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Interview with Image Interpretation orthopaedic e-learning authors

Posted on: September 12th, 2019 by Alex Drinkall No Comments

Recently Health Education England’s elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) added 10 new orthopaedic imaging sessions to the Image interpretation programme. In this blog we feature two of the content authors and ask them about their work and what is involved with creating sessions for the elearning programmes.

 

Can you tell us a bit about your role and your background?

Charlotte Ansell: Currently Site Superintendent Radiographer at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. My role involves coordination of day-to-day running of the cross-site imaging departments and rotational staff. In addition, the role portfolio includes participating as a member of the reporting radiographer team.

Ben Pinnington: Currently Superintendent Radiographer at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. My role involves day-to-day operational management of the general x-ray department which includes theatre, mobiles and fluoroscopy on the Guy’s site and participating as a member of the reporting radiographer team.

How and when did you first come across elearning for healthcare (elfh)?

Charlotte: I had previously authored paediatric focussed sessions in 2011 whilst working as the dedicated paediatric superintendent radiographer in Evelina London Children’s Hospital. I next encountered Dorothy Keane, Image Interpretation Clinical Lead, and made contact to see if there was an opportunity to become involved in the elfh project again.

How has elfh changed over the years?

The elfh Hub has grown massively, initially radiology focussed, and now covering a diverse range of topics and providing a wealth of information to many professions at all levels.

Have you used the material? In what way?

We have advertised and encouraged the use of the elfh hub through our Radiographer Education and Development forum which hosts monthly sessions to include presentations, debates and practical sessions.

What do you think of the Image Interpretation programme?

It’s a great online forum for radiographers of all levels to gain and consolidate their knowledge to support development and confidence in their clinical role.

Tell us about the Orthopaedic sessions you have written?

We have been involved in three sessions that have been produced; General Principles of Imaging in the Operating Theatre, Post-operative Pelvis and Post-operative Foot and Ankle. They each provide comprehensive content and include information and images to support users to increase their knowledge on the subject content.

The theatre session provides an overview of the equipment used, the theatre environment from a radiology perspective and takes the learner through multiple procedures from an equipment and imaging perspective. The post-op pelvis, foot and ankle sessions provide the learner with an overview of anatomy specific pathologies/injuries through imaging both pre- and post-operatively.

How will you use the sessions in your work? 

We will encourage our peers and junior staff members to access the content via elfh.

How did you find the writing process?

Overall, we both enjoyed the opportunity to work on a different project whilst still highly relatable to our roles. The experience was challenging at times as we were required to succinctly articulate detailed information in single slides that enabled the user to meet the learning objectives set.

What were the challenges?

Perhaps most challenging was compiling a portfolio of images in theatre to demonstrate equipment and patient positioning for the imaging in the operating theatre session.

What surprised you about the process?

Initially, the topic titles seemed well defined but as soon as we started to discuss the content we realised that there was a lot more to be covered than first anticipated.

Do you have any advice for future authors?

If you have an opportunity to author sessions, we would encourage you to participate. Our advice would be to plan out the presentation before you start researching and constructing so that you have a clear vision of what you are compiling.

 

For more information about Health Education England’s elearning for healthcare Image Interpretation programme visit https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/image-interpretation/.

Update to Breast Imaging Sessions

Posted on: October 15th, 2018 by Alex Drinkall No Comments

Early diagnosis of breast cancer maximises the chances of survival so the availability of tools and training to support early cancer detection is vital. In response to this, the 12 Image Interpretation Breast Imaging elearning sessions will be updated this year.

The content, first published in 2014, has been used by over 2500 professionals including radiographers, nurses, students, doctors and allied health professionals. The average content rating by users is 4.3 out of 5.

Dr Sally Athey, Consultant Radiologist, South Tyneside and Gateshead Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will conduct the updates. Each session will be checked for policy, procedural and technological changes, and updated accordingly.

The Breast Imaging module includes the following sessions:Update to Breast Imaging Sessions_Blog

  1. Introduction
  2. History
  3. Breast Assessment – Screening and Symptomatic
  4. General Anatomy and Physiology
  5. Quality Assurance and Quality Control
  6. Biopsy
  7. Benign Calcifications
  8. Malignant Calcifications
  9. Benign Masse
  10. Malignant Masses
  11. Axilla
  12. Self-Assessment.

The Image Interpretation Breast Imaging elearning sessions are available free of charge and can be accessed here: https://portal.e-lfh.org.uk/.

e-ELCA Update from the programme’s clinical lead

Posted on: June 29th, 2018 by Rich Kitchen No Comments

My role as Association for Palliative Medicine (APM) e-End of Life Care for All (e-ELCA) elearning programme lead carries on and this continues to be an interesting post! Our focus remains on keeping the programme up-to-date alongside increasing awareness of e-ELCA through regular communications.

