Mastery Learning Conference
Report by Paul Fettes
A national program of Simulation Based Teaching of Practical Procedures by Mastery Learning
Ninewells, 1 Feb 2017
27 delegates
Program
Introduction, Recap and Today’s AimsPaul Fettes
Anaesthetist, Dundee
Mastery in BriefJames Tiernan
Chest Physician, Edinburgh
Peer TutoringKevin Sterling
Education Services Programme Manager, Laerdal
Checklist Breakout IntroChris Schnieke-Kind
Lothian Mastery Teaching Fellow
Workshop 1 – ChecklistsLeads: James Tiernan, Chris Schnieke-
Kind, Achyut Valluri
Plenary: Review ChecklistsPaul Fettes, James Tiernan
Use of Media in Medical EducationRichard Else
Triple Echo Productions
Workshop 2 – Developing Mastery Locally and Nationally
Leads: Paul Fettes, Achyut Valluri, Chris Schneike-Kind, James Tiernan, Achyut Valluri
PlenaryDiscussion – Developing MasteryLocally Paul Fettes, James Tiernan, Chris Schneike-Kind
Nationally
Conference report
It was encouraging to see maintenance of numbers for the second National Mastery Learning Conference in Dundee. The delegates again came from all over Scotland and from a range of backgrounds, predominantly medical, and included college tutors, TPD’s, teaching fellows, After a brief introduction, Paul Fettes gave a recap of developments to date. These include discussion at DME level nationally and a workshop at the Scottish Clinical Skills Network (SCSN) in May. James Tiernan gave an excellent summary of simulation based teaching of practical by mastery learning. Guest speaker Kevin Sterling from Laerdal then gave an insightful talk about use of simulation in education, efficient use of facilities, peer-tutoring and co-operative learning. This involves tutor-managed self-directed learning in simulation based practice, with less reliance on highly paid faculty educators. Our other guest speaker was Richard Else from Triple Echo Productions who is Professorial Fellow at Durham University. Richard has a wealth of experience in production of television programmes such as the Adventure Show, but he has also done award winning work in education. He showed how different editing of footage can used in different ways. For example one edit could be used for teaching of trainees, and another could be used for patient information. He also showed how media could be used to highlight an individual experience. He also stressed that media meant a lot more than video, with use of IT to enable interaction and feedback.
There were two workshops. The first was on checklists. Two breakout groups developed a checklist for chest drain, and two groups developed a checklist for lumbar puncture. The paired groups then met to agree a refined checklist for each of these skills. Finally the two merged groups met together to present their refined checklist and summaries their discussion. It was clear from this process that agreeing checklists is not easy, and there was much discussion at each stage. This process was thought to be very valuable by the delegates.
The other workshop discussed how to take forward the process locally and nationally. After discussion in groups the delegates met to discuss their thoughts and proposals. It was felt that it would be useful to have local mastery groups that fed into a national body. The national steering group should be ideally under the auspices of a national body and the most obvious one is Scottish Clinical Skills Network. A third national Mastery conference will be held in September in Edinburgh. There will be workshops at the SMEC and SCSN meetings in May.