Statements from students

Renneth Hidalgo – Anthony Nolan – Quality Systems Management

This is my first course for this course and I can say that I have enjoyed it so much and found the course to be relevant and useful. I have interacted with colleagues who came from different work backgrounds and we shared information and feedback from each other’s work, shared our own personal and work practices and experiences and I received excellent guide and comments from the tutor. It has been very useful as it helped me achieve most of my personal objectives at work. It has improved my audit and risk management skills, I have reviewed and re-assessed our Quality policy and improved the quality on investigating non-conformances within my organisation. I would definitely recommend this course to other future students.

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Nicholas Levene – Princess Alexandra Hospital, Essex – Analysis of Nucleic Acids

The course provided me with an opportunity to further my knowledge in a specialist area related to my field of work. I have now gained the confidence to troubleshoot complex issues at work whilst gaining a broader and deeper understanding of molecular techniques. I will be able to apply the strong foundational knowledge acquired through the course to any related tasks in the future. The course was also well paced and enjoyable, with online communications with students and tutors providing a great way to overcome any problems understanding some of the concepts.

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Shila Dubasia – Newham University Hospital – Governance and Risk Management

I found the courses that I have taken very well structured and enjoyed using my work experience in the chat sessions and applying it to the activities and the assessed assignments. Some of the things I have learnt in some courses I am now using it in my work place such as working with my Quality Lead in carrying out root cause analysis in investigating department incidents.

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Sara Oliver – GSTS Pathology St Thomas’ Hospital – Blood Transfusion

The tutors of both my previous course and current course have been extremely supportive and encouraging. The course work itself is derived from using the policies and procedures currently in place in your workplace which has made these courses invaluable. Not only do they give you the background knowledge that you require but they assist you in applying that knowledge directly into your workplace making the course that much more relevant.

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Ellen Tumelty – Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice – Governance and Risk Management

To date I have successfully completed two online courses with BioMed: my decision to apply for a course through BioMed was made because of recommendations and the fact that in my role as Infection Control Lead I felt that I needed to gain underpinning knowledge to support me. Having never completed an online course and not being the most computer literate person I had my anxieties.

However the course proved to be invaluable, the support that I received from the tutors and the admin team was great. No question asked was dismissed, throughout the course I was encouraged to think and reflect and I was certainly challenged. My learning has been demonstrated in my practice and this feedback has been given to me by my manager and other colleagues. And I feel so much more confident when it comes to Infection prevent and Control and I cannot express strongly enough the knowledge that I have gained.

At the start of the course on the introduction day when it is said that after completing a course you may want to do more my initial thoughts were really?? And now I am starting my third course. I have completed courses in other universities and at Greenwich that have all been classroom based, and although I have learnt a lot, I really haven’t had the seen such a change in my practice as I have doing these courses.

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Stephen McDonald – Altnagelvin Area Hospital – Renal Disease

I chose the programme at Greenwich as the courses were applicable to every day lab practise. The online delivery of the course is excellent, allowing for study in your own time and at your own pace, but with the tutor making sure you are on target. The forums and chat sessions are fantastic opportunities for interaction with the other students and with you tutor. The courses are well supported by the BioMed Admin team and by IT staff.

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Liza Faustino – Royal Sussex County Hospital – Advanced Human Genetics

Taking the BioMed online courses helped me to develop myself professionally. The flexibility of being able to do it online and at on the time I have available was what attracted me to do it. The courses are well-structured and also provide me with a chance to interact with other students just like in a normal class setting. I have enjoyed doing the courses and have learned how to balance it with work and family well.

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Ijeoma Eyo-Nsa – Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria – Management of Healthcare Associated Infection

I have taken 2 courses under the Postgraduate Bio-med online programme; Quality Management System and Managing Healthcare Acquired Infections. Both courses were delivered by well experienced facilitators who created enabling environment for learning and sharing ideas. The knowledge and skills I acquired have greatly assisted me to improve on the quality procedures in my laboratory and implement routine safety practices to prevent health care associated infections.

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Francesca Salvi – Royal Sussex County Hospital – Immunocytochemistry

I have found taking BioMed online courses an excellent way of expanding my knowledge of subjects relevant to my working practice. The online mode is convenient time wise and also provides the basis for networking with fellow scientists on other sites nationwide. The ability to share knowledge and experiences has been extremely useful in informing my working practice. The material is varied and interesting and encourages good CPD practice.

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Huseyin Kurnaz- Barts Health – Lung Disease

As part of my personal and career development plan I undertook the Lung Disease course as my second course in the Postgraduate Online BioMed programme. It was one of the courses available relevant to my position as a Histopathology Biomedical Scientist. The course content I found to be substantial yet relevant. The level apart from the first introductory chapter was definitely of a Postgraduate level. It must be remembered that the course is quite intense; however, there is a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere during the chat sessions. Both tutor and support staff were very helpful and always provided guidance if necessary. As this course was almost entirely an online course I learned very quickly that it was better to try to keep up with regular study rather than try to catch up if I missed anything. The presentation at the Greenwich site at the end of the course was quite a bit of a grilling, but I think that is more dependent on course and tutors style of teaching. That being said I learned a lot during the presentation, it was almost like another teaching session. It has been hard but that is mainly due to me being out of formal academia for a few years and just getting back in the swing of things.

