Meducate Academy’s Summer Adventures: Collaborations and Preparations

October 30, 2023August 21, 2023 by R Spour

Clinical examiners and Associate Clinical Educators working together on a Chester University Physician Associate OSCEs

A Sneak Peek into Meducate Academy’s Busy Summer Break

Summer is often a season of relaxation and leisure, but for Meducate Academy, the months of July and August are far from quiet. While the classrooms may be emptier, our commitment to excellence in medical education continues. As we take a brief hiatus from our regular teaching schedule, we find ourselves immersed in a whirlwind of collaborations and preparations that promise exciting developments for the upcoming academic term.

Teaching and Preparations in Progress

While the halls of Meducate Academy might echo with fewer footsteps during these months, they are far from silent. Our dedicated team is hard at work, ensuring that we are well-prepared for the academic year ahead. A few select sessions are still being conducted, particularly focusing on teaching Physician Associates and getting ready for the challenges that the new term will bring.

Recently, we wrapped up an intensive series of teaching sessions for the Physician Associate program at Chester University. To put our students’ skills to the test, we organized two days of Mock OSCEs. The results of these exams were encouraging, though we must maintain confidentiality regarding the specific outcomes. What we can reveal is the dedication of our team and the remarkable efforts put forth by our Associate Clinical Educators who truly shone during these two crucial days.

Forging New Alliances and Celebrating Success Stories

The quieter moments of summer provide us with the perfect opportunity to extend our reach and create new partnerships. This year has seen the birth of some truly remarkable collaborations that are set to take Meducate Academy to new heights. While confidentiality prevents us from naming all our partners, we’re thrilled to share a glimpse of the exciting ventures that lie ahead.

One of our most noteworthy partnerships is with Cliniskills, a group of healthcare professionals and experts in healthcare higher education. Drawing from their firsthand experiences in patient care, Cliniskills understands the challenges of upskilling while managing the demands of a clinical profession. They are dedicated to transforming healthcare through targeted development that adapts to evolving service needs in both the public and private sectors. As a part of their mission, they offer comprehensive, national-scale training that delivers lasting impact.

We’re honoured that Cliniskills has placed its trust in us to assist in delivering some of this training as Associate Clinical Educators and Medical Roleplayers. Our collaboration will kick off with courses starting in September in Birmingham, followed by sessions in Slough, Bristol, and Manchester. This news is incredibly exciting for us, and it stands as a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team of ACEs.

Chester University ACEs and examiners working together on day 2 of the Physician Associate OSCEs

A Spotlight on Consultation and Clinical Skills Workshops

And, as if that weren’t enough excitement, we’ve also been invited to contribute our expertise to The Pharmacy Show. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase our proficiency in consultation and clinical skills through interactive workshops. The chance to engage with a diverse audience of healthcare professionals is a testament to the reputation we’ve built and the knowledge we’ve amassed over the years.

Exciting Workshops at The Pharmacy Show: Empowering Pharmacists

At The Pharmacy Show, we’re excited to present three immersive workshops, each lasting 45 to 60 minutes, on both event days. Our main focus is on addressing challenges that Pharmacists commonly encounter when dealing with demanding patients. The workshop sessions are structured as follows:

Introduction to Meducate Academy and Speakers: Get introduced to the purpose of Meducate Academy and a brief overview of the speakers.
Unveiling the Art of Communication: Explore the fundamental aspects of effective communication in healthcare settings.
Establishing and Nurturing Rapport in Difficult Conversations: Dive into the skill of building and maintaining rapport during challenging discussions.
Mastering Active Listening Techniques: Acquire valuable techniques for active listening, and enhancing patient interactions.
Deciphering the Anatomy of a Poor Consultation (Scenario): Engage in a scenario-based analysis of elements contributing to an unfavourable consultation
Insights from Associate Clinical Educators and Participants: Benefit from insights shared by Associate Clinical Educators and fellow attendees.
Showcasing a Model Consultation: Witness a demonstration of a successful consultation that embodies best practices.
Interactive Question and Answer Session: Engage interactively to seek clarifications and interact with our experts.

Meducate Academy’s workshops at The Pharmacy Show promise to empower Pharmacists with actionable skills and insights, enabling them to adeptly navigate challenging patient interactions. This exceptional opportunity equips you to enhance your communication prowess and enrich patient care. Join us in our endeavour to transform healthcare interactions for the better.

Final Thoughts

As the summer sun warms the days, Meducate Academy remains steadfast in its commitment to excellence. The seemingly quiet months of July and August are, in reality, a hive of activity as we collaborate with exceptional partners, prepare for the new academic term, and celebrate the successes that continue to fuel our passion for medical education. The journey ahead is filled with promise, and we can’t wait to share all that we’ve learned and accomplished with our students, partners, and the entire medical community. Stay tuned for more updates as we embark on this exciting chapter of growth and discovery!

If you’re a Pharmacy Clinical Lead and wish to discuss working with Meducate Academy Ltd., we would love to give you a demonstration and a workshop at your institution.

Please contact: bobspour@meducateacademy.com or on 07870 611850

Become an ACE in Medical Education: Free Training Course Available Now!

April 16, 2023March 19, 2023 by R Spour

Do You Want To Be Part Of Our Team?

Are you an Actor, Role-player or retired Clinician who would like to get involved in our ACE training programmes?

We are looking for people with the following attributes

Skills?

Do you have a desire to develop new skills yourself and really make a difference?

Communication?

Do you enjoy the act of communication?

Passion?

Do you have a passion to help students develop their skills?

