Tertiary Haemostasis: What do we Teach, What Should we Teach?

Many factors impact on how teaching is delivered within tertiary education. A major issue currently is the drive from universities to streamline and provide more cost-effective delivery of courses. As a consequence there is increasing pressure for content to be delivered through non-traditional modes such as on-line delivery and ‘simulation’. Further, there are pressures to reduce the practical component of courses as these are considered to be relatively expensive. Potential outcomes of these changes may include reduced ‘hands-on’ practical sessions, reduced access to ‘real-world’ samples and laboratory activities, increased class sizes (and staff:student ratios) and poorer learning outcomes for students. Pathology laboratories ideally require work-ready graduates who have an array of generic and specific skills developed through their undergraduate training. Changes to the ability of university courses to develop these skills will potentially impact on the quality of graduates and the ability to meet course accreditation, which could ultimately affect the reputation and viability of courses. The shortage of suitably trained and experienced medical scientists is predicted to worsen during the next 5 – 10 years. Thus, changes in the ability of universities to deliver quality learning outcomes and work-ready graduates represent another significant threat to the profession. This talk will; 1) provide a snapshot of how haemostasis is currently taught within accredited medical/biomedical science courses in Australia and New Zealand, 2) review the factors currently influencing the delivery of haemostasis teaching in these courses, and 3) discuss how the delivery of this content could change to satisfy the requirements of all stakeholders.