Professional Foundations of Healthcare and Clinical Science —
Training activity: 16

Details

Attend a senior management meeting for your department or organisation, and reflect on the contribution you and your department make to your organisation and the wider healthcare environment

Type

Developmental training activity (DTA)

Evidence requirements

Evidence the activity has been undertaken by the trainee​.

Reflection on the activity at one or more time points after the event including learning from the activity and/or areas of the trainees practice for development.

An action plan to implement learning and/or to address skills or knowledge gaps identified.

Considerations

• You must apply appropriate confidentiality to any meetings you attend
• This might include a
  • Performance board
  • Trust/organisation board
  • Finance board
  • Senior managers meeting
  • Operational management meeting
  • Divisional meeting
  • Governance meeting
• The local and national healthcare landscape
• The contribution of Healthcare Scientists and other professional groups to patient care
• Leadership
• Culture and values
• Effective communication
• Decision-making processes
• Local and national priorities
• NHS governance and accountabilities

Reflective practice guidance

The guidance below is provided to support reflection at different time points, providing you with questions to aid you to reflect for this training activity. They are provided for guidance and should not be considered as a mandatory checklist. Trainees should not be expected to provide answers to each of the guidance questions listed.

Before action

• What is the typical agenda and focus of senior management meetings in your organisation?
• What do you currently understand about the strategic priorities of your department and organisation?
• What information can you gather beforehand to better understand the context of the meeting?
• What specific contributions does your department make to patient care and the wider healthcare system?

In action

• As you observe the meeting, are you actively listening to the discussions and trying to understand the strategic decision-making processes?
• Are you consciously considering how the topics being discussed relate to the day-to-day work of your department and your own role?
• As you reflect on your department’s contribution, are you identifying specific examples of how your team’s work impacts the organisation and the wider healthcare system?

On action

• What were the key topics discussed at the senior management meeting? What decisions were made and what strategic priorities were highlighted? How was the contribution of your department discussed in the wider organisational context?
• How well did you understand the strategic overview and priorities of your organisation? What does this experience tell you about the role and impact of your department within the wider healthcare environment? How effective were you at reflecting on the contribution of yourself and your department?
• How will you align your work with the strategic priorities of your organisation? How will you better understand and articulate the value and contribution of your department? How will you engage with organisational level initiatives and decision-making processes in the future?

Beyond action

• Have you had further exposure to departmental or organisational management processes? Has your understanding of their functioning evolved?
• How has attending this meeting enhanced your understanding of the strategic context in which your department operates and its role within the wider organisation?
• In your future career, how might you contribute to departmental or organisational planning and decision-making processes?

Relevant learning outcomes

#	Outcome
# 6	Outcome Summarise the role and responsibilities of healthcare scientists in providing and upholding high quality patient centred care.
# 7	Outcome Identify stakeholders involved with and affected by their practice and work with stakeholders to provide high quality patient centred care.
# 9	Outcome Describe the framework of local and national healthcare provision and the contribution of their role and specialty.