs in education: yes, no or maybe?
Health professional practice is both a science and an art. Students learn about the scientific method and how medical knowledge is advanced through experiment, research and evaluation. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are a gold standard approach to gathering evidence as to whether treatments work and for whom. Treatments here may mean drugs (or medicines), other forms of disease…
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Good news, bad news: who decides?
A woman sits down and says: ‘I’m pregnant’. Pause. Context is so important here. How I respond is likely to affect our person-professional relationship, perhaps for some time. Is this good news or bad news or perhaps she hasn’t decided yet? One definition of bad news in the health care setting is ‘any news that drastically and negatively alters…
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Empathy: Underpinning practice but vulnerable to stress
Look at most lists of the attributes of a good health professional and you are sure to find empathy. Ask a student to define empathy and you are likely to hear varying answers. In addition, there is frequently confusion between empathy and sympathy. As a desired attribute, there is pressure to assess for empathy and therefore tools…
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Imposter syndrome: complex & common?
Every so often there is a surge in articles in which well-known people talk about their experiences of imposter syndrome, also known as the imposter phenomenon. In the last few years we have heard from Taylor Swift,[1]Jacinda Ardern,[2] Tom Hanks,[3] and ‘the pain of parental imposter syndrome’.[4] The prevalence of the condition varies from 9 to 82% depending on…
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Testing times
Towards the end of the high school year in Australia, news programs cover the year 12 examinations that help decide a student’s career path, such as going to university. Students are filmed sitting at individual desks writing with pens on paper, just as I did at age 18 decades ago and just as generations of pupils…
Health professional education and practice 