51 Doctor(noun, latin), to teach; transforming a working week into a teaching week

Abstract

One of the prerequisites to successfully complete Core Medical Training in the UK is to acquire the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) title by passing the Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills (PACES) exam. Due to work pressures and time limitations, little teaching had been taking place locally at Eastbourne District General Hospital (EDGH). Prior to this, PACES teaching was mainly delivered externally by expensive courses, online resources and books. Given the plethora of patients in a familiar environment of a National Health Service (NHS) hospital, we established that this provided an ideal combination for PACES teaching. We started a team of PACES positive trainees who were interested in teaching; this team would deliver bedside PACES teaching at least twice a week. A weekly timetable with specified PACES teaching was created (e.g table 1). This included some specialised clinics that were consultant led (rheumatology and ophthalmology) aimed at providing consultant led teaching to PACES candidates. One PACES candidate was allocated to each clinic day providing 1-to-1 focused teaching, while the bedside sessions were open for everyone. A WhatsApp group was also created consisting of all candidates preparing for PACES and instructors, which encouraged all members to share interesting cases deemed good for PACES teaching and also facilitated organising unscheduled teaching. The feedback from all candidates has been very positive so far. We have significantly improved confidence levels and most candidates are currently satisfied with the current PACES teaching structure at EDGH. In addition, most candidates found that supervised bedside practice is one of the top two useful methods to prepare for PACES.