Body Mass Index (BMI)

Obesity and overweight are not a particularly recent problem despite what is portrayed in the media. They are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health. Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980 and nearly 43 million children under the age of 5 were overweight in 2010. Sadly, they are preventable diseases. Anorexia Nervosa requires a brief mention within this module as it also accounts for abnormal BMIs but will be covered elsewhere within your medical degree course.

The aim of this module is to facilitate learning regarding the topic of Body Mass Index (BMI). 

Clinical Skills

• Dr Eleanor Chiu
• Miss Alyssia Broomfield
• Miss Iona Taylor 

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Hand Hygiene

Health Care Associated Infection (HCAI) is a critical patient safety issue. At any one time up to eight per cent of inpatients in England and Wales have HCAI (Smythe et al 2008).

Statistics for England and Wales show that 5,109 deaths involved MRSA and 13,189 involved Clostridium difficile during the period 2001-2006 in patient care establishments (NPSA, 2008).

Evidence shows that improving Hand Hygiene contributes significantly to the reduction of HCAI.

The aim of this module is to facilitate learning regarding the purpose and procedure of Hand Hygiene.

Clinical Skills

• Sian Williams (Clinical Skills Tutor/Manager)

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Standard Precautions / Personal Protective Equipment

‘Standard precautions [formerly called universal precautions] are meant to reduce the risk of transmission of pathogens from both recognized and unrecognized sources. They are the basic level of infection control precautions which are used in the care of all patients’ (WHO 2007).

The aim of this module is to facilitate learning regarding the reasons for standard precautions and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in healthcare.

Clinical Skills

• Carole Loveridge (Lecturer in Women’s Health)

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Rinne's & Weber's Tests

In clinical practice it is common to see patients complaining of hearing loss. It is useful to be able to have a simple test that can distinguish where the site of the cause of the hearing loss is. This can help guide the need for further examination, investigation and management.

The aim of this tutorial is to understand the purpose of Rinne’s test and Weber’s test and to understand when you would use it

Clinical Skills

• Dr Alan Stone (General Practitioner and Senior Clinical Tutor)

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The Clinical Skills Centre

About the Clinical Skills Centre
The Clinical Skills Centre is located on the third floor of the Cochrane building, on the Heath Park Campus. The skills centre is equipped with realistic, anatomically correct models to assist in the teaching and practise of a wide range of procedural clinical skills. Teaching currently takes place in Year 2, and Year 3, with a range of practical skills being taught in a relaxed and student centred approach to learning. Small groups of students are led by experienced tutors, many from the Department of Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine, and formatively assessed following the practical element of the session.

Self-directed Study
Students are required to access on line e-learning modules prior to attending timetables clinical skills teaching. These attractive, easy to follow modules provide key theoretical components of the clinical procedure, prior to the student attending the practical session. The e-learning modules are found within the ‘Clinical Skills Resources’ section of Learning Central (requires login).

Clinical Skills Modules

Revision Sessions
Revision sessions are often made available to students. These sessions are particularly useful to students approaching exams, or for those who may require a little more time to practise a skill, before attempting a supervised procedure in the Clinical setting. Access to the self booking system for revision sessions is found within the ‘Clinical Skills’ section of Learning Central. Dates will be posted nearer exam time, or when enough students request a session. We are currently in the process of setting up a Self-Directed clinical skills area in Ty Dewi Sant.

Please e-mail clinical skills manager/tutor Sian Williams if you require further information.

< About Sian Williams

Links
CETL Clinical Skills Video Tutorials
Clinical Skills Online (St. George's University)

Clinical Skills Laboratories Health and Safety Brief
Year 2 Student guide to Practical Skills Teaching 2011-2012
Year 3 Student guide to Practical Skills Teaching 2011-2012

Clinical Skills Modules

The Clinical Skills component of the curriculum, at present, makes most use of the School's e-learning provision. The focus on practical procedures has been successfully aided by the addition of accompanying self-directed  learning modules, for study prior to attending practical sessions, and in the lead-up to OSCE examinations.

Click on a thumbnail image to launch a module.
(PowerPoint source availability to be announced).

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Airway Management	Arterial Puncture	Basic Ward Monitoring	Blood Cultures
Blood Glucose Monitoring & Sliding Scale	Blood Pressure & Basic Physical Signs	BMI	Drug Calculation
ECG Recording	Female Catheterisation
Hand Hygiene	Handwashing, Gloving & Gowning	IV Drug Administration	IV Fluids & Pump Setup
Lumbar Puncture	Male Catheterisation	Nose, Throat & Skin Swabs	Clinical Waste Management
Pregnancy Testing	Personal Protective Equipment	Rinne's & Weber's	Safe Injection Administration
Safe Prescription Writing	Dealing With Sharps Injuries	Shock	Suturing
Urinalysis	Venepuncture	Venous Cannulation	Wound Assessment

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What is CORTEX?

