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Human Factors project: Clinical Lead and Working Group members

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is launching a project to develop a Human Factors course. We are looking to recruit a Clinical Lead and working group to support the project. The project will be supported by our Council Lead for Human Factors, Professor Peter Brennan and will be part of a widening breadth of work in this area.

The course has an important goal of improving patient safety by helping surgical teams to understand and apply human factors principles. We aim to create a course that surgeons will be able to deliver throughout the UK.

You will be shaping the design of the course and its content, working alongside the RCS learning team.

What’s involved?

These are voluntary roles, but expenses will be paid. For our Clinical Leads, we have developed a model whereby one PA per week of your time would be purchased from your Trust.

Both roles will include attending working group meetings, being involved in the creation of learning content and supporting pilots of the new course. Throughout the process, you will be supported by the learning team and freelance content specialists. You will be credited for your work. We expect most meetings to be held virtually, but there may be some face-to-face meetings, particularly during the earlier learning design phase of the project.

Please note this is a long-term commitment, we expect this project to run for approximately a year.

Application

We welcome volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. We are keen to build a working group which represents the diversity of people who work in surgery and medicine.

Further details on the application process along with further information for both roles can be found below. 

Timothy Lowe (tlowe@rcseng.ac.uk)  in the Learning Team is available for an in for an informal discussion prior to applying if preferred.

The closing date for receipt of applications is Midnight Sunday 12 February 2023.

The job descriptions and details on how to apply are listed below.

Clinical Lead: role description and person specification

Role Summary

Working closely with the staff team, the Clinical Lead will have responsibility for developing the programme and content. There will also be a focus on developing the elements of the programme which would work well in a digital format so that we can maximise our reach.

Role

The Clinical Lead role represents the College as the public face of the programme and is responsible for the final outputs of the programme.

Responsibilities

The Clinical Lead responsibilities include:

  • Leading and promoting the full Human Factors programme
  • Acting as a Human Factors SME to other Learning programmes and provisions as necessary
  • Identifying opportunities for the development of the programme across specialism and career stages
  • Working as part of a team including the College’s educational team
    • Ensuring that the format of the course is the best type to meet the learning outcome, specialism and career grade
    • Working with the Project Manager to confirm a development programme and ensure that agreed deadlines are met and content is released to schedule
    • Working with the Educator to ensure the quality and standards of the educational content and that any clinical content is relevant and meets the required standard.
    • Identifying where external expertise needs to be brought in and, along with the team, developing the scope of work/briefing documentation
  • Supporting recruitment of the working group and leading the development work, ensuring the content is in line with UK Curriculum, UK practice and guidelines.
  • Supporting the development of Faculty to deliver the learning provision, ensuring that the model is sustainable and has the ability to scale
  • Ensuring that the programme delivery meets the required quality standards and criteria in terms of the agreed purpose, learner experience expectations and learning outcomes.
  • Ensure that agreed deadlines are met and content can be released to an agreed schedule
  • Signing off the workflows and outputs from the working groups.

The role will report to the Director of Learning and Chair of the Learning Committee at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and will be required to attend review meetings and participate in an annual appraisal.

We expect that most of the development work, including the communications between the working group and College staff to be maintained virtually. There may be a requirement to attend a meeting at the College from time to time. Standard class travel will be arranged by the College, together with accommodation, if overnight stays are required. All travel and subsistence claims will be managed according to College policy.

The post will be for two years subject to satisfactory performance.

Person Specification

Essential

  • Experience of one of the following:
    • Significant faculty experience delivering courses/ programmes of learning
    • developing Human Factors, professional development or leadership-based training programmes and/ or demonstrable experience and subject matter knowledge in this area of work
  • Outstanding ability to lead and manage a group of individuals
  • Excellent communication skills with stakeholders at all levels and interests
  • Experience developing or using education in multiple formats including digital
  • Effective interpersonal and time management skills
  • Creative and energetic team player with proven leadership qualities
  • Ability to develop effective partnerships with relevant stakeholders and organisations
  • Current Member or Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
  • A current trainer, fulfilling the GMC trainer requirements
  • Confidence using IT for communication (e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, MS Teams, Skype meetings etc).

