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Teaching Professionalism in Surgery (MEDS90013)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2019
Overview
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Professional skills are an essential component of surgical practice. Examples of professional skills include situational awareness, decision-making, communication and teamwork skills. These have have received relatively little attention in medical and surgical curricula compared with other surgical skills and have often not been formally taught but expected to be learned through modelling and experience. This is no longer sufficient or ethical for learning in the workplace.
RACS now specifies a range of competencies expected of surgeons, which include professional, health advocate, communicator, collaborator, manager/leader and scholar/teacher. This subject explores ways in which these competencies can be taught and assessed.
Emphasis will be placed on some of these surgical competencies and the challenges associated with their teaching. Although communication is a core clinical skill, it is often taught in isolation from other clinical skills. We adopt a broad definition of communication – interactions in person or written with patients, their relatives, peers and other health professionals. The influence of technology on communication is considered. The content and educational methods most effective for learning about communication are explored. There is an opportunity to study in depth the role of simulation.
Safe surgical practice depends on many factors of which effective teamwork is paramount. The patient safety movement and drivers from within the profession have raised the profile of structured teaching and learning on teamwork. We draw on experiences from high risk industries and consider their application to promoting effective teamwork in surgical practice.
The overall aims of this subject are:
- Identify key professionalism issues in surgical practice
- Develop strategies to address development of professionalism in surgical training
- Identify issues that impact on professionalism and ways to support its development
- Expand the impact of role models on individual, group and organisational behaviour
- Outline training content and strategies for specific elements of professionalism, including person centred communication and teamwork.
- Reflect on their own teaching practice in professional skills highlighting strengths and areas for development.
Intended learning outcomes
After completing the subject participants should be able to:
- Discuss professionalism in the context of surgical practice
- Reflect on contemporary practices in teaching and learning about professionalism in medical and surgical education
- Identify lapses of professionalism in surgical practice
- Design educational activities to address lapses in professionalism
- Outline basic interpersonal communication theory
- Describe principles of effective team work
- Reflect on their own teaching practice in professionalism highlighting strengths and areas for development
Generic skills
- Successfully integrate technical (e.g. medical / surgical) with other professional skills (e.g. communication, teamwork)
- Approaches to teaching using simulation models and understanding of the benefits and limitations of these models
- Study skills related to a range of educational methods
- Academic reading skills
- Academic writing
- Applying theory to practice
- Reference manager skills
- Work effectively within a small group
- Learn independently
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted in GC-SURGED, GD-SURGED or MC-SURGED. This subject is not available for students admitted in any other courses.
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
MEDS90006 | Context of Surgical Education | January (Off Campus) |
12.5 |
MEDS90007 | Learning & Teaching in Surgical Practice | January (Off Campus) |
12.5 |
MEDS90008 | Educational Theory for Surgical Training | Semester 2 (Off Campus) |
12.5 |
MEDS90009 | Curriculum Design in Surgical Education | Semester 2 (Off Campus) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
Additional details
- 2,500 word essay - design a teaching session/learning activity, due mid semester, (50%). In this assessment, trainees are expected to apply and extend knowledge and skills learned in earlier subjects in the development of a teaching session or learning activity. The educational intervention must support the development of effective patient-centred or interprofessional communication skills; A choice of scenarios will be provided and will include high level challenges such as error disclosure. Students will be expected to use assessment instruments to measure surgical trainee performance.
- 2,500 word essay, due end of semester, (50%). In this assessment, students are expected to explore issues associated with teaching and learning teamwork in the context of surgical education. Trainees are expected to draw on literature that examines training and assessment of high performance teams.
Hurdle Requirement: Online activities, due mid semester. In the first example, students review two audio visual recorded scenarios of surgical trainees interacting with patients and colleagues. In the second example, students use the Non-Technical Skills for Surgery (NOTSS) rating form to assess professional skills in the operating room. Students will use validated rating forms to judge communication skills and professionalism.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Dates & times
Not available in 2019
Time commitment details
170 hours per 12.5 credit point subject.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Flin R, O'Connor P, Crichton M. (2008) Safety at the Sharp End: A Guide to Non-Technical Skills. Ashgate Publishing Limited: Hampshire
Other materials are provided online.
- Subject notes
IT requirements:
Participants will require access to the internet with a minimum connection speed of 256Kbps to access course materials and to participate in on-line discussions and presentations forums. Faster connection speeds are preferred. Participants will also need to verify that their internet connection is configured to allow them to view streamed audio and video files. Test files will be made available for students to test their connections.
Participants are expected to have a headset and microphone connected to their computer for participation in on-line activities.
Participants will be expected to have access to the following Microsoft Office products to fully participate:
- MS Word
- MS Powerpoint
All online applications will be web-based and no special software is required.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Surgical Education Course Graduate Diploma in Surgical Education - Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Last updated: 3 November 2022