Cardiff University School of Medicine
The School of Medicine is one of the largest Schools within Cardiff University, featuring numerous postgraduate courses and the largest undergraduate course in the University.

The undergraduate curriculum now has over 1500 students taught over two main campuses, and numerous clinical locations. To address many of the logistical problems associated with large student numbers and the pseudo-distance learning nature of the course, the current undergraduate curriculum is evolving to make increasing use of technology to deliver educational experiences and resources to students.

CORTEX and the C21 Project
In conjunction with the evolution of the current curriculum, the School is developing a new curriculum to go-live in Septbember 2013 for the new first year in-take. The new curriculum will be developed with technology as a much more integrated part of the curriculum and pedagogy from the off. This programme is know as the C21 project.

To facilitate the appropriate uptake of technology within both curricula the School of Medicine eLearning Team are running the CORTEX project. The CORTEX project aims to provide web-based resources to staff to enable them to select and implement technology appropriate for their teaching. The project is a corner stone of the eLearning Strategy, which aims to enable and empower staff to implement as much eLearning as necessary with as little direct involvement from the eLearning Team as possible. This prevents the eLearning Team from becoming a bottle neck, and allows the eLearning Team to focus on areas such as infrastructure, specialist technical developments, and quality assurance.

While the main focus for the project is to support the undergraduate curriculum, the School of Medicine also delivers numerous postgraduate, distance learning courses, which also make heavy use of eLearning. Many staff supporting these courses are also struggling with the adoption of technology, and so the planned CORTEX website will be developed in conjunction with PGT to ensure we cater for the School’s overall eLearning requirements as far as possible.

Wider Collaboration
A similar degree of collaboration is also required with University Learning and Teaching Support team, to ensure that we are well aligned with the University’s Technology Enhanced Education strategy, and that the resources we produce are as widely applicable across the University as possible.

FY & SCP Modules

The modules listed below have been developed as part of final year or senior clinical projects.
Click on a thumbnail image to launch a module.
(Please note: PowerPoint source files are not available for these modules).

< Back to Module Categories

Abdominal Examination	Acute Pancreatitis	Cardiovascular Examination	Emergency Oxygen Therapy
Head Injury	Pre-Eclampsia	Respiratory Examination	Systemic Hypertension
Valvular Heart Disease	Addiction

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Enhancing Content Accessibility

MEDIC e-learning are to invest in a resources upgrade enabling the access to module content from platforms such as the iPad. The increased use of non-Adobe Flash enabled devices means focus has been directed on adapting development whilst maintaining the level of interactivity previously only possible through use of the Adobe Flash Player plugin. Students using the self directed learning area in the new Cochrane building have been making extensive use of the Clinical Skills modules for OSCE revision, with many frequently using iPads to do so.

Blood Cultures

A new clinical skills module on the need for, and how to carry out sampling for blood cultures is now available in Learning Central. The module also contains a useful video demonstration.

Clinical Skills

• Sian Williams (Clinical Skills Tutor/Manager)
• Professor Paul Bradley (Director of Clinical Skills & Simulation)
• Dr Chris Hingston (Consultant Intensive Care Medicine)

Launch this module.

Blood Glucose Monitoring & Sliding Scale

A new clinical skills module on the subject of blood glucose monitoring and sliding scale is now available for review via CORTEX. Key topics in the module include use of insulin sliding scale in the acute care setting and sampling capillary blood using a glucometer.

Clinical Skills

• Sian Williams (Clinical Skills Tutor/Manager)
• Professor Aidan Byrne (Interim Director of Clinical Skills & Simulation)

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CORTEX Self-Directed Learning

CORTEX will gradually catalogue all existing self-paced and virtual patient modules. Existing modules and tutorials are currently located within Cardiff Learning Central and linked to within specific year groups and enrolled programmes of study. CORTEX intends to make these more widely available and searchable by their keywords within this site, for example, specific learning objectives or subject areas. The e-learning team welcome all comments and opinions on this activity.

Selecting & Integrating Media in eLearning

Abstract
When considering the types of media to include in the module, it is important to ensure that the learner is not being overloaded or overwhelmed to the point of distraction from the intended level of engagement or from the learning objectives themselves, therefore it is important to keep use of different media (e.g. video, audio, hi-fidelity animation) in context, and strictly fit for purpose.

The purpose of this document is to analyse each type of computer-based media and explore their strengths and weaknesses when used within self-paced eLearning.