Being a senior member of staff this course has helped develop my knowledge and understanding of lung structure, physiology and pathology and will be very useful in my workplace as we do deal with lung tissue. As a BMS I am involved in dealing with both biopsies and dissection of small Histology specimens. This knowledge comes in useful both for my own benefit and for training purposes, both of other technical staff and sometimes junior medical staff or nurses.

Statements from Managers

  Sue Woodcock, Viapath (Guy’s and St. Thomas’)

We have been supporting staff undertake the Greenwich on line courses since its inception. The modular approach allows us to support staffs CPD and career progression. On line courses are flexible and allow our shift workers to access individual courses or a full MSc that would otherwise be difficult due to their working hours constraints. The subjects are relevant to our workforce especially the quality management systems, Managing Learning & Development, Blood Transfusion and POCT. The quality of the courses and tutors is very high and staff always give positive feedback of their experiences.

Joy Gallagher, Viapath (King’s)

The BioMed courses are both flexible and relevant to meet the changing demands faced by hospital laboratories. They offer a wide range of subjects, e.g. management type courses such as Quality Systems Management, and discipline specific courses such as Blood Transfusion. . The students are able to undertake their courses as either standalone courses or as part of an MSc. The courses benefit both the student and their workplace as they contribute towards CPD points.

Hospital laboratories are under increased pressure due to higher workloads and the need to maintain agreed turnaround times, therefore distance learning has become increasingly popular as it enables the laboratories to support a greater number of staff undertaking these courses. We have seen an increase in the number of our own staff successfully undertaking these courses.

Sally Houghton, Addenbrooke’s

As the courses are e-learning based they provide flexibility for study at the student’s own pace and provide a support and guidance network for completion within stipulated timeframes. The scope of courses available comprise a system where the studies can be tailored to the student’s interests and role definitions. This flexibility makes the course completely definable by the student and is therefore very different from the routine structured courses available elsewhere. The flexibility of study means that employers do not need to work around staffing issues and financing can be assisted without the need for complete course funding in a single invoice. This helps with support more than one student at a time. The e-learning also means that travel expenses are kept to a minimum and travel time can be used for study’.

Katherine Scouler, Epsom & St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust

re Catherine Nott – Implementing Advanced Quality Management

The training that Catherine has received from attending the Implementing Advanced Quality Management has helped Catherine understand processes needed to identify and implement effective QMS in departments, and the actions of liaising with departments for successful implementation. As such Catherine has helped to develop and roll out an effective QMS training programme for all Pathology staff in the Trust, which links into MHRA, UKAS and IBMS requirements.

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Krista De Four, Viapath

re Dalian Beaver – Immunocytochemistry

Dalian worked with the training officer and Histology Manager to ensure that she was rotated to the IHC laboratory. At times it was difficult to ensure that all of the set schedules were met due to operational demand however, Dalian was able to rotate and complete her training requirements to support her IHC course.

Dalian has enjoyed the course and found it to be a valuable experience. The course course and contents assisted her and gave her the opportunity to complete duties in the IHC laboratory and in turn complete her competencies.

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David Dicks, Salisbury District Hospital

re James Ryan – Analysis of Nucleic Acids

This course has given James Ryan a greater understanding of how PCR systems are designed & how individual genes & their mutations can be detected. In our relatively small lab, we are already using a variety of different PCR methods to identify pathogens & their resistance mechanisms. This will become a major part of our diagnostic work if we adopt multiplex PCR panels for areas such as Blood Cultures & Enteric screening. In addition, the samples we send to Reference labs are being tested with ever more advanced & specialised molecular tests.

Microbiology is currently undergoing a revolution with the introduction of the new molecular technologies. A better understanding of the theoretical basis of these methods can only benefit both James & the Lab as a whole in the future.

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Jane Tiller, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

re Natuley Smalle – Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Natuley has been more confident since completing the course on Mass Spec. She has taken a much more pro-active role with troubleshooting problems and has wanted to get involved with our R+D projects. She seems to have really understood the concepts and theory of HPLC/MS and has been working with Neil Leaver on several development projects – I don’t think she would been so keen to do this without having the additional knowledge from the course.

We have been very pleased with her new found knowledge and skills. She has said she feels more confident about the technology and more able to cope with the challenges it throws up from time to time!

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Lynda Ferrigan, Royal Infirmary Edinburgh

re Grant Halliday – Managing Learning and Development

Grant has had a good deal of input into the training in our department and since commencing the course has gained more confidence in his ideas.

He has been instrumental in the implementation of training logs and assessments of our new Band 4 grades ( healthcare Scientist Associate Practitioners), a grade introduced to support the Biomedical Scientists. He has also mentored the IBMS Specialist Portfolio candidates in the department.

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Chris Yates, Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust

re Thomas Giddings – Robotics and Automation

Tom really enjoyed the Robotics and Automation Course. I feel that it will help him develop his workplace practice and prepare him for a more advanced role in our laboratory service.

It gave Tom a broader insight into the variety of automated platforms that are available and the UK and European procurement processes involved in putting them in place. The analysis of statistics and production of charts will be beneficial when looking at workload figures, test validation data and complex performance criteria. The department where he works will be going out to tender for high volume automated analysers in the coming year and Tom will be able to observe and hopefully participate in some stages of the process.

The development of business cases, concepts of project management and installation will all help Tom to develop in his present role and to take on new challenges.