Categories Medical Students 4th Years SPC
4th Years SPC
Welcome to your Specialist Surgery & Peri-Operative Care (SPC) placement here in Walsall. Over the next 9 weeks, we aim to help gain experience in anaesthesia & peri-operative care, ENT, urology, rheumatology & musculoskeletal (majority done on the 2 week placement at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital). It is important that you manage your time effectively and we advise that you make the most of your SPC Personal Progress Log & Notebook. This is designed to be taken to your placements and used during the day to guide your activity and to help you monitor your progress during the placement. It is most important that you factor in your 2 week placement at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.
Working closely with Birmingham Medical School, we will strive to help train the very best doctors who are safe, competent, good communicators and well placed to meet the demands of a changing National Health Service.
As your Senior Academy Tutor, I will be meeting you on a regular basis over the next 9 weeks and my colleagues and I look forward to teaching you.
Dr Ramkumar
Overview of Placement
Resuscitation Council (UK) ILS Course
Raising Concerns about Patient Safety
Dr Ramkumar Andy Tams
Consultant Anaesthetist Academy Tutor/Advanced
Senior Academy Tutor Clinical Practitioner (Anaesthetics)
- Anaesthetics & peri-operative care
- ENT
- Urology
- Rheumatology
- Musculoskeletal
- Designed to be taken to your placements and used during the day to guide your activity and to help you note your progress.
- Can also be used to record your thoughts about the experiences you are having.
- Remember to back up all the information you record in this book onto Student IntraMed so you can remind yourself what you have done, should you lose this book.
Resuscitation Council (UK) ILS Course
During your placement here, you will be undertaking the resuscitation Council (UK) Immediate Life Support (ILS) course.
Learning outcomes
The ILS Course teaches the knowledge and skills to:
- Identify the causes and promote the prevention of cardiopulmonary arrest;
- Recognise and treat the deteriorating patient using the ABCDE approach;
- Undertake the skills of quality CPR and defibrillation (manual and /or AED) and simple airway manoeuvres;
- Utilise non-technical skills to facilitate initial leadership and effective team membership
Assessment is continuous and is guided by the assessment forms provided for each core skill (e.g. initial resuscitation and assessment, and airway management). Copies of the assessment forms should be forwarded to you with the ILS course manual.
Successful candidates receive a Resuscitation Council (UK) ILS provider certificate, which is valid for one year.
The manual is given to you on induction. Candidates are expected to have prepared for the course by reading the manual.
SPC Themed Simulation Sessions
We run weekly SPC themed simulation sessions in the simulation ward. Over the 9 week placement, anaesthetics & peri-operative care as well as the surgical specialties will be covered. You will know in advance the specialty theme for each week enabling you to revise/prepare in advance.
The format for each simulation session typically involves history taking, clinical examination, appropriate clinical procedures, data interpretation and communication. These sessions will provide you with feedback on how well you are doing and any areas of improvement that may be required
SPC Simulated Teaching Sessions
We run SPC curriculum linked simulated teaching sessions (STSs) towards the end of your placement. These sessions will cover anaesthetics & peri-operative care as well as the surgical specialties The format in most stations will be case based discussions. History taking, clinical examination, clinical procedures, data interpretation and communication will also feature where appropriate.
These sessions will provide you with feedback on how well you are doing and any areas of improvement that may be required.
Every morning, patients who have been admitted in the previous 24 hours with good clinical signs, good histories, spot diagnoses or generally interesting cases are put on our Patients for OSCEs (POSCEs) list. The patient’s name, ward & bed number together with relevant clinical information is included. In addition, patients are ‘tracked’ as they move to a different ward and bed number and the POSCEs list is updated accordingly.
The POSCEs list is ready by 8-8.30am each morning and is available from where you sign-in i.e. either MLCC reception or later on in the Medical Education Administration Office.
Students find this list very helpful as they can target specific patients/clinical conditions etc they want to, or need to, see. It also saves having to go around the wards searching for patients.
Please remember that the POSCEs list is confidential. We therefore ask you to write your name on the list so should it be found we know who has lost it. It mustn’t be taken off trust premises and at the end of the day should be disposed of in one of the hospital’s confidential waste bins (there is one in your common room for your convenience).
Raising Concerns about Patient Safety
Click on the cover above to read more about Promoting Excellence
We take patient safety very seriously. In line with the GMC’s Promoting excellence: standards for medical education & training (GMC, 2015), we strive to create a culture of promoting patient safety. We will endeavour to ensure that your education & training takes place where patients are safe, the care & experience of patients is good & education and training is valued.
We strive to demonstrate a culture that allows learners & educators to raise concerns about patient safety, and the standard of care or of education and training, openly and safely without fear of adverse consequences. Should you have any concerns while on placement here in Walsall please speak to an appropriate member of Trust Staff as soon as possible.