Simulation Training vs Workplace-Based Supervision in Psychiatry (EPIC-OSkER)

King's College London

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Clinical Skills Training

Treatments: Other: Observed SKills in the Emergency Room; Other: Emergency Psychiatry Immersion Course

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01416727

2011/051

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two forms of clinical skills training for teaching emergency psychiatry skills to doctors who have just started to work in psychiatry

Full description

Junior doctors starting work in psychiatry soon encounter a number of situations in the workplace for which they have had little or no preparation either at medical school or from work in other specialities. They will encounter clinically complex situations such as rapid tranquillisation, crisis presentations of self-harm, suicide risk assessment, overseeing supervised confinement and making decisions to admit or discharge mentally ill patients. Furthermore, many of these situations occur out of hours when there is little direct senior supervision available. The traditional induction programme is delivered in a didactic format, which does not encourage effective learning, nor does it allow any opportunity to practise or acquire hands-on skills or non-technical skills such as interprofessional communication, leadership and situational awareness. In the interests of patient safety and improving the quality of care and patient's experience, there is an urgent need to identify ways of improving induction and quickly equipping junior doctors with the clinical skills necessary to practise safely in psychiatry. We propose to evaluate and compare two approached to improved skills training in psychiatry: 1. workplace-based observation and feedback; 2. simulation training.

All new junior doctors starting work in the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, in August 2011 will be invited to take part in a randomised controlled trial of training in addition to the standard induction. Following a day of lectures on relevant clinical topics, participants will be randomly allocated to receive either observed workplace-based training by a more senior doctor during their on-call duties, or a two-day simulation-based training course. Before and after the training, assessments of participants' clinical skills and attitudes will be carried out by questionnaires and by observations of simulated clinical encounters. Changes in performance will be compared between the two groups. Longer term evaluation will be carried out by means of qualitative interviews and simulated clinical encounters once participants have been working for several months.

Enrollment: 48 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 22+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Junior doctors starting work at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in August 2011 in any of the following grades: 1. Core Psychiatric Training; 2. Foundation Training; 3. General Practice Vocational Training; 4. Core Trainee 1-3 equivalent posts, e.g. long-term locums

Exclusion criteria

• Unwillingness to participate in the study
• Inability to attend the training programme or participate in the evaluation

Trial design

48 participants in 2 patient groups

OSkER

Experimental group

Description:

"Observed SKills in the Emergency Room" - workplace-based supervision.

Treatment:

Other: Observed SKills in the Emergency Room

EPIC

Experimental group

Description:

"Emergency Psychiatry Immersion Course" - simulation-based training.

Treatment:

Other: Emergency Psychiatry Immersion Course