Case Study 2: Work with Patient Care Managers
For my second case study I would like to cover my work with a particular group of learners. At my current work place we have hired a number of Patient Care Managers. Serving the needs of the local population is an important priority for the hospital I work for, which is a pre-operational women's and children's hospital. The hospital has hired specialists from around the world, however in order to meet the needs of the local population, Patient Care Managers have been recruited locally who have the cultural background and local language ability to interact with patients and their families to ensure we provide culturally appropriate care.
Professional development of the local working population is a big priority in the State of Qatar. This is outlined in Qatar's National Vision 2030 which has as one of it's pillars, Human Development. Within the pillar of Human Development, when referring to the workforce, the following extract comes from the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistic's website:
Professional development of the local working population is a big priority in the State of Qatar. This is outlined in Qatar's National Vision 2030 which has as one of it's pillars, Human Development. Within the pillar of Human Development, when referring to the workforce, the following extract comes from the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistic's website:
Programs to develop the local working population within organisations are often referred to as Qatarisation or National Development programs. This is also a priority within my current workplace with a dedicated National Development department. In the case of Patient Care Managers, a number of women, many of whom were recently reentering the workforce after raising their families, were recruited into these roles. As part of their development plans, the training they needed not only in performing of their patient care roles, but also in readjusting to the workforce, was mapped out. This is when my involvement with this particular group started.
One of the learning priorities mapped out for these Patient Care Managers was to attend the courses on offer through our Corporate Catalogue of courses, and particularly the General/Professional Skills courses. This is a program of courses run by myself and our other Corporate Educator, or those outsourced to external education providers. For the purposes of this case study I will focus on those courses that I both developed and delivered myself (and not those I may have project managed), which are highlighted in the below extract from our Corporate Catalogue Table of Contents.
One of the learning priorities mapped out for these Patient Care Managers was to attend the courses on offer through our Corporate Catalogue of courses, and particularly the General/Professional Skills courses. This is a program of courses run by myself and our other Corporate Educator, or those outsourced to external education providers. For the purposes of this case study I will focus on those courses that I both developed and delivered myself (and not those I may have project managed), which are highlighted in the below extract from our Corporate Catalogue Table of Contents.
Note: Missing from the above is the additional course "Effective Workplace Communication"
I worked with these Patient Care Managers over 8 courses (attendance records are below with names removed for confidentiality purposes) from October 2014 until the most recent occasion in June 2015, and the following case study outlines my key lessons learnt from these courses and other interactions with this particular group.
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Cultural and Language Differences
As can be seen by the Attendance Records, the Patient Care Managers attended workshops that were attended by other members of staff, so the courses themselves were not specifically designed only for them. As can be seen in the statistics in Attribute 4, a large number of staff come from Western English-speaking backgrounds (e.g. US, UK, Canada) so a lot of courses are designed with this in mind. Working with this group provided an interesting challenge to these assumptions, as I had to make sure course material was not only culturally appropriate, but also that is was understandable to non-native speakers of English. All expatriate staff are recruited for English ability, but in many cases for our local staff we invest in their language education while they work with us, which was the case for many of the Patient Care Managers.
A good example arising from my work with the Patient Care Managers came up in the course on Time and Priority Management. In early January 2015 the first two Patient Care Managers attended this course. One of the standard activities I had run in earlier versions of this course was what was called "the Jar Exercise". Learners are given a jar and a number of random items, for examples balls, children's toys, paper clips, pens, pasta and rice that they have to fit into the jar. The learners plan their strategy within a set time and then have a limited amount of time to execute it, taking note of order they place items into the jar. The learners are given more materials than can possibly fit into the jar, and the learning outcome of the activity is to relate it to time and priority management. The jar represents the time you have in the day, and the items represent the different tasks or priorities you have to complete. Generally the groups that are most successful in this activity put the big items in first (aka their top priorities) and then at the end put the smallest items in to fill the gaps (in this case the smallest item was the rice). This had always been a successful activity in previous courses as it was a good way of representing key lessons in Time and Priority Management. However during the break I was approached by one of the Patient Care Managers who informed me that in local culture, playing with food was seen as inappropriate. The Patient Care Manager was very good-natured about the feedback, but it did highlight to me the need to ensure activities were culturally appropriate and to adapt when mistakes were found. In this case when I ran the activity in a future course in June 2015 attended by three more Patient Care Managers, I removed the pasta and replaced the rice with sand (which is plentiful in supply in the desert of Qatar!).
A good example arising from my work with the Patient Care Managers came up in the course on Time and Priority Management. In early January 2015 the first two Patient Care Managers attended this course. One of the standard activities I had run in earlier versions of this course was what was called "the Jar Exercise". Learners are given a jar and a number of random items, for examples balls, children's toys, paper clips, pens, pasta and rice that they have to fit into the jar. The learners plan their strategy within a set time and then have a limited amount of time to execute it, taking note of order they place items into the jar. The learners are given more materials than can possibly fit into the jar, and the learning outcome of the activity is to relate it to time and priority management. The jar represents the time you have in the day, and the items represent the different tasks or priorities you have to complete. Generally the groups that are most successful in this activity put the big items in first (aka their top priorities) and then at the end put the smallest items in to fill the gaps (in this case the smallest item was the rice). This had always been a successful activity in previous courses as it was a good way of representing key lessons in Time and Priority Management. However during the break I was approached by one of the Patient Care Managers who informed me that in local culture, playing with food was seen as inappropriate. The Patient Care Manager was very good-natured about the feedback, but it did highlight to me the need to ensure activities were culturally appropriate and to adapt when mistakes were found. In this case when I ran the activity in a future course in June 2015 attended by three more Patient Care Managers, I removed the pasta and replaced the rice with sand (which is plentiful in supply in the desert of Qatar!).
