We began September with our first ACE National Online Conference held online using Zoom as the platform, and it went well.
We had six speakers talk about their personal experience of working with ACEs as part of their programmes of teaching. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, they talked at length about the real value of the ACE as a hi-fidelity simulated patient. As well as discussing the pros and cons of using ACEs and also about the students experience of working an ACE.
Professor Jim Parle started the proceedings with a brief chat about the development of the ACE role. Indeed, it was Jim who created the role of the ACE at the University of Birmingham many years ago alongside the ISU. Although retired, he still likes to play an active role in medical education, and it was an honour for us to have him as our keynote speaker.
Other speakers included James Ennis, the Clinical Lead at the University of Chester who also utilises ACEs in all of his teaching modules and is currently doing a PhD which takes a focussed look at the role of simulation in clinical teaching.
Uzo Ehiogu, a teaching fellow and senior physiotherapist at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital in Birmingham, speaks about his experiences using volunteer patients and the ACE, and talks about the relative values of both when he is working with 4th year medical students from the University of Birmingham.
The current President of the Faculty of Physician Associates, Kate Straughton, shared her experiences of working alongside ACEs at The University of Birmingham on the PA Course there. She talked a little about her time as a student Physician Associate and how the ACEs helped her when she studied at Birmingham, where she is now a senior lecturer.
Peter Gorman was next up and he went into great detail about how he used ACEs to transform the way his University (Wolverhampton) coped with the demands that the Pandemic placed on the staff and the students. He also talked about the initiatives he came up with to keep the students engaged during this difficult time.
Finally, we heard from Sarah Baig, a Clinical Pharmacologist who used ACEs for the very first time at The University of Birmingham on the Independent Prescribing Course. New to the whole concept of the ACE, Sarah expressed how valuable the ACE can be compared to the run-of-the-mill role player when it comes to clinical examinations.
We want to say thanks to all the speakers and also to the delegates who attended. Some as far away as the USA! We know that some delegates would have liked to have attended but couldn’t, which is why we recorded the conference so that you may listen to the speakers at your leisure.
We are planning our next conference which is being held online again in March 2022, so look out for information on that soon.
We are also going to run an online conference in November aimed specifically at Physician Associates and how to approach physical examinations and how to prepare for the OSCEs. All Physician Associates students are invited and the conference will be free and will feature several speakers, including some of the speakers in this video. You will also have the opportunity to put your questions directly to each speaker. It will be a bit like Question Time but a lot more fun.
We will post specific dates for these events on social media and on this blog.
Watch the full video of the Ace National Online Conference