Research Fellows

Adarsh came "out-of-programme" from the West Midlands for education research with us from 2019 to 2022, funded by an NES grant. He was commissioned to undertake the qualitative evaluation of the Scottish pilot of the Improving Surgical Training (IST) reform of Core Surgical Training, including adaptations to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was awarded a PhD from the University of Aberdeen for his thesis titled “Complexity in Curriculum Reform: A Qualitative Case Study of the Scottish ‘Improving Surgical Training’ Pilot.”

Adarsh’s published papers are scholarly and are influencing curriculum reforms elsewhere. They include analyses of how IST worked or did not work in different hospitals, different countries, and through the pandemic, including the simulation strategy and other elements of the planned reform.

Publications include:

• Shah AP, Walker KA, Walker KG, Hawick L, Cleland JA. It’s making me think outside the box at times: a qualitative study of dynamic capabilities in surgical training. Advances in Health Sciences Education 2022; 26: 1-20.
• Shah AP, Walker KA, Hawick L, Walker KG, Cleland JA. Scratching beneath the surface: how organisational culture(s) influences curricular reform. Medical Education 2023; 57(7): 668- 678.
• Shah AP, Walker KA, Walker KG, Cleland JA. Context matters in curriculum reform: a story of national level change in surgical training. Medical Education 2023 2023; 57(8): 741- 752.
• Shah AP, Cleland JA, Walker KA, Hawick L, Walker KG. Integrating simulation into surgical training. A qualitative case study of a national programme. Advances in Simulation 2023; 8: 20.
• Walker KG, Shah AP. Simulation for early years surgical training. Surgery 2021; 39(12): 771-7.
• Walker KG, Shah AP, Brennan P, Blackhall VI, Nicol LG, Yalamarthi S, Vella M, Cleland JA. Scotland’s “Incentivised Laparoscopy Practice” programme: engaging trainees with take-home laparoscopic simulation. The Surgeon 2023; 21(3): 190-7.

Mr Shah is now a senior Specialty Trainee in General Surgery in the East of Scotland.

Saskia undertook her MSc project with us while she was a Medical Education research fellow in NHS Lothian, after completing two years of Core Surgical Training in the East of Scotland.

She first conducted a perceived needs assessment among trainees preparing for the transition from Core to Specialty surgical training posts, which identified unpreparedness in the non-technical skills (NTS) required for certain team events. She then designed a “serious gaming” simulation to improve knowledge of NTS tools. This was a board game called NOTSS and Pauses, in which participants navigate their way through an emergency operating room list pre-briefing and prioritisation meeting.

Saskia’s MSc thesis, titled “Preparing the Specialty Trainee – Developing Non-Technical Skills Beyond the Operating Theatre Through Simulation,” was awarded with merit from the University of Edinburgh.

Ms Clark-Stewart is now a Specialty Trainee in General Surgery in the South East of Scotland.

Rachel came "out-of-programme" from Vascular and General Surgery training in the North of Scotland programme from 2018 to 2021, funded by an NHS Highland Clinical research fellow salary.

Under group supervision led by Professor Angus Watson, she attained a PhD from the University of Aberdeen for her thesis titled “Vascular Surgical Simulation Programmes Using Novel 3D-Printed Hydrogel Models.”

Rachel designed and evaluated a programme using sustainable portable vascular surgery practice kits with novel 3D-printed hydrogel vessel models, balsa wood kit boxes, and mobile phone mounts for virtual tutorial groups, video uploads, etc.

Her thesis is a masterful account of the current thinking in surgical simulation and a step forward in the use of novel, hyper-realistic, sustainable tissue models and take-home kits for deliberate practice of technical skills in vascular surgery.

Publications include:

• Falconer R, Cleland JA, Semple C, Walker KG, Watson AJM. Development and delivery of a national pilot programme of home-based simulation for vascular anastomosis training. Journal of Surgical Simulation 2022; 9: 99–106.
• Falconer R, Semple CM, Walker KG, Cleland J, Watson AJM. Simulation for technical skill acquisition in open vascular surgery. Journal of vascular Surgery 2021; 73(5): 1821-1827.

Dr Falconer is now a Clinical Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Aberdeen.

Vivienne came "out-of-programme" from the West of Scotland General Surgery training programme from 2015 to 2018 to undertake a multi-centre qualitative study of the barriers and facilitators to trainee engagement with take-home laparoscopy simulation. This led to a number of key changes to that programme and identified some wider systemic problems with surgical training that need to be addressed, particularly around portfolio expectations.

She also completed a systematic review of non-medical literature and a clinical feasibility study of iView Expert, a technique borrowed from cosmonaut training, using head-camera-cued recall and debrief to understand the expert end of clinicians’ performance.

Vivienne was awarded a PhD from the University of Aberdeen for her thesis titled “A Mixed Methods Study of Clinician Experience with Two Innovative Skills Training Interventions.”

Vivienne’s work won the ASME/GMC Excellent Medical Education Award 2017 and Best Free Paper at ICOSET 2019.

Publications include:

• Blackhall VI, Cleland JA, Moug S, Wilson P, Walker KG. Barriers and facilitators to deliberate practice using take-home laparoscopic simulators. Surgical Endoscopy 2019; 33(9): 2951-9.
• Blackhall VI, Walker KG, Whiteley I, Wilson P, Cleland JA. iView Expert: a tool to uncover expertise and support surgical skills training. Medical Education 2021; 55(5): 658.
• Blackhall VI, Walker KG, Whiteley I, Wilson P. Use of head camera-cued recall and debrief to externalise expertise: a systematic review of literature from multiple fields of practice. BMJ of Simulation & Technology Enhanced Learning 2019; 5: 121–9.
• Walker KG, Shah AP, Brennan P, Blackhall VI, Nicol LG, Yalamarthi S, Vella M, Cleland JA. Scotland’s “Incentivised Laparoscopy Practice” programme: engaging trainees with take-home laparoscopic simulation. The Surgeon 2023; 21(3): 190-7.
• Walker KG, Blackhall VI, Hogg ME, Watson AJM. Eight years of Scottish surgical boot camps – how we do it now. Journal of Surgical Education 2020; 77(2): 235-241.

Ms Blackhall is now a National Oncoplastic TIG Fellow in the Breast Surgery Unit of Wythenshawe Hospital, with a continuing interest in Medical Education.

While a Specialty Trainee in General Surgery in Inverness, Ali undertook the first round of feasibility studies on the iView Expert technique as a project towards his MMedEd from the University of Newcastle. His study was titled “iView Expert: Externalising Surgeons’ Expertise in Complex Tasks.”

iView Expert is a technique borrowed from cosmonaut training, using head-camera-cued recall and debrief to understand the expert end of clinicians’ performance. Plans are underway to trial its use in robotic surgery, with the aim of generating a database of useful debrief videos and commentaries.

The study involved a collaboration with UCL’s Centre for Space Medicine.

Mr Amin is now a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon in Oldham.

Laura came "out-of-programme" for a fellowship post with NHS Highland and a Master’s degree in Surgical Science from the University of Edinburgh.

She was the first to manage and evaluate our take-home laparoscopy practice programme across the two Scottish Core Surgical Training programmes, using loaned EOSim simulators (EOSurgical, Edinburgh, UK) and a deliberate practice programme supported by online instruction modules, instrument tracking, and upload of trainees’ videos for assessments. This first study identified problems with engagement, which led to iterative programme development and informed other projects, including VASim.

Photo: Laura Nicoll with Professor Jen Cleland.