Education and Training

An Education and Training Lead should be elected for the Active Hospital project within the Trust.

They are responsible for the overall education and training governance of staff within the project. They are responsible to improve the quality education and training, demonstrating accountability and responding when standards are not being met.

The Education and Training Lead should aim to create a safe learning environment which is supportive for learners and educators.

Structures should be in place for staff working within clinical pathways to discuss clinical concerns and highlight challenging aspect of care, especially as new concepts are being implemented. This should be facilitated through regular meetings between Physical Activity Champions and pathway Lead Clinicians. Pathway leads should ensure time is allocated for these discussions and is recorded. It is recommended this takes place at least on a monthly basis. Learning and reflection from these events should be documented.

Significant clinical concerns related to patient safety should be raised immediately with prompt recording and subsequent learning from events. Incidents and near misses should be escalated to the appropriate line managers through the local incident report systems, for example DATIX.

Gaps in staff education should be identified and learning should be shared across pathways, where appropriate. Regular staff education sessions should be organised to encourage collaboration across pathways.

Clinical supervisors are likely to be either pathway Lead Clinicians or the lead SEM consultant overviewing multiple pathways. Clinical supervisors must have received the appropriate induction and training to conduct their role, i.e. completed the Educational Supervisor course. They themselves should be appraised to reflect their education and training responsibilities. The programme should ensure they receive the support, resources and time to meet their education and training responsibilities.

Consultants and Specialist trainees should ensure they are meeting their annual Continuous Professional Development requirements in relation to their annual appraisal or ARCP. As they are working in ‘an exercise medicine service’ appropriate contribution of CPD time should be allocated.

Consultants and trainees should to adhere the FSEM professional code and GMC code of practice at all times.

SEM and other specialist trainees working within pathways should complete local and GMC trainee surveys to feedback in relation to the moving medicine project.

The local trainee’s representative should highlight any areas of development to the Active Hospital Educational Lead and ensure curriculum competencies are meet.

All staff must have an annual appraisal with their named appraiser. Using an Clinical Supervisor Meeting Template will help improve the quality of appraisals. Personal Development Plans should be set and reviewed regularly as part of this process.

They should declare their role within the Active Hospital project and provided evidence of keeping professional knowledge and skills up to date.

The Education Lead is responsible for ensuring staff are appropriately trained to carry out their role. This includes all mandatory training and appropriate clinical training.

Our Moving Medicine training slide set aims to improve knowledge of the positive impacts of physical activity on health, and how staff can use Moving Medicine to improve their conversations about physical activity with their patients.

There are a wide range of other resources available to help health care professionals gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to talk to their patients about physical activity:

• Public Health England Health Matters published January 2020- gives a great overview of physical activity resources, programmes and campaigns for the public
• Public Health England Physical Activity Clinical Champions Programme – Clinical Champions Information Flyer and blog
• Start active, stay active: report on physical activity in the UK
• UK Chief Medical Officer’s Physical Activity Guidelines, 2019
• NICE Guideline PH44 – recommendation 3. Incorporating brief advice in commissioning
• PHE Moving Healthcare Professionals Programme
• RCGPs Physical Activity and Lifestyle Toolkit

Staff and patient education sessions will be part of the behaviour change interventions. These sessions must be designed using education principles, with appropriate content, and should be regularly evaluated to meet the needs of the target audience. For example:

1. Maternity Pathway training program: delivered to all members of the maternity team, this training program aims to give staff more confidence and clarity when discussing physical activity. This package has a pre- and post-session evaluation. There are three training packages available dependent on duration ranging from 20 minutes to 1 hour which includes specific role play scenarios.
2. Medical wards training program: in the next phase of work on the medical wards we are planning to provide formal training to all staff members, exploring the benefits of physical activity to their patients, particularly in preventing hospital associated deconditioning. These practical training sessions will provide an introduction to Active Conversations, teaching motivational interviewing techniques, to empower staff to talk to their patients about physical activity.

If you would like further information about the bespoke training programs developed through the Active Hospitals pilot please contact us at contactus@movingmedicine.ac.uk