Arrange an early meeting with the trainee before they start
Invite new trainees to visit the department as early as possible to meet colleagues and familiarise themselves with the working environment. This provides an opportunity to discuss expectations and establish rapport. It is also an opportunity to learn more about their interests, experience, and skills, which will help inform your training plans. This is also a good time to explain the arrangements for any training that will take place at external sites.
Make contacts with others involved in echocardiography training
The most useful contacts will be within the echocardiography community. You will probably know of others through your professional network or the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) who are engaged in training healthcare scientists. This will be an opportunity to discuss best practice.
Prepare staff including other trainees
Staff within the department, including trainees on other training schemes, will need to understand the key elements of the Echocardiography Training Programme (ETP). It may be helpful to host an ETP familiarisation session that is open to all staff within the department.
Topics to cover could include:
- The ETP is a nationally competitive training programme that leads to British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) Accreditation.
- Trainees are supernumerary and will study concurrently for a Postgraduate Certificate.
- Academic study may be undertaken in the workplace, and trainees will spend at least 1 day each week engaged in study, in addition to their own independent learning.
- The programme is designed to develop Accredited Echocardiographers and encourages collaborative working with other professional groups to improve patient care.
- The programme includes block study at the higher education provider.
This is also an opportunity to explain the role of the school and its Training Programme Directors.
Trainees can also bring a valuable new perspective to your department. Their questions and observations can provide useful insights for existing staff. Encourage them to see themselves as contributing to the continuous improvement of the department. Where possible, trainees should be based alongside other members of the department. Trainees have reported that they learn a great deal by listening to and participating in everyday conversations between colleagues. This informal learning is invaluable and helps trainees integrate into the team. Make sure trainees are invited to departmental meetings and encouraged to participate so they can understand the wider context and impact of their work.
Prepare to be active in imparting knowledge and skills
The academic part of the programme is at master’s level and all trainees will have a good level of scientific understanding. However, no programme can teach everything that is needed for professional practice, and innovation happens very quickly in science. Training Officers should prime staff in the department to be generous in passing on their own knowledge. In addition to scientific knowledge, echocardiography training relies on hands-on training and there is a wealth of other knowledge and skills in professional practice, health service management, and other patient facing training activities.
Establish contact with the university
Ideally, establish a working relationship with the programme lead as soon as possible. This is an integrated training programme and works best if the academic and work-based elements are working co-operatively together.
Build networks within your organisation and region
Other departments within your region may have ETP trainees and trainees are encouraged to create networks; peer support is very helpful. There will likely be a regional echo training lead, who will contact you to discuss what training support is available. Your local healthcare science lead should also be able to help. Details of existing regional healthcare science trainee networks are available.
Inform your learning and development manager and lead healthcare scientist
The person responsible for learning and development in your organisation and your lead healthcare scientist, should be informed in advance that you have a trainee joining as they should have an overall view of all trainees in the science area. They may have useful resources and planned events which can contribute to training. They will also know what support is available.
Send background reading to the trainee in advance
Documents that are required reading such as organisation wide policies, departmental guidelines, practice advice, rules and regulations could, if it is within your organisation’s normal practice, be emailed to the trainee in advance.