This year, I’ve jumped into entirely new territory. Myself and the Healthcare Science Education team at GOSH, part of our GOSH Learning Academy (GLA), have launched a one week course on how how to utilise molecular testing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), molecular typing, and next generation sequencing, to impact patient care.

The course is Clinical Interpretation and Implementation of Microbiological Sequencing Techniques and was a project I was super excited about. It’s funded by Health Education England (as was) and is co-delivered with my professional body, the Association of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (ACB).

What does the week look like?

The week itself is split into lectures that aim to inspire, sessions that give some information about the techniques themselves and their pros and cons, and finally, some workshops on how to implement them into clinical workstreams.

Each afternoon, there are a whole bunch of activities to help you put what you’ve heard in the morning into practice. If you attend the face to face week, there are also some great opportunities to learn from each other and build your networks, as these are done on rotating tables.

What to expect?

This course is aimed at the clinical decision part of the patient pathway, and focuses on ensuring that we pick the right test to answer the clinical question we are asking. You will get plenty of information therefore on how you should pick that test and why. This is a dry course (as in not lab based) though so won’t teach you the ‘how’ of doing molecular diagnostics. It focuses on the ‘why’ and the ‘when’. A week is also not enough time to teach bioinformatics, so this course won’t teach that. It will teach how to interpret some of the outputs to support better clinical decision-making.

How can I sign up?

Signing up is a two stage process. Firstly, you need to register an expression of interest, and then when allocated to a date, you can register. The course is entirely free and it would be lovely to see you.

There are two remaining dates:

• 26-30 September 2023 – virtual setting – allocated 30 CPD credits
• 20-24 November 2023 – in person at Goodenough College, London – allocated 45 CPD credits
• The course has been accredited for CPD by the Royal College of Pathologists.

https://www.acb.org.uk/our-resources/news/new-course-whole-genome-sequencing-and-infection.html

What have I learnt?

This is my first time being involved in a project quite like this one, both in terms of the size of the education project, but also in terms of switching between delivery methods and some of the content development. I’ve learnt a lot, both as a scientist and someone interested in education, and as this is a Girlymicro blog after all, I thought I would share some of that learning.

The importance of a multi-disciplinary approach

The first thing, which I’ve always known but this has emphasised, is that we make better decisions as an MDT. Watching table discussions where there have been scientists, medics, and nurses working together and sharing their experiences has been so powerful. Those tables not only feel like they learn more from each other, but that they also make better collective decisions where many different aspects are taken into account. I think we all feel this is true of the conversations we have back in our work setting, but almost being able to compare mixed and non mixed tables in a controlled setting has made me even more certain of how important it is to foster back in my clinical space.

The importance of having the right people in the room

The importance of understanding roles and backgrounds extends not just into participants, but also to those delivering the sessions. I don’t think I’d realised how important having a mix of roles in that education space was. I knew you needed the educators who bring their pedagogical knowledge and some subject matter experts (SMEs) to deliver the content. What I hadn’t realised the value of quite as much is in having facilitation of tables by people who have experience of the area in order to support better discussions. Not necessarily full SMEs, but people who have an understanding of the science and processes to make better conversations. Facilitation within such a complex area requires some level of knowledge to make it work. You need the right mix of people who can challenge you and the content in order to make it better.

The importance of expectation management

I’m fairly used to delivering big projects, but this one has taught me a few new things. Firstly, it’s so important to manage expectations when learners sign up. The first run of the course we had, quite a few people were disappointed not to learn bioinformatics. Now, as someone who has been working in this area for over a decade, I know that I don’t know how to undertake bioinformatics. I’ve been on many a short course to learn and have picked up enough to ask questions, but that is all. If someone hasn’t had that experience they may think it is something we could teach in a few days, rather than coming into that space with the knowledge that it is a vast discipline where the process depends upon both the question and the input. We’ve been trying to better manage expectations around this one since the first run and to share that awareness from the outset.

The other aspect of this one for me, is always how interesting it is to manage a project that feels like it constantly evolving, as different people come on board and bring their own perspectives. This adds so much value, but as someone who likes a plan, the flexing can always feel challenging to me, and I just have to know that about myself in order to be better able to adapt in the moment.

The importance of listening and being open to change

One of the reasons there is so much change to embrace is because this kind of course, delivered in this way, hasn’t been done before. The power of listening, therefore, is so important. Are learners getting what they need to change practice? Are they getting what they expected? Are they getting what they want? This has made me so aware of the importance of evaluation, evaluation that is embedded throughout, not just at the end. By embedding throughout, you can fix or modify as you go in order to improve the quality of what you’re delivering, but also to make sure you are meeting needs or knowledge gaps you hadn’t anticipated. I think this is something that I want to do more in all of my teaching moving forward.

The other aspect to this was thinking about the differences required between digital and face to face delivery. Really being open to the challenge of delivering in a way I hadn’t really used for a course before, because there are so many reasons why having different delivery modes matters, for accessibility if nothing else. Ensuring that online delivery was tailored to make it suitable, whilst ensuring that the learning experience was of the same quality as that experienced by someone attending face to face in a classroom. I’ve learnt a lot.

The importance of sharing a vision

This last one is the reason I got involved to start with. I was really interested in what the  strategic vision was, in terms of where we want the workforce to be, in terms of SARS CoV2 legacy, in terms of technological change. Lots of conversations have been had in terms of what that vision might look like and what is needed to help support the Healthcare Science profession in order to deliver it. It was really interesting to be part of delivering something that helps explore some of those aspects but in very practical terms.

I don’t think anyone taught me how to write a business case, no one ever taught me how to design a lab, but these are key tools that may be needed to support delivery of that vision piece. We felt it was, therefore, really important to ground some of the aspirational sessions we were delivering by including some sessions on these skills and how to develop them. I had no idea how they’d land, but I think for some, they were probably the most valuable sessions of the week, and I’m strangely proud of what has ended up being produced.

Register here to take advantage of this free to access course, either in person or face to face

All opinions in this blog are my own