'Teach Trolley' teaching: A simple solution to teaching during a pandemic?

Published Date: 22nd September 2021

Publication Authors: Pal S, Robinson E, Longley C, Jain N

Background
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education has been widely documented [1] but its effect on workplace training for healthcare professionals is yet to be determined. As the pandemic eases, opportunities for formal teaching outside of the clinical environment may remain limited with the need to escalate elective surgery. Before the pandemic, there were bi-annual and drop-in sessions for multidisciplinary (anaesthetists and operational department practitioners (ODPs)) airway teaching at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Since March 2020, this was suspended, limiting opportunities for training updates. We aimed to deliver teaching in the workplace, avoiding the need to remove staff from their clinical duties, flexible in its delivery and focused on equipment relevant to the challenges faced with the pandemic.

Methods
We implemented ‘Teach Trolley’ teaching sessions for ODPs and anaesthetists in their anaesthetic rooms, offering more experience and familiarity with ‘Glidescope’ videolaryngoscopy, Aintree intubation catheter using fibreoptic scope via supraglottic airway and ‘ScalpelCric’ front of neck access equipment. At an agreed time, patient care was handed over to some of the teaching team and teaching delivered in 15-min slots, focused on the equipment of their choice. Equipment was decontaminated after each use. A questionnaire was completed to assess confidence in using the equipment and convenience of the teaching format.

Results
The session was attended by ODPs (50%) and anaesthetists (50%). All participants felt more confident using the equipment that they had received teaching on and 90% would attend similar sessions in the future. Seventy per cent of respondents last had teaching on the equipment > 12 months ago with none within the last 6 months. Some respondents mentioned ‘the ease’ and ‘convenience’ of this format due to the ‘difficulty’ of attending teaching.

Discussion
The results show the importance of ongoing development and finding simple ways to ensure relevant teaching is delivered during times of increased pressure. This session allowed focused teaching whilst minimising disruption to clinical duties and improving engagement within the workforce. In the future we would like to increase session frequency, cover more topics relevant to the theatre environment and involve ODPs in their delivery, which will help lead transformation of the services provided [2].

Pal, S; Robinson, E; Longley, C; Jain, N. (2021). 'Teach Trolley' teaching: A simple solution to teaching during a pandemic?. Anaesthesia. 76 (S6), 58

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