Healthcare and Biomedical Education
Our healthcare and biomedical research strengths lie in pedagogical and educational research. We are focusing on research that reflects the healthcare education that professionals and practitioners need to provide safe and effective care to patients and health service providers, including inclusivity, digital, interprofessional education, public and patient involvement and professionalisation research.
Theme Leads
Robert Barry
Associate Professor Ophthalmology / Consultant Ophthalmologist
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Dr Sue Neilson
Lecturer in Child Field of Practice, School of Nursing and Midwifery
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The Healthcare Scientist Training Research and Evaluation Group
We work with the National School of Healthcare Science to investigate the effectiveness of scientist education and training and recommend innovations to ensure that trainees are fully prepared for their professional roles.
Healthcare Scientists provide specialist expertise to support diagnosis and treatment across a wide range of disciplines, including life, physiological and physical sciences, and health informatics. High quality training that reflects the complex and fast moving nature of these specialties, and that develops the trainees’ wider skills, is essential if they are to fulfil these roles effectively for the benefit of patients and society.
The Genomics Education Programme Research and Evaluation Group
- PI: Dr Sharon Buckley, Institute of Clinical Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences
- Michelle Bishop, Education Specialist, Health Education England (HEE) Genomics Education Programme
- Hilary Brown, Senior Fellow, Health Services Management Centre
- Sandie Gay, Head of Assessment and Research Evaluation, National School of Healthcare Science
- Professor Jayne Parry, Professor of Policy and Public Health, Institute of Applied Health Research.
- Anneke Seller, Scientific Director, HEE Genomics Education Programme
Widening Participation and Inclusivity in Biomedical and Healthcare Education
Our research aims to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of our extensive programme of outreach and widening participation activities. Also to identify best practice to ensure that all students with the academic potential to succeed, no matter what their background or experience, are supported and guided through their higher education in the biomedical sciences and healthcare.
- PI: Dr Clare Ray, College of Medical and Dental Sciences lead for Outreach and Widening Participation
- PI: Dr Sarah Conner, College of Medical and Dental Sciences Deputy Lead for EDI
- PI: Dr Teresa Thomas, College of Medical and Dental Sciences lead for Student Experience
Public and Patient Engagement and Professionalism
Our aim is to offer teaching of the highest quality in communication and related areas for health professionals and to undertake research of the highest quality, which can inform our teaching and educational understanding.
Pedagogical/Educational Research
Teaching-focused staff in the Institute of Clinical Sciences use a variety of methods to explore the effectiveness of how we teach, and the strengths and feasibility of innovative methods of teaching. We examine our practices in assessment and feedback and design and test new ways to engage with and support our students. We focus on cross-disciplinary projects to seek to generate collaborative, rigorous and impactful student-focused outcomes.
- Neurobiology of the learning process
- Active learning
- The flipped classroom
- Threshold concepts in physiology education
- Academic writing and academic integrity,
- Blended learning
- Active learning
- The use of audio feedback to enhance both the student and staff experience
Standardising Education Relating to Prescribing and Therapeutics
SCRIPT is a web-based eLearning programme that provides a portfolio of 123 modules for the continuing professional development of healthcare professionals and undergraduate healthcare students across the UK. We develop content to standardise the training and education relating to prescribing and therapeutics.
SCRIPT eLearning aims to standardise the training and education of undergraduate healthcare students and healthcare professionals across the NHS, to reduce the risk of medication errors and optimise the use of medicines to benefit patient care.
Integrating Electronic Patient Records into Undergraduate Healthcare Education
Healthcare professionals access patient information electronically, understand and interpret the information and use this to deliver and optimise patient care. The effective contribution to electronic patient records relies on IT skills, user familiarity and competence. The education of healthcare professional students has not kept pace with digital challenges, with the paper record still used to teach and assess key non-clinical skills.
We aim to provide the technology, populated with authentic patient records, to undergraduate healthcare programmes so that students can acquire the clinical and non-technical skills to work effectively with and alongside electronic patient records. We aim to investigate the barriers and facilitators to integrating the technology into undergraduate programmes, and the acceptance of the technology by both students and teaching staff.