Medical education has evolved over the ages, bringing focus onto new elements of clinical education which both outgoing students and practicing doctors need to learn. Skills learning is a little dramatic that a faculty member of a medical or nursing college has to step back, sit down as a student, learn and demonstrate competence, before he is recertified as a qualified instructor or Trainer.

There has however been pressure on college managements to motivate faculty in giving more time and more flexible at that. Skill lab in-charge and the participating faculty need to offer extended college hours as workshops, preparation for workshops and skill lab related events demand more time from leading faculty members.

Laerdal has developed “fit for Purpose” faculty development programs, which help in developing faculty’s skill and simulation expertise. Skills training involves familiarising with OSCEs, being able to demonstrate to students based on the published OSCE and lastly, evaluating students performance based on these same OSCEs.

OSCEs need to confirm to universally accepted best practices in clinical patient care for that specific procedure. However, there is a latitude for some changes or change in sequence in which steps are done, as long as a local clinical authority approves the same or it is line with existing hospital protocols.

Image below : extract from a digital OSCE for catheterisation

Faculty needs to go beyond their specialties, for example:

A forensic or Microbiology faculty can be skills instructor in OBG, Maternal health, Trauma and even critical care simulation

An OBG faculty member may end up training students in Airway Management, IV canulation, Neonatal resuscitation

However, for this transition to be successful, training of these trainers is a must. That is why, faculty development program can be a vital initiative in broadening the skill base of your faculty.