Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us

Future Healthcare Journal

  • FHJ Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About FHJ
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
RCP Journals
Home
  • Log in
  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us
Advanced

Future Healthcare Journal

futurehosp Logo
  • FHJ Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About FHJ
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

Acute medical unit clinical skills lab

Sarb Clare and Joe Wheeler
Download PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7861/futurehosp.6-1-s140
Future Healthc J March 2019
Sarb Clare
City Hospital, Birmingham, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Joe Wheeler
City Hospital, Birmingham, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
Loading

Aims

City Hospital opened the first dedicated clinical skills lab within an acute medical unit (AMU) in November 2016. We believe this is the first in the UK with the aim of prompt accessibility in a high-acuity, fast-turnover area. The principle is to ‘learn in chunks of 15 minutes’ and bring back the concept of learning on the job. We were keen to create a culture of learning and education for nurses, doctors, students, allied health professionals (AHPs) and our patients which has led to an improvement in quality of care and job satisfaction as well as a decrease in expenditure.

Creation of the AMU clinical skills lab was to:

  • provide 24/7 accessibility to a wide range of teaching materials including simulator, and procedural kits

  • increase competency and confidence with expectation that all procedures would occur promptly leading to increased quality of care with less complications and thus reduced length of stay

  • all training to be delivered in-house with no need for doctors, nurses and AHPs to attend courses, reducing costs

  • by creating an environment of learning we would see a drop in sickness, and improved retention and recruitment in an area which is traditionally difficult to retain.

Methods

The lab is within the AMU and has been funded by revenue from courses that Dr Clare has been running since 2010 and cost approximately £15,000. Equipment includes a simulator and all procedural kits as well as a projector and Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure resources. A dedicated USS machine also sits within the lab.

Many teaching programmes occur throughout the day ranging from mandatory training to procedural training (lumbar punctures (LPs), ascitic drains and central venous pressure lines) to simulated crash scenarios. In addition, undergraduate training for students rotating onto the AMU occurs.

Results

As there are numerous programmes occurring this is a snapshot of data.

  • Junior doctor teaching programme has shown an increased level of competence and confidence in the ability to carry out LPs / ascitic drains from data pre- and post-AMU clinical skills lab.

  • Junior doctors rate acute medicine at City Hospital as the best rotation within the trust and the specialist registrars rate it as number one within the west midlands.

  • Discharge rates are 60% versus national of 40% and length of stay of 0.6.

  • Mandatory training is at 96% versus 76%.

  • Nursing sickness levels are at the lowest and retention is at 100%.

Conclusion

Data collected from the various teaching programmes have overwhelmingly shown the benefits of a dedicated AMU clinical skills lab. Individuals and teams are being taught despite constant pressures, and being empowered with skills and knowledge which then prompt consolidation out on the AMU. This has not only raised morale, improved on-call experience, and empowered individuals and the team, but has ultimately improved the quality of care we give to our very unwell patients in the AMU. We have a large dedicated clinical skills lab for our new super-acute Midland Metropolitan Hospital within the centre of the AMU.

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

  • © Royal College of Physicians 2019. All rights reserved.
Back to top
Previous articleNext article

Article Tools

Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Acute medical unit clinical skills lab
Sarb Clare, Joe Wheeler
Future Healthc J Mar 2019, 6 (Suppl 1) 140; DOI: 10.7861/futurehosp.6-1-s140

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Acute medical unit clinical skills lab
Sarb Clare, Joe Wheeler
Future Healthc J Mar 2019, 6 (Suppl 1) 140; DOI: 10.7861/futurehosp.6-1-s140
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Aims
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusion
    • Conflict of interest statement
  • Info & Metrics

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • A renal genetics clinic – model for our times
  • Addressing the burden of cancer and neurological disorders in east Africa: The Royal College of Physicians Medical Training and Fellowship programme
  • Pain management rehabilitation and medical acupuncture
Show more Education, Training and Medical Professionalism

Similar Articles

Navigate this Journal

  • Journal Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Archive

Related Links

  • ClinMed - Home
  • FHJ - Home

Other Services

  • Advertising
futurehosp Footer Logo
  • Home
  • Journals
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
HighWire Press, Inc.

Follow Us:

  • Follow HighWire Origins on Twitter
  • Visit HighWire Origins on Facebook

Copyright © 2021 by the Royal College of Physicians