Are you a medical role-player looking for new opportunities to expand your skills and knowledge? Meducate Academy has the perfect solution – a free Associate Clinical Educator (ACE) training course on the 13th of May 2023.

The course will be held at The University of Wolverhampton and will provide attendees with a comprehensive introduction to basic body systems examinations and feedback techniques with the help of experienced clinicians. In addition, drinks, lunch, and a manual to further your knowledge and understanding will be provided on the day.

And this is just the beginning! As an ACE, you will have ongoing training to continue building your practical examination skills and responsibilities to students and clinicians. It’s a challenging and rewarding role that involves working with the same team of clinicians and students over a period of two years or more.

At Meducate Academy, we have been busy developing relationships with institutions across the UK and are keen to find medical role-players who want to expand their portfolio of skills. The ACE training course is just one of the many opportunities available to those looking to advance their careers in medical education.

But what does it mean to be an Associate Clinical Educator? It means being part of a team that is dedicated to providing high-quality education and training to the next generation of healthcare professionals. It means using your knowledge and experience to help students develop the skills they need to succeed in their future careers.

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys working with students, learning new skills, and collaborating with professionals, then the ACE role may be right for you. Check out the videos below to learn more about what it means to be an ACE and the impact you can have on medical education.

Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to take your career to the next level. Sign up for the ACE training course today and start your journey towards becoming an Associate Clinical Educator. Time is running out – act now!

If you are a Medical Roleplayer and would like to take your skill set to the next level, sign up for our training courses in 2023. Our next one is on May 13th 2023 and it’s free! Give Bob a call on 07870 611850 if you would like more details or want to ask anything about our courses. Or sign up in the below form for more information about the course.

The Associate Clinical Educator (ACE) successfully combines the role of the simulated patient and lay teacher involved in the training of health professionals of all kinds. From medical students to physician associates, from dental students to nurses and many, many more.

The ACE is a hands on resource for the student. They provide the student a chance to get quite literally hands on with an experienced simulated patient. It gives the student the opportunity to put into practice the theory they learn in the classroom from tutors and medical textbooks. The opportunity for them to work with a ‘real person’ who can present as a healthy patient or one who has a variety of pathologies.

ACEs are not clinicians, and their backgrounds are varied. Some may have a background in performance and others in teaching. Some are already medical role players, but this is not a requirement. The desire to teach and assist students in order to help them become better and safer clinicians is our chief priority. An ACE should therefore be able to give structured feedback to the student in a way that helps them learn and improve their skill sets.

An ACE of course has their own skill sets to learn too, and with that in mind we are putting a campaign together to recruit new role players and ACEs to the organisation. So, whatever your background, there may be a place in Meducate Academy for you.

We have training programmes that are designed to get you up to speed in no time at all. You will then work alongside our more experienced people to consolidate those skills.

All of our ACEs and roleplayers are self-employed and payment is made by invoice. We pay industry standards and some of our ACEs work most weeks of the year.

We are also on the lookout for experienced clinicians to work alongside our ACEs. Contact us about this very important role.

Good rates, good conditions and a successful and helpful team are waiting for you to join them.

Meet The Team

Meducate Academy group photo of team of associate clinical educators

Based in the West Midlands, Meducate boasts a great mix of Academics and Entrepreneurial people including Clinicians, Lay Educators and others who have been involved in almost 50 years of corporate and business development training.

Our aim is to provide Colleges and Universities that run these educational programmes with teams of highly trained and experienced Clinicians, Clinical Leaders, Associate Clinical Educators (ACE) and Professional Medical Role Players.

Bob Spour

Training Director

Matt Chapman

Finance Director

Bootcamp For Physician Associate Students At Chester University

February 1, 2023December 31, 2022 by R Spour

The Meducate Team and some 2nd year PA students on their Bootcamp at The University of Chester

The Bootcamp for Physician Associate students at Chester University is an intensive training program designed to help students prepare for National Exams. It involves practising skills, receiving feedback from experienced trainers, and honing communication and consultation skills. The Bootcamp is structured over three days and covers a variety of conditions and scenarios, including multi-systems examinations. The program is designed to help students deal with stress and pressure in a simulated exam setting, and to conform to the standards required by OSCE assessors. The Bootcamp ends with the students having the opportunity to practice under exam conditions and receive feedback.

Who Dares Trains!

Putting the Physician Associate student through their paces.

I think it is essential to define what I mean by Bootcamp. The definition of a boot camp is an intensive way to obtain knowledge about a specialisation. In the case of the Physician Associate program, these are related to medicine.

A common practice is to take the students (usually 2nd years) through a whole range of skills working with ACEs, mannequins and clinicians to help them hone their skills and then receive focused feedback at the end of the process.

The idea of the Bootcamp comes from the military where soldiers are put under intense pressure and made to perform the skills they have learnt in their area of expertise. Unlike the military, we do not shout at students but guide them with structured feedback. They do feel pressured to perform which helps them deal with the stress of their upcoming OSCEs. This is also a valuable skill for a PA as they will inevitably find themselves outside of their comfort zone when out in the workplace. In particular Emergency Medicine and Breaking Bad news.

Bob works with students on the intensive bootcamp held at the University of Chester The ACE plays a very important part in this process, and because of their high level of knowledge and skill can replicate the patient journey in fine detail. This is what distinguishes us from volunteers or role-players, who give high-fidelity feedback on more than just communication skills. An Ace is trained to give feedback on the way a student handled the patient, and the efficacy of the techniques they are using. For example, the way the student auscultates and percusses the patient or the way the student used palpation.

Did the student perform the examination using the accepted methodology? Did they conform to the standards required by the OSCE assessors?

