Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up, sharing ideas, raising concerns, or making mistakes. There are various threats to psychological safety in health professions education (HPE). This commentary applies Clark’s model of psychological safety (Inclusion Safety, Learner Safety, Contributor Safety, Challenger Safety) to five different HPE settings (classroom instructions, clinical training, simulation-based training, online instructions, interprofessional education). Setting-specific threats and strategies for enhancing psychological safety are discussed.
During the current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, with the Singapore government mandating social distancing, all educational activities in medical schools have been affected. Medical students from our three medical schools have been banned from all clinical environments (polyclinics and hospitals). Online teaching and meetings became the norm. Although medical educators are generally good clinicians and educational tutors, many are not used to teaching and learning on an electronic platform due to various barriers such as time constraints, poor technical skills, inadequate infrastructure and a lack of institutional support. In this article, we collate tips from published work in online learning, and we also share our own experiences in conducting online teaching.
Background: Current educational interventions and teaching for acute deteriorations seem to address acute care learning in discreet segments. Technology enhanced and team training methodologies are in vogue though well studied in the nursing profession, teaching avenues for junior ‘doctors in training’ seem to be a lacuna. Aims: The BEME systematic review was designed to (1) appraise the existing published evidence on educational interventions that are intended for ‘doctors in training’ to teach early recognition and prompt escalation in acute clinical deteriorations (2) to synthesise evidence & to evaluate educational effectiveness. Methodology: The method applied was a descriptive, justification & clarification review. Databases searched included PubMed, PsycINFO, Science Direct and Scopus for original research and grey literature with no restrictions to year or language. Abstract review, full text decisions and data extraction were completed by two primary coders with final consensus by a third reviewer. Results: 5592 titles and abstracts were chosen after removal of 905 duplications. After exclusion of 5555 studies, 37 full text articles were chosen for coding. 22 studies met final criteria of educational effectiveness, relevance to acute care. Educational platforms varied from didactics to blended learning approaches, small group teaching sessions, simulations, live & cadaveric tissue training, virtual environments and insitu team-based training. Translational outcomes with reduction in long term (up to 3–6 years) morbidity & mortality with financial savings were reported by 18% (4/22) studies. Interprofessional training were reported in 41% (9/22) of studies. Recent evidence demonstrated effectiveness of virtual environment and mobile game-based learning. Conclusions: There were significant improvements in teaching initiatives with focus on observable behaviours and translational real patient outcomes. Serious game-based learning and virtual multi-user collaborative environments might enhance individual learners’ cognitive deliberate practice. Acute care learning continuum with programmatic acute care portfolios could be a promise of the future.
1 March 2018 in Korean Journal of Medical Education
Faculty development (FD) is essential to prepare faculty members to become effective teachers to meet the challenges in medical education. Despite the growth of FD programmes, most evaluations were often conducted using short questionnaires to assess participants' satisfaction immediately after they attended a programme. Consequently, there were calls for more rigorous evaluations based on observed changes in participants' behaviours. Hence, this study aims to explore how the FD workshops run by the Centre for Medical Education, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore have impacted behavioural changes in the educators. We followed up with the educators at least half a year after they have attended the workshops. With limited literature as reference, we initiated a small-scale case-study research design involving semi-structured interviews with six educators which was triangulated with three focus group discussions with their students. This allowed us to explore behavioural changes among the educators as well as evaluate the feasibility of this research methodology. We identified three emerging categories among the educators: ignorance to awareness, from intuition to confirmation and expansion, and from individualism to community of practice. Although FD have placed much emphasis on teaching and learning approaches, we found that the teacher-student interaction or human character components (passionate, willing to sacrifice, are open to feedback) in becoming a good educator are lacking in our FD workshops.
The integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into health professions education (HPE) is rapidly transforming learning environments, raising questions about its impact on teaching and learning. This mixed methods study explores clinical educators’ and undergraduate students’ perceptions and attitudes about using GenAI tools in HPE at a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as theoretical frameworks, we designed and administered a survey and conducted interviews to assess participants’ perceived usefulness, ease of use, and concerns related to GenAI adoption. Quantitative survey data were analyzed for frequencies and percentages, while qualitative responses underwent thematic analysis. Results showed that students demonstrated higher GenAI adoption rates (68.7%) compared to educators (38.5%), with GenAI perceived as valuable for efficiency, research, and personalized learning. However, concerns included over-reliance on GenAI, diminished critical thinking, and ethical implications. Educators emphasized the need for institutional guidelines and training to support responsible GenAI integration. Our findings suggest that while GenAI holds great potential for enhancing education, structured institutional policies and ethical oversight are crucial for its effective use. These insights contribute to the ongoing discourse on GenAI adoption in HPE.