Text
Pros

• We read quickly
• Learners read at their own pace
• Text is flexible and searchable
• Text is easy to modify
• Text is portable

Cons

• English may be a second language
• Content may require graphic illustration

 Images Graphics & Diagrams
Pros

• No literacy skills required to interpret an image
• Highly applicable to medicine
• Simplifies, highlights and illustrates a principal, concept or process
• Graphics and icons provide associative markers for content
• Transfers information easily through charts and diagrams

Cons

• Copyright issues
• Awkward to update

 Animation & Animated Sequences
Pros

• Effectively reinforces points in a sequence or process
• Effectively transfers information about a particular system, sequence or process which static media (e.g. text or images) cannot

Cons

• Learners cannot view at their own pace
• Lengthy sequences cannot be remembered as easily as static versions
• Requires advanced skills
• Requires longer development time
• Awkward to update

Audio
Pros

• Few learners cannot hear (more cannot read)
• Points can be emphasised or transferred differently through speech
• Good for learners with English as a second language
• Can be used widely on portable devices such as iPods or mobile phones

Cons

• Learners do not listen at their own pace
• Requires higher level of skill to produce
• Awkward to modify or update

Virtual Patients at Cardiff; A Review

Virtual Patients are computer-based simulations of fictitious patients presenting with a complaint. The complaint is analysed by the learner and encourages thinking processes surrounding history taking, examination, diagnosis, treatment and discharge, without the obvious risks associated with a student treating a real patient case. The cases can focus on important common condition but can also be used to cover important conditions that it may be difficult for students to gain experience of, such as domestic abuse.

Main Points...

• Allows self-directed learning opportunities
• Narrative/didactic style of delivery for earlier years students
• Branched/exploratory style of learning for later years where knowledge can be applied
• Focus is on applying clinical knowledge to diagnostic thinking and management
• Cognitive realism - that is that the challenge posed to the learner seems real - is more important than visual realism - that is that real photos or video clips are used
• Communication/social skills for patient dialogue can be exercised Opportunity to familiarise with patient dialogue
• Continual focus on learning objectives is key for maintaining relevance
• Regular self-assessment opportunities allows the learner to evaluate their own progress
• Promotion of clinical reasoning is arguably the most important distinguishing feature of VP delivery and purpose

Read more about the comprehensive literature review conducted at Cardiff University School of Medicine...

Access the full literature review here.

ECG Recording

A Clinical Skills module is now available on Learning Central. The module details how to record a full, detailed tracing of the electrical activity of the heart, using an ECG (electrocardiograph) machine recorder.

Clinical Skills

• Dawn Lau

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Clinical Skills Self-directed Resources

The Clinical Skills Centre is now located on the third floor of the Cochrane Building and is managed by Sian Williams. An expansive directory of self-directed tutorials exist for the Centre and can be found by logging in to Learning Central via the Clinical Skills section, or via the Clinical Skills microsite.

Learning Central (Blackboard)

Access to Blackboard is via http://cue.cf.ac.uk. To login to Blackboard simply use your Cardiff University username and password.

Note: Being able to log into Blackboard does not mean you have been granted permission to see any of the content modules within Blackboard. Refer to the information below for advice on how to get access to the modules you think you should be able to see.

Enrollment on Blackboard Modules

Student Enrollments
Student enrollments are handled via the University’s student management system, SIMS. SIMS is used by Registry to track all student data, including the courses and modules they are enrolled on and their status on that course (including information about tuition fees). If students do not have access to their appropriate modules, the first point of contact should be Registry to check the student details within SIMS.

Staff Enrollments
Staff access to the School of Medicine’s Blackboard modules can be granted by the School’s local Blackboard administrators.

To request access to a module, please email the medic IT team with full details of the module you require access to (including the full module code and module title) along with your Cardiff University username.

Please note we cannot provide access to another School’s modules – this must be done by their local Blackboard administrator.

Access for NHS Staff

Access for External Examiners
External examiners are entitled to access Blackboard, and will need a Cardiff University user name and password to do so. Under normal circumstances Registry will arrange login details for all external examiners.

To request access to specific Blackboard modules, use the procedure outlined above Staff Enrolments, providing the IT Team with the examiner’s user name.

In the event the examiner has not been issued with a user name and password by Registry, you should email medicIT@cardiff.ac.uk and explain that you require access for an examiner who has not received a user name and password. You should provide the name and contact details for the external examiner as well as details of the Blackboard modules they will require access to. The School’s IT Team will issue a user name and password and enrol the new account on the appropriate Blackboard modules.

Note: external examiners will only be granted student-level access to Blackboard modules unless further access is expressly requested by the module leader.
Temporary Accounts

The eLearning Team have a number of temporary accounts available that can can be loaned out to other members of staff to use as test accounts. This may be particularly useful if you need to review a Blackboard module (and activities) from a student’s perspective. Similarly accounts can be loaned out to guest users on a temporary basis.

To request a temporary account please email the medic e-learning team.