Each institution has its way of running the boot camps, but generally, the structure is something like this:

Day One: Introduction to the methodology and approach expected from the student. Consultation skills: History taking on a variety of conditions to be determined by the academic staff.

Challenging scenarios related to the workplace. It is not just patients that can be a challenge, but colleagues too, so it is important to learn how to have difficult conversations.

Day one usually ends with a group discussion about what they would like to cover over the remaining 2 days. At Chester University, the students worked with 4 experienced ACEs and we covered Cardio, Respiratory and GI. We practised them as stand-alone examinations and blended them, where a patient would present with a pathology that required a multi-systems approach. The students always find this a challenge but usually do well at this level of their training.

We also worked through MSK and Neurological examinations.

For a Physician Associate to prepare for National Exams it is always great for the team at Meducate Academy to get the feedback they deserve. We work hard to ensure the students get the best tuition and feedback.

The two years working with this cohort have flown by, as they say, and it has been a journey filled with surprises and detours. Plain sailing and a few rough patches, but when all is said and done we got there in the end!

Boot camps are a great way to help the students tie up any loose ends they may feel they have in their understanding, and I am pleased to say we and the academics were there to support them.

I got the sense that the students were more than ready for the nationals and we wish them all the luck for their future as Physician Associates.

As an aside, it was also great to get a ‘thank you’ card from the students, which was totally unexpected but very welcome. I look forward to being at their graduation.

So, it is onwards and upwards for the coming year and 2023 promises to be a good one with us working closely with our partners and also with Pharmacists at Wolverhampton University.

If you’re a Clinical Lead or Senior Lecturer and want to have a chat with us about how we can add value to what you already get in touch. We would love to give you a demonstration and a workshop at your institution. Please contact: bobspour@meducateacademy.com or on 07870 611850

James Ennis On The Use of ACEs & Roleplayers In Clinical Education

January 13, 2024October 18, 2021 by R Spour

James Ennis Clinical Lead at The University of Chester Physician Associate Programme

James Ennis is currently Clinical Lead at The University of Chester Physician Associate Programme. He has worked with ACEs both as student Physician Associate, and also used ACEs when he was teaching at The University of Birmingham and latterly at Chester University. Here we have an overview of his contribution to the Meducate Academy ACE Online Conference 2021 in an abridged form. If this sparks your interest please watch the attached video and share the link with colleagues and friends.

“Today on the conference, I’m just going to quickly give you an overview of how we use Associate Clinical Educators at Chester University. This was quite a new concept to Chester and as I’ve recently moved from Birmingham up to the area, I decided to bring the Associate Clinical Educator role up with me. We consider the ACEs to be an integral part of the teaching team, and so I’m now going to talk about how we use them and where we use them. I’m going to give you some quotes from our students about their experience in working with ACEs on the course and more importantly a little about simulation and the ACEs themselves.

“I’d like to give you a balanced opinion on the role because there are some perceived threats, in my opinion about the use of ACEs and roleplayers. I want to talk about the future development too at some point. The main point that should come across is that the ACE can give accurate Hi-Fidelity feedback to both the teacher about the student and more importantly to the student themselves.

“Typically a roleplayer is used as a live patient often able to give feedback to the student in terms of their communication skills. The ACE does this and more. They can give feedback on the physical examination skills themselves, both from the point of view of safety and technique. We’ve kind of gone away from the compartmentalisation of history taking and then physical examination skills and we have looked at it more as a kind of an integrated model which is how clinicians truly consult. As well as that, we use the ACEs in specialist roles for example intimate examinations.

“We also use the all singing all dancing SIM Man. This is what we would typically think of with regard to high fidelity simulation. Of course we do use the Sim Men as well, particularly for emergency scenarios, but we also use the ACEs as part of a role play that would fit into the scenario and so the communication isn’t lost during the interaction.

“During the pandemic we also had to change the way we worked with ACEs and a lot of the work was carried out online. This also fitted in with the growth of online consultations that are now part of a clinicians responsibility. Of course this is useful for maybe online medication reviews but not for someone presenting with acute abdominal pain.

“To maintain balance of opinion I’ve captured a few of our most recent students/staff liaison minutes from meetings and these are from our year two students. These are kind of common themes so I’ve just picked a few just to quickly touch on. Looking at the completely comprehensively positive feedback from from students on the ACEs role and what they give to the student.

“Many students said that they find working with the ACE far less threatening, particularly when making the inevitable mistakes while performing physical examinations, and they were able to refine their technique with the ACE. However, I would like to mention that it does say that mannequins and other types of simulation may be just as helpful.

“Now, what I would say is, I don’t see the ACE role completely dominating simulation in medical education. It’s very much used as an adjunct and that’s how we now utilise our ACEs. Also the students obviously get quite twitchy around OSCE season assessment periods. Again, we found the ACE to be incredibly helpful, not just for improving students technique and examination skills but also in building their confidence.

“Again, as Professor Jim Parle mentioned previously, the students really responded positively to the ACE role in working on things that they find specifically difficult. One of the things I’d like to highlight is the MSK examinations. It’s one thing that our ACEs really cover in depth with our students. All of our ACEs are heavily trained in MSK examination technique as I’m sure Uzo will talk about in far greater depth in his talk.

“The student feedback has always been positive and more time with ACEs is constantly being requested. This is why we really are so keen on simulation with ACEs.

