Implementation through education: NICE
Last month, NICE published its education strategy that proposes a set of exciting, innovative and challenging initiatives to support implementation of its guidance. The underlying principle is to support organisations responsible for education in developing an NHS and related workforce that understands the context and values underpinning NICE guidance and have the skills to put these into practice.
The initiatives include: (a) Engagement with key partners to ensure that the educational themes identified by NICE are considered in the development and revision of educational standards, learning objectives, and curricula; (b) Education packages and tools to facilitate related learning; and (c) Support for educational initiatives designed to develop future leaders in evidence-based healthcare.
Educational themes relevant to NICE guidance and their implementation include: (a) practical understanding of evidence-based medicine; (b) cost-effectiveness and opportunity costs and their application in setting priorities within healthcare i.e. 'balancing act' between the primacy of patients' welfare and the principle of social justice; and (c) implementing clinical guidelines in practice, understanding potential barriers and levers to implementation.
Like previous years, NICE has developed further online education tools to support health professionals in learning about its new guidance and in implementing these recommendations in practice. This year, the Institute, has produced two separate versions (primary and secondary care) of these tools where appropriate to cater for the diverse education needs of the NHS workforce.
As part of this strategy and in recognition of the importance of educating tomorrow's doctors, NICE is developing an education package for medical students. This package is going to be developed, piloted and evaluated in collaboration with institutions responsible for medical education. We will also produce an extra version of the package for non-medical audiences.
You can read NICE Education Strategy, use its latest education tools and learn more about the undergraduate medical education package here.
