TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING IN SURGERY IN SWANSEA NHS TRUST, WALES. DOES IT WORK?

Simon Browning¹, Peter Donnelly*, Paul Kirk, and Joel Benson², ¹ Swansea NHS Trust, U.K, ² Cardiff University, Wales, U.K.

PURPOSE: MMC and EWTD have changed the way in which medical trainees in the UK are trained and assessed. In Swansea NHS Trust an ENT surgeon (SB) set up a blended approach to training in this craft speciality. This study asked 2 questions; 1) can ‘e’ be used to support basic surgical training in this sub-speciality and 2) how do the learners view this experience?

METHODS: An education programme consisting of an ‘SHO Survival Guide’, ‘ENT Core Curriculum’, ‘Curriculum for ENT Career SHOs’ and ‘Curriculum for GPs’ was devised. An intuitive web-enhanced user interface, and ‘Contribute Server’ software provided an easy to use mechanism for updating the content without the need for specialist web skills. Blackboard VLE was used to deliver, assess, monitor and feedback to the users of the programmes. Education events in Blackboard were signposted by the Consultant Education supervisor and integrated into the experiential learning. Post -course evaluation of 3 rotations of trainees was completed (n=20). Learners were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with key statements covering: access, relevance, usefulness, flexibility, IT skills, assessments, effect on practice and patient management.

RESULTS: All trainees rated the use of the VLE highly. The trainer felt that basic knowledge and skills could be initially assessed via the training package prior to the trainees being in the clinical setting thus improving patient safety.

CONCLUSION: TEL can be used in a hands-on clinical speciality such as ENT surgery. Trainer and trainees used the blended approach which will be rolled out to include all ENT trainees in Wales.