“I’m sure most of you haven’t used ACEs or simulated patients in any great detail, but you will find that they have had some push back from institutes, mainly because of the financial burden and restricted budgets. The way we’ve worked around this, is I would far prefer to have the human factor in simulation than simply by props and Sim Men, sometimes costing up to £80,000. Sim Men have their place, but I would prefer to spend our money towards the use of ACEs. I have certainly not had any problems from my institute with getting the financial backing, especially when we keep getting such excellent feedback.

“We haven’t yet got a great amount of evidence on the student and patient outcome from such interventions and that’s something I’ll come onto later.

“Another thing, although the ACE is highly trained they are of course not a substitute for a skilled clinician. They are always available to discuss and answer questions of a clinical nature and each supports the other. The ACE and the clinician work as a team.

“So, that’s just a quick overview of where I’m going with my research and I would invite anybody to contact me if they are interested in this subject. I’m constantly monitoring the impact the ACEs have on student performance, and therefore patient outcomes after training. Take a look at the slides I have provided and I am as always interested in any questions you might have.”

Simulation at chester (meducate) from rspour

Click arrows to view PowerPoint slides of this talk by James Ennis

The Importance Of Simulation In Medical Education

September 28, 2021September 27, 2021 by R Spour

Professor Jim Parle discusses the use of Associate Clinical Educators at the online conference

Professor Parle was our keynote speaker at the conference and it was an honour to have him join us. What follows is an abridged version of the talk. If you want to view the complete talk it is available in the video above.

“I’ve been involved with the ACE process for something like 15-18 years or so. I am now a retired professor at the University of Birmingham and I’ve been using ACEs and similar kinds of approaches to education for a long time. What I’m going to do today is to go straight into talking about what ACEs are and why we introduced them into the Physician Associate Course and what sparked my interest in education generally.

“We used ACEs on the PA programme for probably at least 15 years if not longer, so for today’s conference I would like to spend more time talking about simulation generally. Also, would like to talk about why we need simulation and why I think we need more simulation and why I think we need high fidelity simulation by which I mean using real human beings, not computers or robots!

“Obviously there’s an ethical issue about performing intimate or any kind of physical examination on actual patients. When I was a student, which is quite a long time ago, we used to examine patients without consent. The patient wasn’t really given an opportunity to say no.

“Obviously you should never do this kind of thing and fortunately, times have changed. I remember my first female patient examination, in which I was embarrassed. She was embarrassed, and I was probably incompetent. I don’t think I hurt the patient, but I didn’t know what I was doing. Looking back now, it was a ridiculous way to learn to carry out examinations. That is one reason we need to think about simulation.

“There’s also the point that medical students need repeated practise and repeated, focused and relevant feedback. You don’t really get that from a patient and when you examine a patient, they rarely know whether you’re doing a good job. We don’t really give them a voice, so we need to have or recruit a patient or patient substitute who is skilled in that area.

“There’s also the issue that students arrive with different levels of skill. You therefore need somebody who can work at the level the student is at. We can’t expect a real patient to do that, as they’ve got their own problems and their own things to focus on when in a consultation. An ACE, however, can do that and more, because we have trained them to be able to show certain kinds of pathology or abnormalities.

“I’ll give you an example: A patient comes off his or her bike and injures their chest. Maybe a couple of fractured ribs and difficulty breathing. If you were to examine an actual patient, they will be in a great deal of pain. They will have tenderness around the area and having restricted breathing. It would be unethical to subject an actual patient to multiple examinations by new students. With an ACE, that problem won’t occur. Some of our ACEs can even demonstrate asymmetric breathing and can obviously be examined throughout the day by many students with no ill effects.

“We can therefore reproduce an extremely convincing simulation with an actual person who the student has to interact with just like an actual patient, but they’re not putting a patient through all that kind of discomfort.

“I just want to add the importance of recognising what is also normal and an ACE can present both sides of this situation. Consider the previous example of asymmetric breathing. The ACE can easily demonstrate what is normal, then quickly change to abnormal. I can only assert that it’s much easier to learn something that’s abnormal when you have something normal to compare it with and, obviously, vice versa. The ACE can do this. Is able to switch asymmetric breathing too symmetrical breathing and back again so the student can see the difference and we as human beings are good at spotting differences but not so good at spotting absolute values. On a similar but not quite the same theme, I am concerned that if we learn something incorrectly, then it becomes difficult to unlearn it.

“I think it’s really important when students are learning physical examination skills that they compare normal with abnormal there and then. This means that they get immediate feedback, and which they don’t necessarily get with mannequins.

“Because of austerity and the current COVID crisis, students are not able to wander as freely around the wards interacting with patients as they did during my time as a student. So pressure on clinical learning environments and the clinicians who might teach us has become more and more restricted. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for students, whether medical, physician associates or pharmacists, and I’m sure it’s true of other clinical professions that an ACE could fulfill that role.

“An ACE is somebody who’s been trained to use their body and their psyche in educating clinicians by responding appropriately when asked to do something by a student. An ACE, as well as being a responsive patient, can also play a naïve patient, so if simple instructions are not given, the ACE will respond appropriately. If the student wants to take a blood pressure, for example, then the ACE knows exactly how this should be done. An ACE can replicate being a patient who has never had it done and do a variety of things that will affect the blood pressure reading. The ACE can then teach the student how to do it correctly. The student can see the blood pressure go up and down when a patient moves their arm or flexes their muscles. They will see the blood pressure go up and down. The student then gets the reason for doing it correctly and shows that they can do it correctly. This is immediate feedback and students love feedback. They’re always asking for more feedback! If it applies to the individual students’ strengths and weaknesses, they then improve straight away.

“So in conclusion I think I would say that what ACEs bring to the interaction is that they can role play, they can show abnormalities including assessments, they can understand what errors students make or errors patients make and then feedback to the students.