Language appropriateness also was a key learning point for me, as many of the Patient Care Managers were attending English language courses at the same time as attending the courses I was running. I had to be mindful of things like speaking at a slower pace, and asking questions to check understanding. In addition I had to look at areas of practice that I could change to better suit these learners. My practice had been to keep course workbooks back until courses started for the day, as I wanted to keep learners present as we went through the flow of a course during the day, so they weren't skipping ahead too much when we were focusing on something else. I changed my practice to provide these workbooks at the beginning, as I noticed that the Patient Care Manager would browse the materials in advance to highlight words they didn't understand and use their smartphones to translate key words in the workbooks. In addition this need for more time with the material for our Patient Care Managers was the inspiration behind a new work practice I follow that is not only useful to them but also all learners. As a followup to these types of courses, I now always send soft copies of the materials and resources for further reading or learning afterwards. I realised from this experience that trying to meet the unique needs of one group of learners can actually help identify practices that will help all learners. An example of one of these follow-up emails is below:
Workplace Support
My involvement with the Patient Care Managers extended beyond class time within courses. As many of these staff members had only recently returned to the workplace after extended career breaks, the content of courses alone was not enough to prepare them for their new roles. As an Educator within the corporate set-up, I became a resource for them in new learning that was identified on-the-job.
An example of this arose in December 2014, as the new Patient Care Managers struggled with their use of Microsoft Outlook, particularly with how the program was used specifically within the organisation for searching the organisational address book, booking meeting rooms, and setting up branded email signatures, in addition to the need of covering general best case practice in email management.
As can be seen in the booking to the right, on December 30th I booked time in a room close to their offices to go through these common features and their usage, and then had the learners, who had brought their own laptops, put these skills into practice. This is a small but significant example about how needs were identified beyond the normal courses offered, and how as an Educator I met the needs of this particular group to adjust to their new workplace environment. If we apply this to theory we can consider Kolb's Learning Style Inventory as presented by Manochehr (2006). Kolb's LSI identifies four types of learners:
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Feedback from the Patient Care Managers
The feedback from these Patient Care Managers was extremely positive, in both the courses they attended and the support they received outside of these courses. One such piece of feedback is already outlined in Attribute 4. Also extracts of the course evaluation forms filled in by the Patient Care Managers can be found below. Unfortunately this is not a complete record as these were completed before we moved to an electronic feedback system, but in general gives a picture of the feedback received.
Summary & Connection to Graduate Attributes
My work with our Patient Care Managers was very insightful and taught me a lot about my role as an Educator. Due to cultural and language differences I needed to adapt in order to make sure learning outcomes were met, but at the same time the changes I made also led to new insights that would be of benefits to all learners under my care. My relationship with these Patient Care Managers extended beyond the classroom as I became a source of support for them in the workplace, as learning takes place in all types of environments. This is central to my teaching philosophy as well as education needs to be relevant and tailored to make an impact.
This case study demonstrates the following Graduate Attributes:
Attribute 2: Advance learning and teaching through critical self-reflection, evaluation and research
My experience with these Patient Care Managers made me think about how I could change my own teaching practice, which led to realisations that not only helped me in teaching them, but also how I could adapt my practice for the benefit of all learners.
Attribute 4: Practise and continues to develop their own cultural competence
The Patient Care Managers taught me a lot about local cultural intricacies and how I need to adapt my practice to be culturally and linguistically appropriate so learning is accessible by all.
Attribute 5: Develop and promote professional, inclusive relationships with all learners in their care, relevant employers and the wider community & Attribute 7: Design, facilitate and guide learning for each individual's success, using a wide range of context-appropriate strategies
My relationship with these Patient Care Managers extended beyond the classroom, as an ongoing resource for their learning needs. I adapted my practices during courses so that their needs were met, as well as the needs of the wider group of learners.
Attribute 12: Facilitate the ability of graduates to participate with confidence in the future workforce as capable and sustainable practitioners
As learners who has recently returned to the workforce these Patient Care Managers will have a crucial role in ensuring our organisation delivers the highest quality care to patients and their families by reducing cultural and language barriers. My role with these learners was to provide initial support in general/professional skills so they could effectively adjust to their new roles, so that from there they could receive highly specialised training that is needed in their delivery of care roles.
This case study demonstrates the following Graduate Attributes:
Attribute 2: Advance learning and teaching through critical self-reflection, evaluation and research
My experience with these Patient Care Managers made me think about how I could change my own teaching practice, which led to realisations that not only helped me in teaching them, but also how I could adapt my practice for the benefit of all learners.
Attribute 4: Practise and continues to develop their own cultural competence
The Patient Care Managers taught me a lot about local cultural intricacies and how I need to adapt my practice to be culturally and linguistically appropriate so learning is accessible by all.
Attribute 5: Develop and promote professional, inclusive relationships with all learners in their care, relevant employers and the wider community & Attribute 7: Design, facilitate and guide learning for each individual's success, using a wide range of context-appropriate strategies
My relationship with these Patient Care Managers extended beyond the classroom, as an ongoing resource for their learning needs. I adapted my practices during courses so that their needs were met, as well as the needs of the wider group of learners.
Attribute 12: Facilitate the ability of graduates to participate with confidence in the future workforce as capable and sustainable practitioners
As learners who has recently returned to the workforce these Patient Care Managers will have a crucial role in ensuring our organisation delivers the highest quality care to patients and their families by reducing cultural and language barriers. My role with these learners was to provide initial support in general/professional skills so they could effectively adjust to their new roles, so that from there they could receive highly specialised training that is needed in their delivery of care roles.