The Acute Medical Unit is traditionally one of the busiest medical environments in a hospital, with large numbers of staff and a high throughput of patients. This provides an enormous opportunity for learning as trainees of all disciplines are exposed to a wide range of clinical scenarios. The intensity of work, however, means that training opportunities are often overlooked.
Today the Royal College of Physicians is launching a new acute care toolkit entitled Teaching on the Acute Medical Unit to help clinicians and trainees ensure there is a focus on quality education as well as delivering essential care.
High-quality teaching has a direct impact on patient safety and quality of care as well as improving the experiences of trainees. The toolkit focuses on maximising opportunities for teaching and learning, and includes technical tips and examples for weaving teaching and learning into the daily work of the unit. By providing practical guidance to senior clinicians and educational leads, the toolkit will support the delivery of training whilst maintaining high quality patient care. The toolkit includes tips on:
- teaching in chunks, for example short tutorials whilst on a ward round
- ward round techniques for teaching, including observing trainees
- delivering effective feedback
- teaching topics suitable for the AMU
- organising an education induction as part of the trainees’ introduction to the AMU.
As well as practical tips, the toolkit contains key recommendations that, if implemented, will underpin and support the provision of high quality care and education:
- every AMU should have a lead consultant for education
- consultants should have no other commitments when they are on call for the AMU
- there should be access to a dedicated teaching space, embedded in the AMU
- trainees should spend blocks of time on AMU, not just when they are on call
- consultants require training in techniques that facilitate work based learning, including teaching when time is limited and how to give frequent effective feedback.
Dr Nicola Cooper, lead author of the toolkit, said:
Acute Medical Units are rich learning environments. Work-based teaching and learning is vital in postgraduate medical education, but consultants often feel too busy to teach. However, consultants can facilitate on-the-job learning for their more junior colleagues in several different ways, and this need not take more time. The toolkit sets out how they can do this.
Dr Mark Temple, RCP acute care fellow and toolkit series lead, said:
Consultant physicians with duties on the Acute Medical Unit have a critical role in teaching medical trainees and ensuring that the next generation of physicians is equipped to provide care of the highest quality. This toolkit provides practical advice for consultants on how best to deliver this teaching, in a very busy clinical environment.