“The most important thing I want you to remember from what I’ve said is it’s sometimes good to take the clinician out of the room when the ACE is working. You do not want a clinician in there. If you have a clinician in with the ACE there, they’ll inevitably get into discussions about various pathologies and what a particular system does in terms of it’s function.

“The ACE is there to work as a tool to aid in the learning of the systems exams. We can do the theory at another session. Making full use of the ACE is vital and students’ feedback always shows they learn the examination processes quicker when the academic leaves the room!”

Click here to watch Professor Jim Parle talking about the value of using ACEs as simulated patients on the ACE National Conference

Meducate Academy’s First National Online ACE Conference

June 11, 2022July 29, 2021 by R Spour

Meducate Academy are pleased to announce their First National Online Conference on The role of the Associate Clinical Educator in Medical Education.

As I have said repeatedly, Simulation with an ACE plays a very important role in helping Medical Students, Physician Associates, Pharmacists and other health professionals in the application of their skills. This coupled with the use of other tools such as the Sim Man, anatomical models and volunteer patients integrate the teaching so that the students practical development is maximised. It prepares them to work with real life patients.

More often than not students only get to practice these skills on volunteer patients and mannequins. Neither of these can replace the type of feedback given by a human being in real time.

A few years ago this problem was addressed by Prof Jim Parle at The University of Birmingham on the Physician associate Course. He realised the importance of high quality feedback and created the role of the Associate Clinical Educator (ACE). The ACE, as we have previously said, is a highly experienced medical roleplayer who has been trained by clinicians to understand “how” the Systems examinations should be carried out. The ACE will then guide the student, allowing them to develop their skills in a safe and controlled environment.

It is also important to realise that as well as aiding the student in passing their OSCEs, the ACE role is there to help the student develop safe practice. This is a topic that is often not mentioned and this too will be discussed during the conference.

At the present moment ACEs are only being used by three institutions in the UK.

Birmingham University (In house through the ISU)
Chester University (Meducate Academy)
Wolverhampton University (Meducate Academy)

We are inviting clinical leads as well as those involved in simulation in the health professions to attend free of charge.

You will have a chance to listen to 5 key speakers who currently use ACEs alongside traditional methods of simulation and also get to see a brief example of how an ACE works with a student. This will be followed by a Q & A session with the speakers themselves.

The Line Up:
Professor Jim Parle

Professor Jim Parle will be speaking about the history of the role of associate clinical educator and his part in its development and what the future holds for simulation.

Jim Parle was Professor of Primary Care and was Course director for the Physician Assistant PGDip programme at The University of Birmingham. Although retired he continues to work tirelessly on a variety of projects.

Jim entered General Practice in 1982 and was Senior Partner from 1983 to 2000, continuing part-time General Practice alongside academia since then. Jim’s main activity in his 20 years as an academic has been in education, leading on the introduction of a major community based teaching strand within the MBChB course; championing the place of non bio-sciences such as ethics and law and behavioral science in the medical curriculum; establishing the PA PGDip; and leading innovative educational approaches such as using lay women to teach medical students how to perform female pelvic examinations. His research interests have been predominantly in thyroid epidemiology and in education. He has received grants from, among others, the RCGP, PPP (now the Health Foundation) and the NIHR.

Jim had also led the development of community based experience for medical students, initiated (with Dr Sheila Greenfield), the innovative and successful intercalated degree in non-bioscience subjects; led the development of various types of simulation as enjoyable and effective learning methodologies for clinical skills and set up one of the first, and by most measures the most successful, postgraduate diploma in Physician Assistant studies in the UK. He was also chair of the UK and Ireland Board for PA Studies. He has been on the Steering Committee for the Biennial International Clinical Skills Conference series held in Tuscany, and chaired the Scientific Committee for that conference.

He is well known in the fields of thyroid epidemiology and, in education, particularly in the development of innovative approaches to learning clinical skills. He has spoken at numerous conferences on these issues (e.g. quinquennial thyroid conference, Buenos Aires, Ottawa conference on assessment, Toronto).

He recently stepped down as Chief Senior Examiner of the RCP Faculty of Physician Associate National Exam board.

James Ennis

James has worked in a number of clinical fields across the UK including general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics, acute medicine and general practice. He has worked in educational institutes across England and is currently research active. His research interest is in the PA role in the UK and the use of simulation in medical education. Recent publications include:

Effectiveness of technology-enhanced simulation in teaching digital rectal examination: a systematic review narrative synthesis.

Physician associates: the challenge facing general practice.

Physician associates working in secondary care teams in England: interprofessional implications from a national survey.

James is currently the Course Director of the MSc Physician Associate studies at the University of Chester.

Kate Straughton

President of the Faculty of Physician Associates and Senior Lecturer at The University of Birmingham Physician Associate Programme.

Kate is a qualified PA, graduating from the University of Birmingham in 2009 and completing her MsC in 2017 from the University of Worcester. She has over ten years experience including working in acute medicine and neurosurgery. She has been working in PA education since 2014, with a focus on work-based learning and clinical placements. Kate is currently the placement lead for the University of Birmingham PA course, and also oversees the MsC ‘top up’ for PAs who wish to carry out some further research.

Uzo Ehiogu

Uzo is a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist who led the Spinal Therapy Unit at London Bridge Hospital in London, England. In that role he was responsible for the specialist spinal rehabilitation of post surgical patients referred by orthopaedic, upper limb and neuro surgeons. He also acted a source of clinical expertise for lower quadrant related dysfunction within the department. He now heads up the training of 4th year Medical students in Musculo Skeletal Examinations at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital in Birmingham as well as working in a busy clinical role.

