Churchill teaching team recognised at Dean’s Awards

The Year A clinical skills team from Monash Rural Health Churchill have been acknowledged with a Dean’s Award for Excellence - Innovation in Teaching and Learning (Team) for successfully transitioning the clinical skills program wholly online during COVID-19.

Clinical skills are a core component of the Monash medical program. When COVID-19 forced classes online in February 2020, Dr Sean Atkinson, Dr Kristine Gilbert and Caroline Rossetti, who coordinate the highly practical clinical skills program with Year A of the graduate entry medical program, had a significant challenge on their hands. The group needed to transform a highly practical subject from a face-to-face environment to a wholly online one for almost 100 medical students.

“Transitioning an entirely practical subject, like the clinical skills program, online was a difficult task as we needed to work within a framework of many limitations such as time and lack of prior research on the topic to guide us.  However, these limitations also allowed us to be innovative and practical in our design.  Our goal was to make the clinical skills engaging and cover all material that was practically possible,” explains Dr Sean Atkinson.

The Year A clinical skills team implemented many teaching innovations, including:

  • Online telehealth classes with students learning how to take a history from simulated patients using role plays via video-based platforms.
  • Producing a series of educational videos to demonstrate performing a physical examination, enabling students to practice at home and then submit a video of their performance for evaluation with personalised feedback.
  • Developing a virtual hospital placement, with a clinical nurse educator running weekly sessions to cover real-life cases, role-play histories, and educate students on electrocardiograms, blood testing, and physical exam findings.
  • Small group mentor sessions where students were able to talk about their issues, ask questions, and create a sense of community despite being located across five different time zones.

“The goal was to take what was learnt in class and apply it to the clinical world – even if it was online.  The students found the experience enjoyable and helped to reinforce their basic sciences and clinical skills.”

Providing a strong support program and building in both video and written feedback helped students progress through a challenging time. Both the 2020 and 2021 cohorts of Year A students were able to successfully transition through to the clinical years of their degree and begin clinical placements.

The team were pleasantly surprised to be recognised for their hard work over the last three years. The trio bring a wealth of professional experience as clinicians to their teaching with backgrounds in general practice, emergency medicine and nursing and critical care. All three hold clinical roles in Gippsland, where they worked throughout the pandemic, in addition to their teaching commitments.

“Winning this award is an opportunity to show all students and academics that working rurally can be an opportunity to be innovative and to grow your career.  It isn’t always easy and sometimes you need to do a lot with a little, but none of us would want to work anywhere else,” adds Dr Atkinson.

The full list of recipients can be viewed on the 2022 Dean’s Awards for Excellence website.