Desirable

  • Master’s in medical education, or equivalent qualification or experience
  • Previous experience as RCS England Faculty delivering courses or learning provisions
  • Previous experience as a training programme director or working within a local HEE or School

Remuneration

The College has developed a model whereby it contributes towards remuneration directly to their employing Trust rather than the individual. The employer can thus make appropriate local arrangements to cover clinical commitments and the individual has no break in service, resuming their own contract when demitting from the role.

The sessional commitment for this role is one PA per week. The successful candidate will therefore need to agree and make arrangements with their trust and any agreement will be between the College, the trust and the individual. 

Working group member: role description and person specification

Role Summary

Members of the working group will work closely with the College’s education team and the clinical lead contributing to the planning of the programme and the development of learning content.

There will also be a focus on developing the elements of the programme which would work well in a digital format so that we can maximise our reach.

Role

Working group members represent the College and contribute to the development of content and resources, ensuring the accuracy and relevance of the final outputs of the programme.

Responsibilities

The working group's responsibilities include:

  • Acting as a Human Factors subject matter expert (SME), ensuring the accuracy and relevance of the new course
  • Attending working group meetings and learning design workshops
  • Working with the College’s education team to develop learning content and resources which could include:
    • Working with the Educator to draft session plans
    • Drafting eLearning storyboards, and supporting the editorial and design process
    • Working with Producers to design and appear in course videos.
    • Drafting course material, such as PowerPoints, handouts, and faculty notes.
  • Work towards agreed deadlines so that content can be released to schedule
  • Support the piloting of the new human factors course and contribute to developing a pool of faculty
  • Working with the Educator to ensure the quality and standards of the educational content and that any clinical content is relevant and meets the required standard.
  • Ensuring the content is in line with UK Curriculum, UK practice and guidelines.
  • Ensuring that the programme delivery meets the required quality standards and criteria in terms of the agreed purpose, learner experience expectations and learning outcomes

We expect that most of the development work, including the communications between the working group and College staff to be maintained virtually. There may be a requirement to attend a meeting at the College from time to time. Standard class travel will be arranged by the College, together with accommodation, if overnight stays are required. All travel and subsistence claims will be managed according to College policy.

We expect the project to last approximately 12 months. Developing learning content is time consuming and involves being part of an editorial process. This time commitment will fluctuate during the project, but you should expect to be able to devote on average 0.5 PA per week.

Person Specification

Essential

  • Experience of one of the following:
    • Significant faculty experience delivering courses/ programmes of learning
    • Subject matter knowledge of Human Factors in a surgical context
  • Excellent communication skills with stakeholders at all levels and interests
  • Effective interpersonal and time management skills
  • Creative and energetic team player
  • A current trainer, fulfilling the GMC trainer requirements
  • Confidence in using IT for communication (e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, MS Teams, Skype meetings etc).

Desirable

  • Experience developing or using education in multiple formats including digital
  • Master’s in medical education, or equivalent qualification or experience
  • Previous experience as RCS England Faculty delivering courses or learning provisions
  • Previous experience as a training programme director or working within a local HEE or School

Remuneration

This is a voluntary role, but expenses will be covered in line with College expense policies.

How to apply

As part of the application process applicants for Clinical Lead and working group roles will need to confirm to the Learning Committee, on behalf of RCS England, that they are in good standing with their Trust and professional body and have declared any relevant information and conflicts of interest. Applicants will need to give assurance that at no stage will their contribution to the learning materials be of professional concern to the development or RCS England.

Applicants will need to agree to any necessary background checks being undertaken.

Informal advice may be sought from the Learning Innovation Manager, Tim Lowe, Tlowe@rcseng.ac.uk.

Clinical Lead Applications: Those interested should send

  • a short CV (three pages), focussing on how they meet the person specification below
  • a short statement (one page) of how they would carry out the role and why they are the right person to lead this piece of work
  • the names of two referees

These should be sent to JStPaul@rcseng.ac.uk. We will be following a ‘blind shortlisting’ process and so names and other personal information will be removed from your CV before the applications are shortlisted for interview.

Closing date for receipt of applications is midnight Sunday 12 February 2023. Interview dates are still to be confirmed but will be held via a virtual meeting.

Working Group/ Advisors: Those interested in these roles should send

  • a short CV (three pages), focussing on how they meet the person specification below
  • a short statement (one page) of how they would carry out the role and why they are the right person to lead this piece of work

These should be sent to JStPaul@rcseng.ac.uk. Closing date for receipt of applications is midnight Sunday 12 February 2023.

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