Uzo is a retired British Army Physiotherapy Officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He spent several years in the Royal Marines Commandos and qualified as a Parachutist before being selected for a Commission in the Army as an Officer. During his service in the Army he has worked in secondary care, primary care and occupational health environments.

One his most recent appointment was as the Rehabilitation Officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst providing clinical and administrative leadership for a high performance musculoskeletal service. He was the clinical lead responsible for the delivery of a high class service in a premier military training establishment for injured soldiers. He led the accelerated return to military training and work of patients with career threatening injuries requiring ongoing care and extended rehabilitation for periods of 4-8 months.

Uzo deployed to Afghanistan twice during his Army service years in support of British Special Forces personnel. He conducted specialist musculoskeletal clinics. This role required independent decision making regarding the clinical diagnosis and future management of high value personnel. He has also worked as a Specialist Physiotherapist at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court.

Uzo has worked in the National Health Service as a Senior Physiotherapist where he developed a Pilates and Spinal Stability retraining service in East London England. He has worked for several football teams in Northeast London, England, most notably at West Ham Professional Football Club as the Youth Team Physiotherapist.

Uzo is a Bachelor of Applied Sports Science, and an accredited Strength and Conditioning Specialist with the National Strength and Conditioning Association USA. He is also a Bachelor of Physiotherapy and is in his final year of a Clinical Masters of Science Degree in Manipulative and Manual Physiotherapy. He is a keen researcher and reader and is currently involved in a year long prospective research project investigating lower limb injury risk profiling in British Army Officer Cadets.

Mark Reynolds (Host) Mark has been working as an ACE since 2008 having trained as a medical role player two years previously. Aside from teaching cardiovascular, respiratory and gastrointestinal examinations, his special interests in the ACE role include clinical communication, orthopaedic examinations and Mark is a leading educator in the male intimate examinations. Outside of the ACE role Mark is currently involved with various narration projects for the BBC Doctor Who franchise.

We look forward to you joining us on the 4th September 2021 at 12 noon and engage with our experienced clinicians who will talk about their experience of simulation in teaching practice and how the ACE has helped their students develop important clinical and communication skills.

Click here to register for Meducate Academy’s First National Online ACE Conference

From Comedy to Clinical Education: My Journey As An Associate Clinical Educator

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 by R Spour

Clinical Director James Ennis demonstrates an Elbow exam with ACE Mark Reynolds — Clinical Director James Ennis going through an Elbow exam with ACE Mark Reynolds

My journey as An Associate Clinical Educator started way back in 1984 when I enrolled on the Drama and Theatre Arts Degree course at The University of Birmingham. It was a massive departure from my previous life back in the North of England. I was a mature student and at least ten years older than my fellow students, and the real challenge was also having two small children in tow! The course was the best thing I could have done and has changed my life immeasurably.

I would never have imagined that many years later I would work as an associate clinical educator at the same university but this time in the Medical School and not the Drama department.

After qualification I was working as an actor in TV, Film, Theatre and Motion Capture. I served a fifteen year apprenticeship as a comedian on the alternative comedy circuit through the late 80s to the early noughties as part of a double act.

It was during my time as a comedian that I was able to develop skills as an performer and spent this time persuading the audience that we were funny. Working as a live comedian is the best place to learn to deal with an audience. If you don’t get your message across, you are told to “Get Off”. Not usually as politely as that!

In the background to this I was also building my skills as a corporate educator, motivational speaker, and a Trainer of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). NLP is something I continue to be involved with to the present day.

Associate Clinical Educators Bob Spour, Greg Hobbes, Mark Reynolds at The University of Chester — Working with Clinical Director James Ennis, and ACEs Greg Hobbes and Mark Reynolds at The University of Chester

In 2009 I changed direction and applied to be a Medical Role Player with The Interactive Skills Unit (ISU) at The University of Birmingham. This required a different set of skills and as well as acting I was also expected to give feedback to the medical students after having role played various scenarios with them. A different way of working for me, and I enjoyed it immensely.

It was during a GPVTS roleplay session that the Manager of the ISU, Karen Reynolds, approached me and asked if I would be interested in working as an ACE. This was a role developed by Professor Jim Parle of The Physician Associate Programme at Birmingham. I jumped at the chance and embraced this new venture. It would shape the course of my future career working with health professionals.

With the help of Jim Parle I embarked upon my new career as an ACE. It meant I could combine my skills as a communicator alongside my new growing knowledge of body systems examinations. Giving feedback on the students technique as well as their communication skills. I could now help the student on two levels. Having been a trained engineer in the 70s I took to the role easily, as body systems are not dissimilar to mechanical systems. I also took this approach whilst studying anatomy and physiology.

Over the next six months I bought books on body system examinations and practiced the techniques with Mark, one of the other ACEs. Together we made a formidable team and worked with The Physician Associates and their Clinical staff. The clinicians were always supportive of our efforts and always made us feel part of the team. They gave us insight into the methodology of examining the CV, respiratory, GI, cranial nerves, upper and lower limb neurology. We also helped the students’ approach to sitting the OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Exams). We were learning on the job and I spent many hours pouring over medical textbooks to enhance my knowledge in my own time.

In 2011 I was offered a chance to learn examinations of the musculo-skeletal systems, working for The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (ROH). Training was carried out by Consultant Surgeon Mr Edward Davis and Consultant Physiotherapist Andy Emms. These sessions were well structured, theoretical and practical, and they guided us through the hip, knee, shoulder, spine, hand and ankle examinations in great detail along with supporting materials. This would be another string to my bow.

