Abstract
Abstract Body: The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Curriculum states that paediatric trainees should be proficient in a range of practical procedures by the end of level 1 training. Opportunities for each individual trainee to learn and practise these procedures may be encountered infrequently. In a recent regional survey of level 1 trainees, only 10-60% reported “good or very good experience” with certain skills. Simulation training is known to be effective in improving junior doctors’ practical skills in emergency airway management, advanced cardiac life support, surgery and lumbar punctures.
Educational Goal: To develop a simulation based clinical skills course for level 1 paediatric trainees in the region that will enhance their experience and performance of mandatory procedures.
Proposed Approach: This half-day course in will form the basis of one of the trainees’ monthly regional training days (timetabled in January 2017) and will focus on the teaching and deliberate practice of a pre-determined selection of the 13 mandatory procedures on simulated part-task trainers. The procedures, including lumbar puncture and urethral catheterisation, will be taught using a modified version of the 4 stage technique that is used for skills teaching at the ALSG life support courses. A detailed lesson plan for each station will ensure that trainees learn a standardised, evidence based approach to performing each skill. Trainees will provide pre-course information of their prior experiences of learning and performing paediatric clinical skills. Post course feedback will be collected to evaluate the impact of the “Skills, Drills and Simulation” training day on the trainees’ acquisition of clinical skills and further develop the training for subsequent cohorts.
Difficulties Encountered: Evidence suggests that trainees’ learning, performance and retention of clinical skills is enhanced by simulation training 2-6 and the trainees’ ability to perform these mandatory procedures will be assessed during and after this course. The long term aim for this project is for an educator and the simulated part-task trainers to be available at every ST1 regional training day throughout the academic year, thus allowing the trainees to utilise their protected educational time for ongoing deliberate practice of these procedures, which will enhance their retention of these essential clinical skills. This will enable a simulated DOPS (Direct Observation of Procedural Skills) assessment of one of the mandatory procedures to be completed by every trainee at a subsequent training session to evaluate their retention of their skills learning and the overall effectiveness of the clinical skills simulation course.
