As an active clinician I am passionate about the practice of medicine and seek to inspire students to practice to the best of their ability. As a clinical educator I seek to utilise effective learning techniques and to maximise experiential learning. I believe in providing students with a range of learning opportunities and styles to cater for the different learning styles of a diversity of learners. Therefore, I like to provide a mixture of online modules, face-to-face tutorials, didactic sessions and practical sessions in order to facilitate the learning of all students.

Developing a lifelong practice of self-directed learning is a requirement to maintain currency for practice in medicine. Therefore, I believe a graded approach to self-reliance and increasing responsibility is useful. It is vital to treat students as adult learners. In particular, acknowledging prior learning and transferable skills is important in reinforcing the value of students’ opinions, encouraging independence and the facilitating development of professional identity. This is most important in the later years of the medical program, where students have a range of relevant experiences to draw on from the clinical learning environment and their life experience.

Clinical Education requires a safe environment for learning, which minimises any harm to patients but allows learners to develop skills. Building a culture of safety involves:  opportunities for simulation and practice before undertaking procedures on patients; empowering students to speak up when they are uncertain or have concerns about safety; providing clear guidance for scope of practice; utilising all team members in clinical learning. My commitment to interprofessional learning and interprofessional practice is part of this philosophy.  

I see reflection as a valuable tool to maximise learning, it is particularly beneficial where there has been some challenge to the student’s values and attitudes in the learning activity. It can facilitate resolution of this dissonance, facilitate deeper levels of learning, and helps to build resilience (which is valuable for developing a robust health professional). I incorporate reflection where appropriate to enhance learning activities, either as a formative activity (eg debrief after clinical encounters) or as a more formal assignment. I am explicit with students about the value of reflection, in order to promote this as a tool for professional life.

I believe my enthusiasm for clinical medicine and diagnosis is a catalyst for students to develop their own interest in learning. My willingness to debate diagnoses and discuss clinical cases stimulates student interest in further learning. I take care to point students toward additional resources, which are of high quality, so that their further reading is valuable and time efficient.

I developed and coordinated the Transition to internship course in the final year of the MBBS, for 10 years. The course aims to prepare students for work as an intern. In the 2017 National survey of Intern work readiness the University of Adelaide performed very well: The survey asked questions with regard to 45 skills in eight skill groups. University of Adelaide medical school achieved an overall perceived preparedness score of 4.22 (which was significantly above the national average of 3.8).

One of the innovative teaching activities I have introduced  in year 3 clinical practice course is the “cancer voices” workshop. This is a collaboration with Cancer voices SA and involves people affected by a cancer diagnosis (patients and carers) sharing their story with a small group of students. The aim is to increase student awareness of the impact of a cancer diagnosis; enable them to appreciate a patient perspective and potentially adopt changes in practice as a result of their learning. Students complete a guided reflection to enhance their learning from the experience.