University of Chester. Riverside Campus — University of Chester, Riverside Campus

As time went on, I was fortunate to work with some great clinicians who were always happy to help and answer my questions. Some have even become friends as well as colleagues.

I now have the pleasure of extending my knowledge to other universities and institutions and find myself able to offer employment and training to other role players and actors wishing to embark on this amazing career.

I am also in the process of creating a course with a view to ACEs gaining accreditation for the role through one of our partners. I believe this is vitally important in maintaining high standards of teaching to the medical students. Many of the clinicians I have worked with over the years have offered their help in teaching new ACEs to the very highest level.

Who would have thought it would have come this far? It’s thanks to the people who gave me the opportunity to reach out to students and help them on their journey to becoming great clinicians.

The recent pandemic saw a downturn with employment in the field for many role players, but I was able to take up this challenge and run with it. Working in conjunction with Peter Gorman at The University of Wolverhampton and James Ennis at Chester University, we were able to teach online and take OSCEs from March 2020 right up to the present date. Thus ensuring the students had as little disruption as possible to their studies. Sadly, some universities did not embrace this way of working until much later. We were therefore ahead of the curve in adapting to the changing working environment and I was able to offer employment to some of my friends and colleagues.

It is during tough times like this that I fully realise the significance of one of my lifelong maxims:

There is no Failure. Only Feedback.

If 2020-21 was anything to go by, 2022 promises to be an exceptional year for Meducate Academy. This is how I see the future.

If you, like me, fancy a real challenge, come work with Meducate Academy and join us on the journey.

The Physician Associates Program And The Role Of The ACE

April 22, 2021April 18, 2021 by R Spour

Bob Spour working with Clinical Lead Pete Gorman at The University of Wolverhampton — Working alongside Clinical Lead Pete Gorman at The University of Wolverhampton

Congratulations are in order to all of those Physician Associates who were successful in passing their recent National Exams.

The Physician Associates Program is a very intensive 2 year Post-Graduate course and requires great dedication, focus, resilience and determination to complete. It takes many hours of reading, studying and practicing hands on skills training to produce a competent and safe PA.

Image of the University of Wolverhampton from the PA Skills suite — The University of Wolverhampton from the PA Skills suite

Working in close partnership with The University of Chester and The University of Wolverhampton has shown me how demanding the course can be. I see it as my duty as an ACE to ensure that the PA student gets the support and the skills they need to progress in the profession

As an ACE it is also important to keep up to date with any changes that might be happening in the curriculum. Whilst this sometimes is a challenge, I am always grateful to the tutors for their continued support.

Just as the students work and study hard, I am conscious that Meducate Academy’s ACEs put in the same effort. We will therefore continue to work closely with Chester University and Wolverhampton University to produce high quality training programmes for both communication skills and systems examinations this year.

We are about to start producing video and online resources materials for our ACE training programme over the summer months. In less than a month our ACE Aide Memoire will be available to all of our staff here at Meducate Academy.

It's always fun working with ACEs at The University of Chester — Bob & Mark enjoy working at The University of Chester

Academy continue to invest in our ACEs and we are still working on gaining some type of accreditation for the role. Although we are seen as lay educators our ability to provide high fidelity simulations and clinical skills is well documented by the institutions we work with. It is about time this was rewarded with some type of recognised qualification. It also means that our partners know that they are getting the highest quality ACEs working alongside their clinical staff.

We have always been passionate about continued professional ACE training and we want the quality of that work to be second to none.

We will be rolling out a regular annual training camp for the ACEs. This means we have control over the quality of the people we provide to our customers. This of course will be dependent on social distancing rules being relaxed in the coming months.

If you want to work as an ACE and be part of the team at Meducate Academy enter your details in the landing page here and we will get in touch.

Incidentally we will also be hosting an Annual Conference in July 2021. The panel will consist of five speakers all senior clinicians in their own right who have an impressive track record on the UK PA programme. The topic will be the role of simulation in medical training, specifically focusing on the role of the associate clinical educator.

The Importance Of Feedback From The Physician Associate Student

March 22, 2021 by R Spour

Meducate Academy - Teaching physician associates the importance of having a systematic approach to physical exams

In my last post The Associated Clinical Educators Role In Providing Feedback To Student Clinicians, I talked about the importance of feedback to the Physician Associate student and how an ACE structures their feedback to ensure that they achieve the best learning outcomes.

Feedback is important to the student and is also of importance for us to receive feedback on our performance. This is a vital part of the communication interaction and helps us improve our facilitation skills.

At Meducate Academy we always want to hear what the student thinks of the session and we often ask them to appraise our performance and give us feedback, and it’s always nice when that feedback comes in the form of a testimonial that you just didn’t expect.

Last week we were lucky enough to work with the 2nd year Physician Associate cohort at The University of Chester. A very highly motivated group of students who show real promise. We were assisting clinicians in teaching MSK and general systems examinations, and the day went well.

There were six ACEs teaching all day and each group broke off into their separate rooms, observing the current Covid-19 restrictions. The students were able to take histories and then perform a physical examination. We then asked them to report their findings (if any) and give a summary and management plan.

I was happy that everyone performed well (including the ACEs) and we left Chester in high spirits.

Our return journey to Birmingham gave us a chance to reflect on our performance and that of the groups we were working with, and we all felt that the day had gone well. Self-reflection is an important part of the process for all Meducate Academy employees and allows us to develop our skills to the highest standard.

Within 24 hours some students had put a post up on Instagram and I felt I had to share it here on the blog.

