Ms Dara O’Keeffe, MB BCh BAO BMedSc MRCS.
Simulation Lead in Postgraduate Surgical Education and Training, National Surgical Training Centre, Department of Surgical Affairs, RCSI.
Dara O’Keeffe trained in surgery in Ireland for eight years before entering the field of medical education. She has 14 years’ experience in curriculum planning and delivery for postgraduates of all specialties and allied healthcare professionals. She joined RCSI in 2006 and helped to develop the Operative Surgery Skills training and the Human Factors in Patient Safety Programme for postgraduate trainees in Surgery and Emergency Medicine. She returned to RCSI in 2015 following some years in Boston, where she held the position of Assistant Director of Simulation-based Learning at the Brigham and Women’s hospital and a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School. Her areas of specialty include curriculum planning and assessment for simulation education and faculty development.
Dr. Eva Doherty, DClinPsych, CClinPsychol (AFPsSI), CPsychol (AFBPsS).
Eva is Director of the Human Factors in Patient Safety (HFPS) training, research and assessment programme at the National Surgical Training Centre, Department of Surgical Affairs, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). The HFPS training is a mandatory component of the postgraduate professional training for surgical, emergency medicine and ophthalmology trainees. The programme provides interactive workshops for trainees and more recently for consultants on topics which include medical error, risk management, communication, teamwork, conflict resolution, decision-making, open disclosure, emotional intelligence, crisis management, resilience, professionalism and leadership. Eva pioneered and currently directs the academic MSc in Human Factors in Patient Safety which is an inter-professional two year part-time blended programme. In February 2018, Eva was invited to chair the Respond subgroup of the National Healthcare Communication Group (NHCG) reporting to Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, Health Services Executive (HSE). Eva’s recent publications and research interests include communication issues in Irish hospitals; personality factors, emotional intelligence, and medical training and technical competencies; and the assessment of improvements and remediation of communication skills
Dr Marie Morris, PhD, MSc, PGDipHEd, PG Cert Academic Practice, BScHons, DPSN, RGN.
I am a student-focussed cross health-professionals educator with thirty years’ experience in healthcare provision and healthcare education. Educated at Trinity College Dublin, I hold a PhD in Surgical Education, a MSc in Clinical Medicine and a Postgrad Diploma in Higher Education. My core motivation is to facilitate students to move beyond academic theory and towards becoming skilled practitioners. I see each student as an individual, being more than just a passive learner. Each student brings their own personality and unique personal experiences to their peers and to their programme. Consequently, my coaching and pastoral roles are crucial to helping each student become their personal best practitioner. I believe that patient outcomes are maximised when there is a good understanding of each discipline’s roles and unique contributions to patient care. Consequently, my teaching has a strong interdisciplinary component. My ethos is one of collaborative intentionality. Within this, students learn with, from and about other disciplines to deliver holistic patient-centred care. This unique approach to education has been recognised by my students, who have nominated me for several teaching awards. While teaching at Trinity College Dublin, I was awarded the highest accolade of the “Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence”. I have also been awarded the student led “National Teaching Hero Award”. My teaching is strongly informed by evidence-based research. I am passionate about educational and assessment research, and actively conduct research into novel approaches to education and assessment. I have received the Trinity College Dublin “Dean’s Award” for innovation in teaching and assessment for three consecutive years. My body of work includes 25 peer-reviewed publications and numerous conference presentations. Nationally, I am the Deputy National Representative for EACH (European Association of Communication Skills in Healthcare). Internationally, I am the Head of Assessment for the Fellowship of the European Board of Surgery Examinations (EBSQ UEMS FEBS).
Toale C, Morris M, Kavanagh D.Am J Surg. 2021 Apr 6:S0002-9610(21)00169-0. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.03.035. PMID: 33849711
Changing workplace-based education norms through ‘collaborative intentionalityMorris M, Eppich WJ.
Med Educ. 2021 Aug;55(8):885-887. doi: 10.1111/medu.14564. Epub 2021 Jun 3.PMID: 33991359
Development of a simulation-based sub-module in undergraduate medical education.
Morris MC, Conroy P.Ir J Med Sci. 2020 Feb;189(1):389-394. doi: 10.1007/s11845-019-02050-3. Epub 2019 Jun 26. PMID: 31243695
Heskin L, Morris M, Traynor O.Am J Surg. 2021 Aug;222(2):292-293. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2020.12.055. Epub 2021 Jan 11. PMID: 33472749
Dr. Angela O’Dea, BSc., MSc., PhD., MSc (Clin)
Dr. Angela O’Dea is a human factors psychologist. She has over 15 years experience of research, education and training development in high risk environments such as military, aviation, nuclear and conventional power generation, offshore oil and gas production and healthcare. Currently she holds the post of Senior Lecturer in Surgical Education at the Department of Surgical Affairs at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where she is part of the Human Factors team, delivering academic and training programmes to surgeons and inter-professional healthcare providers. Her research interests are Human Factors and patient safety in healthcare specifically, risk and error management, decision making, teamwork, and leadership in healthcare.
Ms Leonie Heskin MB BCh BAO, BArch, MArch, MSc(Bioeng), FRCSI
Leonie is currently the simulation Technology Development Lead and Senior Lecturer for Postgraduate Surgery and Education. Prior to entering surgical education, Leonie was a senior Registrar in Plastic Surgery with a special interest in trauma and upper limb trauma.After having worked as a junior surgeon in General Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Orthopedics, Gynecology and Emergency Medicine, she is now using this experience with her honours degree in Architecture Design (UCD) and Master’s degree in Bioengineering (Imperial College London) to design and develop simulation solutions to enhance surgical skills learning. She completed her ‘Becoming a Medical Educator’ module at the University of Oxford.
She is currently undertaking a PhD doctorate on the subject of Surgical Simulation and Bioengineering, with an emphasis on simulation fidelity. Leonie has completed a course on special effects make-up, which is being used in creating moulage for mannequin and simulated patient simulation scenarios, for multidisciplinary non-technical skills training.