Jamie Sterland

Jamie’s passion, communication skills, and technical foresight make him an outstanding asset to our community.

Karolina Piechowicz, Clinical Skills Lead, School of Allied Health Professions, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery

Can you sum up what you do in one sentence?

I procure, maintain, operate and work to improve the equipment and processes involved in simulation-based learning experiences for healthcare students.

You were nominated as an inspiration to others, how does it feel to be recognised?

As a member of staff who works mostly behind the scenes, it is really nice. It feels really gratifying to get this kind of recognition from my colleagues for the things I do to support their teaching.   

What part of your work brings you the most pride or joy?

I really enjoy that I occupy quite a unique role in a very interdisciplinary team. Our team is composed of people who've spent years working in clinical practice, and people with expertise in recruiting actors and Patients as Educators to participate in scenarios. 

It's nice that we can exchange knowledge and combine our unique skills to tackle challenging tasks as a team. For example, colleagues with first-hand healthcare experience help me when we're programming scenarios on the manikin. They can tell me the most appropriate clinical signs for a given scenario, and then I can apply my technical knowledge and creativity to it. 

Something I’m really proud of is my work with the WISE programme, which is an interprofessional simulation where final year students train together in a simulated clinical environment. I managed the technology setup behind the scenes to make sure the event ran seamlessly for everyone involved.

Jamie exemplifies University values through his commitment to excellence, collaborative approach with academic and clinical staff, and his ability to translate learning objectives into practical simulation solutions.

Emma Hudson, Patients as Educators Deputy Manager, Division of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

How does your work create an impact in research, innovation and education?

I spend a lot of time researching what is at the cutting edge of medical education technology, thinking quite critically and asking colleagues about what they think would be best to help our students.

It’s about finding content that is most appropriate for the skill level of the students we’re teaching, and talking to people out in practice as they are seeing first-hand what the gold standard is for doing a particular medical procedure. 

Basically, making sure our students’ have access to the best technology for teaching a certain skill, but also having the ability to cover skills that are contemporary in our current healthcare environment. 

Last year, we introduced for the first time, ultrasound guided cannulation. We were very fortunate to be able to purchase loads of new ultrasound probes. 

These aren't the sort of big machines used in a hospital. It's just a tiny handheld probe that is plugged into a phone or a tablet. It was really great, getting hands on with those, figuring out how they work and being in some of the teaching sessions helping students and staff with the technical aspects. 

It's just nice knowing that the work I do helps best prepare students for what they're going to encounter when they leave their studies and go into a healthcare profession.

What is one thing about your workspace or role that would surprise people? 

No matter how long you've worked in a clinical skill centre, you'll always give yourself a fright when you open a door onto a life-size patient simulator (manikin) that you weren't expecting to find. 

Are there any upcoming projects or new technologies that you’re particularly excited to be working on? 

Our clinical skills team has gone from being based in the School of Medicine and Population Health to a faculty-wide resource, and that's going to open up a lot more opportunities for interprofessional learning  just like the programme, WISE. 

This means we can hopefully get students studying to go into different healthcare professions, learning together and working together in simulation to mimic best what would happen in the real world. 

I’m excited to explore the development of more novel and innovative forms of simulation. I attended a conference a couple of years ago where I encountered the concept of doing a ‘choose your own adventure’ type simulation. 

Rather than being stood around a manikin, thrown into a hospital ward environment, you're voting on Kahoot or Wooclap to decide what you would do next for this patient. You can do it in a big lecture theatre, it’s like a group discussion and it takes a bit of the pressure off, makes it a bit more fun. 

We recently trialled a sort of escape room type simulation, giving students bags containing equipment and information with padlocks on, and they had to work and figure out puzzles to solve the combinations. We're exploring all the different ways we can suit various learning styles, making something students often find daunting into something they'll hopefully find more fun.