This week Medical Education Leeds will be facilitating the ever popular Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CCrISP) course. This is an accredited Royal College of Surgeons course, combining a variety of teaching and learning techniques to produce an informative and interactive course/ assessment for Surgical Trainees. Mags Flanagan, one of our experienced Course Coordinators, has been working closely with the course director, Dr Bruce Duncan to plan every last detail of this three day course. Mags is one of our long standing members of the team with over 15 years of experience in facilitating the delivery of medical education – although busy with preparations, Mags has given us behind the scene access to find out what’s really involved…
“In a nutshell, my role involves liaising with the Royal College of Surgeons to run the course, securing faculty, delegates, nurse observers and actors, arranging catering and producing course materials. On the day itself, it’s my responsibility to ensure everything runs smoothly – I liaise with our technicians, ensure accurate timing of rotations and collate candidates’ scores in a timely manner for presentation to the faculty – you don’t realise what’s involved with this type of course until someone asks you!
Engaging and securing faculty is key to the success of any course, but it’s particularly important for the successful coordination of the CCrISP course as we require approval from the Royal College. I keep a list of established faculty, but we’re always on the lookout for new recruits! Building and maintaining good working relationships in this role is invaluable and I always try to keep in touch with faculty and I suppose it’s these relationships that have helped me shape my role into what it is today – my contact list really is my secret weapon.”
We hope all delegates enjoy the course – and remember Mags is always on hand to help you through. If you’re interested in taking part in the next CCrISP course – either as a delegate or member of faculty, please contact Mags Flanagan.