We are currently working on writing a manual that will help students pass their OSCEs. This is in partnership with a senior clinician from The Royal Orthopedic Hospital. It’s aim is to give two different perspectives on the OSCE process. The first is from the point of view of the ACE/simulated patient and the other from the examiners perspective. We believe this is the first time anything like this has been published. As ACEs and simulated patients we have been involved in thousands of hours of OSCEs which in-turn gives us an insight into how students can improve their performance. Keep your eyes peeled for this in the near future.

On a similar note Matrix Education has produced Primary Care For Physician Associates, an excellent reference source for the training of physicians associates which is available now. One of the authors, Sofia Hiramatsu, was an old student of mine at the University of Birmingham medical school. She is now a successful PA working in London and founder of Matrix Education. I am particularly proud of her achievements in the field of medical education. At over 600 pages, this book will be a useful aid to not only help you pass your exams but also serve as as useful aide memoir when you are qualified as a Physician Associate.

The Associated Clinical Educators Role In Providing Feedback To Student Clinicians

March 9, 2021 by R Spour

Associated Clinical Educators Providing Feedback To Student Clinicians

Last week saw us working online with our partners at Wolverhampton and Chester University. Although the role of the ACE is to work predominantly with helping the student to develop their physical skills with systems examinations, we also spent a lot of the time teaching them how to take an effective history.

Alfred Korzybski the developer of General Semantics once said:

“The meaning of communication is the response you get”.

When you are a medical professional sitting with an actual patient, you won’t be in the fortunate position of receiving feedback from them. They just won’t tell you.

They can’t.

They don’t really know what you are doing and you wouldn’t expect them too!

Working with an ACE or simulated patient changes all of that.

When ACEs work with students, their key role in the interaction is to provide quality feedback to the student clinician on their communication and the systems exam that they are performing.

Everyone employed by Meducate Academy are experienced actors and can therefore present powerful examples of a patient with a variety of problems and pathologies. Whether it be a mental health scenario, a difficult or challenging patient, an angry patient, those presenting with physical problems or working with colleagues and relatives of a patient. We have done them all!

This is all very useful as it creates a ‘reality’ for the student to work with, but it is not the complete story.

Role-play and simulation without high-quality feedback is just acting, and that’s not our aim here at Meducate Academy.

An ACE is an important and vital resource for the student, and our ability to recreate a scenario as a simulated patient providing feedback is of critical importance to the student and their assessors.

The feedback we offer allows the student time to reflect on their performance without the worry of making a ‘mistake’. That the environment is safe and that they can stop the scenario at any time in order to make any adjustments to their communication style.

You can’t do this with an actual patient!

Providing feedback in a nonjudgmental way gives the student an opportunity to improve without the pressure of having to get it right every time.

Feedback when given is always specific and detailed where necessary. We never say:

“Oh. That was Good!”

Without qualifying the statement to the student with detail as to why it was good and how it made the patient feel at the time they said it. Feedback should be evident and observable.

For example, the ACE would explain how the patient felt when the student failed to make eye contact when delivering bad news. There should be no ambiguity in your feedback, and clarity is vital:

“When you auscultated my chest and asked me to take deep breaths, you lifted the stethoscope off my chest before I completed a full breath cycle.”

This is much better than: “Keep the stethoscope on a little longer.”

The timing of the feedback is also important. We always wait until the end of the history and/or examination before giving feedback. This is normal unless the assessor/staff member asks for it earlier.

In some cases (mainly physical examinations) the ACE may stop the interaction if a procedure is performed roughly, or if the ACE is in danger of getting injured.

When we give feedback to more than one participant in a simulation, we keep it as succinct as possible and we never judge. An ACE will never compare one students’ performance against another. We take each person on their own merits.

When giving feedback, we do it in the third person as the patient. Explaining how the patient felt from their perspective is vital, and when we give feedback, we always ensure that we only make two or three points. We never overwhelm the student with a wealth of information, only enough to develop their skill set.

An ACE never gives feedback on the medical content of the simulation unless they have been specifically trained by a clinician. We always remind ourselves that we are lay educators and not clinicians.

If a student becomes defensive about feedback, we do not engage in arguing the point. Speak calmly and logically. A good structure therefore is vital. We are never too negative in our feedback and if the support of the facilitator is required, the ACE will get them involved.

If a student seems confused by the feedback, we take a few moments to reflect on what has been said and then recalibrate our communication style to suit the student. Everyone is different, and an ACE always endeavours to be a master communicator.

If a member of staff contradicts the ACE, we always wait till the session is over to discuss that difference in perspective. We would never discuss issues in front of the students. This may be an opportunity to learn something new and improve our skillsets.

It is often the case in our multicultural society that an ACE may not understand the student because of an accent, dialect or even the volume. We are always respectful, and will explain to the student that they sometimes have to work on this aspect of their communication in order to ensure they are understood and that their interaction has a high degree of clarity. Lack of clarity is always pointed out sensitively.

Sometimes the ACE may notice that the accepted dress code is not being adhered too. It is important that we highlight this in our feedback to the staff. Personal matters such as bad breath, body odour and unkempt appearance should be addressed. We don’t mention this directly to the student, but through the facilitator.

We always expect our ACEs and simulated patients to also develop their communication skills. We regularly assess them in this ability. Being an actor does not mean that you can be a role-player. The ability to deliver feedback effectively to the student is what is expected.

Let’s ensure that the standards of the ACE are as high as that of the clinicians.

We are currently producing a workbook for the ACEs and this will serve as a useful aide-mémoire for those who take on this very demanding but rewarding role.