Enhancing health care non-technical skills: the TINSELS programme

Background and context: Training in 'non-technical skills', i. e. social (communication and teamwork) and cognitive (analytical and personal behaviour) skills, in health care have been of great interest over the Last decade. Whereas the majority of publications focus on 'whether' such education can be successful, they overlook 'how' they enhance skills. We designed and piloted a theoretically robust teaching package that addresses non-technical skills in the context of medicine safety through simulation-based interprofessional Learning: the Training In Non-technical Skills to Enhance Levels of Medicines Safety (TINSELS) programme. Innovation: A modified Delphi process was completed to identify Learning outcomes, and multiprofessional teams were recruited through Local publicity. The faculty staff developed a threesession simulation-based intervention: firstly, a simulated ward encounter with multiple medicinerelated activities; secondly, an extended debriefing and facilitated discussion; and finally, a 'chamber of horrors', where interprofessionaL teams identified potential sources of error. Each session was completed in the simulation suite with between six and nine participants, Lasted approximately 90 minutes and took place over 2 weeks. Full details of the course will be presented to facilitate dissemination.