Integrated behavioural Skills

Definition: integrates task training with role play (using actors) to enable procedural and communication tasks to be practiced simultaneously

Suitable for the following competencies: training for procedural skills, especially those conducted on awake patients where competency requires basic interactive skills delivered with effective communication skills to assist patients to stay calm; assist patients to cope with claustrophobia and remain in certain positions, ensure they have adequate analgesia, and are appropriately sedated if required.

Examples of topics suitable for this format include:

• Epidural anaesthesia / Lumbar puncture
• Suturing

Format: A workshop format is used where one to two instructors facilitate a group of up to six participants. As with procedural skills training, facilitators follow a structure consisting of: Introduction, Goal setting, Demonstration, Practice, Feedback, Questions and discussion, Close. Generally the participants perform a task on an actor who is integrated with a part-task trainer.

How its run: Typically, the skills training is "situated" within the context of total patient management so that participants will be required to integrate technical skills with patient-doctor interaction.