Presented below is an update on developments of the programme over the last few months.

New sessions

Work has continued on two new sessions:

  • Culturally sensitive palliative and end of life care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people
  • The AMBER care bundle.

Both sessions will form part of module 5: Integrating learning in end of life care. They will be uploaded to the programme when they are available.

Session updates

Multiple sessions have been updated recently:

  • 26 – What Will it Be Like Talking About the Dying Process
  • 9 – Drug Management of Pain: Core Knowledge
  • 10 – Opioids in Pain Management: Advanced Knowledge
  • 23a – Recognising the Last Months and Days of Life and Verifying Death
  • 12 – Dying in Acute Hospitals
  • 17 – Dying in Intensive Care.

Session updates will continue on a regular basis, and many thanks to those who have contributed to this process. If anyone would like to get involved in this then please contact using the addresses below.

Learning paths

Note that learning paths have been re-organised on the e-ELCA website for ease of use. They are now divided into those for specific conditions (such as Motor Neurone Disease), those for specific groups/professions (such as ambulance personnel) and those designed for specific organisations.

The Specialist Palliative Care Learning Path is now available on the e-ELCA website. This was designed through mapping e-ELCA to the Royal College of Physicians (UK) palliative medicine specialty curriculum. Sessions within this learning path are likely to be helpful for the education of specialty registrars, consultants, SAS doctors and specialist nurses working in specialist palliative care.

The next learning paths that will be available are those for care home registered nurses and care home carers. A tweet will be sent when these are on the e-ELCA website.

Communications strategy

This remains an important approach in increasing our audience. We continue to utilise Twitter to inform followers of new sessions, session updates and other important updates. Please follow us @cmf_elca and @HEE_TEL to receive these. We also continue to publish other blogs and have a presence, either in person or through leaflets, at a number of conferences.

Future plans

A number of ideas for new sessions are being considered. We are open to further ideas and would be happy to receive feedback at the contacts below.

The ongoing process of session updates will also continue.

Contact

Rich Kitchen
APM e-ELCA lead
Email: richard.kitchen@nhs.net
Twitter: @cmf_elca
Youtube: e-ELCA
e-ELCA URL: http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/end-of-life-care/

e-ELCA update

Posted on: January 31st, 2018 by Rich Kitchen No Comments

As the new clinical lead for the elearning programme End of Life Care for All (e-ELCA) I am excited about being involved in the programme, helping to shape its future and to tell even more people about this fantastic resource.

e-ELCA is a palliative care elearning resource developed in partnership with and hosted on the Health Education England elearning for healthcare (elfh) platform. e-ELCA is relevant to all professionals involved in delivering end of life care. It covers a range of pertinent themes, from clinical topics including symptom control, to communication skills and spiritual care.

The programme was initially developed as a response to the End of Life Care Strategy between 2009 and 2011, as a collaboration between elfh and the Association for Palliative Medicine (APM). Since this time the number of sessions has grown and the programme currently has 160 sessions across nine modules. All sessions are subject to a rolling review to ensure they are contemporary. A significant update to many sessions was carried out following the publication of the One Chance to Get it Right Report in 2014.

Of note, e-ELCA is easily accessible and free of charge to all relevant users in health and social care. The programme can be accessed at http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/end-of-life-care. It can also be accessed via OpenAthens and the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Updates about the elearning programme are also broadcast via Twitter using this handle: @cmf_elca

The programme was initially designed to support education of generalists in palliative care. Whilst some sessions therefore may not build on the knowledge of specialty trainees in palliative medicine, they can be used effectively in teaching. e-ELCA sessions have shown to be particularly effective as part of ‘blended learning’. For example, following some recent teaching on body image and sexuality in palliative care with a group of medical students, I directed them to session 3.28 (“I’m not loveable anymore” – discussing intimacy in end of life care) to drive home the learning on a topic they were previously unfamiliar with. Sessions could also be used to build on learning from case studies, and to help students identify future learning objectives.

More recently, a module on specialist content has been developed. Sessions within this include intrathecal drug delivery and tracheostomy care; very useful learning materials that can be used alongside directly-observed procedural skills (DOPS) on the specialist palliative medicine curriculum. Further sessions in this module include heart failure in end of life care and non-invasive ventilation in motor neurone disease. Additionally, we are currently mapping the specialist palliative medicine curriculum to e-ELCA to identify which sessions could be used towards which competencies. When this work is complete I will ensure it is quickly distributed.

Many thanks for reading this. If you have queries please contact me at richard.kitchen@nhs.net or via Twitter – @cmf_elca

Rich Kitchen, APM e-ELCA lead

elfh is a NHS England programme in partnership with the NHS and professional bodies