Professor Elspeth Alstead gives an opening talk at the launch of the ACE (Academy of Clinical Educators)
The primary purpose of our medical school is to educate the next generation of doctors, dentists, physician associates and health scientists, preparing them to provide world-class healthcare in our local and global communities. To achieve this, we rely not only on the education provided by Queen Mary faculty, but also vitally, on the contribution of many other healthcare professionals who teach our students on clinical placements in local hospitals, primary and community care. We are all aware of the current pressures on the NHS and the delivery of this placement-based education is particularly challenging in the current climate. Bearing this in mind, the FMD Academy of Clinical Educators (ACE) has been founded with the mission to support and empower the professional development of the placement educators, fostering inclusion, innovation and a community of practice, working collaboratively with our local placement providers and clinical teachers. This will provide placement educators opportunities for co-creation of learning opportunities in the curriculum and professional development resources in medical education. Placement educators often feel unappreciated, and we hope to achieve increased recognition of their achievements, celebrating success through the award of honorary contracts, teaching awards and scholarship opportunities. In turn, ACE’s activities will also benefit the quality and equity of student experience on placement, resulting in improved student satisfaction and better patient care. ACE covers primary and secondary care in London and Malta. The details below relate to London, but a similar programme has been developed by Dr Dason Evans (Reader in Clinical Skills) in Malta to cater for their MBBS educators’ specific needs.
ACE aspires to be responsive to the needs of our educators. We will offer a mixture of in-person and digital events and resources. There will be termly in-person symposia or conferences, addressing common issues in medical education and allowing exchange of ideas between FMD and our partners. In addition, we are running synchronous on-line sessions on the essentials of medical education, aimed at new teachers and as an update for the more experienced. Soon to come, will be masterclasses on educational subjects requested by our placement teachers. In addition, we have set up specific sessions on mentoring for the PA teachers and on ‘failing to fail’ for the dental tutors. Members of ACE also have the benefit of access to the comprehensive, on-line CPD sessions provided by the department of Community Based Education (led by Prof Louise Younie), including some practical teaching sessions and ‘hot topics’. IHSE runs several postgraduate taught courses in Medical and Clinical Education (PGCert and MA) and through the ACE, it is hoped that there will be some provision of financial support for teachers to register for these credit-bearing courses. We also plan to roll out peer review of teaching across our clinical placements, which will support educator development.
So far, ACE has
We have also launched a landing page accessible on QMPlus. Here you will find online resources such as information on Honorary Titles, a discussion forum where educators can discuss any challenges they are facing and be put in touch with a member of staff, and our curriculum.
As part of our commitment to innovation, we are looking forward to introducing an App in 2025, enabling busy teachers to access our resources on the go. We are keen to work collaboratively with all our colleagues to adapt and provide the most useful resources using this platform.
If you have any questions or wish to join ACE, please contact us.
Professor Elspeth AlsteadClinical Lead for ACEProfessor in Clinical Medical EducationHonorary Consultant GastroenterologistIHSE
Rossye AlvaresResearch Project ManagerFaculty of Medicine and Dentistry