- John Bull Building, Tamar Science Park, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 586903
- thomas.gale@plymouth.ac.uk
Profiles
Professor Thomas Gale
Professor of Medical Education
Peninsula Medical School (Faculty of Health)
Biography
Biography
Clinical Professor and Consultant Anaesthetist
Director of Assessment (Medicine and Dentistry)Director of Collaboration for the Advancement of Medical Education Research and Assessment
Joint Programme lead, MSc Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety
Qualifications
BMedSci, BM BS, FRCA, MClinEd
Principal Fellow of Higher Education Academy (2017)
Teaching Fellowship Award, University of Plymouth (2017 & 2012)
International Teaching Innovation Award, Association for Medical Education in Europe (2016)
Harvard Macy Scholar - Leading innovations in healthcare and education (2014)
President’s Commendation, Royal College of Anaesthetists (2013)
Professional membership
Royal College of Anaesthetists
European Board of Medical Assessors
Roles on external bodies
Chair, Recruitment Committee, Royal College of Anaesthetists
Executive Board member, European Board of Medical Assessors
Member of Quality & Standards Group, Medical and Dental Recruitment and Selection, Health Education England
Member of Curriculum Review Group, Royal College of Anaesthetists
Executive Board member, European Board of Medical Assessors
Member of Quality & Standards Group, Medical and Dental Recruitment and Selection, Health Education England
Member of Curriculum Review Group, Royal College of Anaesthetists
Teaching
Teaching
Teaching interests
Clinical skills & simulation
Joint Programme Lead MSc Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety 2018 – date
Director of Clinical Skills & Simulation (Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) 2013 – 18
Module lead for Clinical Skills (PCMD) 2011 – 18
Programme Lead, MSc Simulation and Patient Safety 2013 – 17
Assessment
Director of Assessment (Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) 2013 – date
Curriculum review committee, Royal College of Anaesthetists 2019 – date
Chair of BMBS Programme Award Board 2014 – 18
Chair of Medical School Teaching Learning and Quality Committee 2015 – 17
Chair of IT assessment integration group (Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) 2015 – 17
Chair of Faculty Assessment Working Group 2014 – 15, 2018 – 19 & Deputy Chair 2017 – 18
Academic tutor, educational supervisor, clinical supervisor
Staff serving as external examiners
Lead for quality assessment and external review of national selection centres for recruitment to anaesthetic training posts in the UK
Research
Research
Research interests
As Director of the Collaboration for Medical Education Research & Assessment (CAMERA), I lead a programme of research investigating factors promoting the development, recruitment and retention of a sustainable healthcare workforce. This work is closely aligned with the strategy for the Plymouth Institute for Health Research (PIHR) where educational research is a core element of the PIHR Community - to support the development of our health and care workforce with research that covers educational delivery and preparedness for practice, recruitment, revalidation, and resilience.
My current research and recently completed studies include:
Unlocking the potential of fitness to practise data.
General Dental Council £151,711, August 2020-January 2022.
Co-investigator (Marie Bryce PI). Mixed methods study to investigate how the GDC as a regulator can learn from trends in fitness to practice data and refine coding systems for the collection of this data. Additional aim to explore and inform future GDC policies on the future use of upstream regulation in particular FTP referrals that can be dealt with at regional level.
Preparedness of recent medical graduates to meet anticipated healthcare needs
General Medical Council £94,779 August 2020 - June 2021
Principal Investigator. Systematic review and qualitative analysis of three important themes related to preparedness for practice of Foundation Doctors; the Changing Doctor-Patient relationship, Multidisciplinary teamworking and Complex clinical judgement.
Unanticipated practice – the experience of Interim Foundation Programme doctors during the COVID-19 crisis
General Medical Council £55,320 June 2020 - February 2021
Co-investigator (PI Bryan Burford, Newcastle University).
Mixed methods study to evaluate how experience of new graduates as Interim Foundation Doctors has effected preparedness for practice and measures of well-being during the COVID pandemic through series of quantitative surveys and qualitative analysis of interview data.
Drivers of International Migration of Doctors to and from the United Kingdom
General Medical Council £48,236 December 2019 – August 2020
Co-investigator (PI Nicola Brennan). Mixed methods study involving systematic review, qualitative interviews and quantitative analysis to investigate patterns of migration of doctors to and from the UK.
The concept of seriousness in fitness to practice cases
General Dental Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council £124,675 December 2019 – May 2021
Co-Principal Investigator with Marie Bryce. In depth qualitative analysis using primary and secondary data of Fitness to Practice cases across 6 regulatory bodies to investigate commonalities and differences regarding the classification of seriousness and decisions on sanctions.
Review and mapping of basic dental training in EU member states
General Dental Council £21,026, September 2019 – February 2020
Principal Investigator. Systematic review, website searches and qualitative survey of dental regulators to compare graduate outcomes and quality assurance standards of basic dental training in EU member states.
Remediating doctors' performance to restore patient safety: A realist review.
NIHR HS&DR 16/06/04 Awarded £200,697.92, April 2018-February 2020
Appointed by NIHR to provide mentorship and support to Nicola Brennan as PI. Realist review investigating what medical education remediation interventions work for whom, when and in what contexts. Development of Programme Theory for Remediation of Doctors.
Online adaptive international progress test.
Erasmus Plus, Awarded €332,720.00, September 2018 – August 2021
I am co-applicant and lead for Plymouth contribution to study. Maastricht lead partner (van der Vleuten). Development and evaluation of online adaptive progress testing for medical students across 8 European institutions. Plymouth contribution (with Steven Burr, Jolanta Kisielewska) has successfully developed 250 items for the test, reviewed all items developed by Jagellonian University (Poland), and recruited more than 150 students to the study. Plymouth team is lead partner responsible for study publication strategy.
Research groups
Other research
I have led multiple recent projects analysing the UKMED database from 2016 – 19 to investigate:
- UKMED P30 (Principal Investgator) Socio-demographic and educational Factors associated with applications to GP, Psychiatry and Anaesthesia specialty training
- UKMED P32 (Principal Investgator) Factors associated with successful completion of core training in medicine and anaesthesia and subsequent entry to higher specialty training
- UKMED P41 (Co-investigator, PI Paul Lambe) Indicators which are reliable markers for widening participation.
2015 – 17: PI for collaborative research study with The Mentor Initiative (NGO) to develop and evaluate distributed simulation modules for healthcare workers responding to the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. This research was extended to Sierra Leone through a further funding bid, from the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) to help protect healthcare workers and the public from the threats of person to person transmisison.
2015 Co-applicant and co-investigator for GMC commissioned systematic review on international evidence for national licensing assessments.
2014 – 16. I set up collaborative study with Queens University Belfast to develop and evaluate the multiple mini-interview (MMI) for undergraduate nursing recruitment and to correlate interview scores with end of year results for the nursing programme.
From 2008 – 2014 I led a Department of Health funded pilot project to develop and evaluate selection methods to acute specialties training programmes in the South West. Methods were adopted for national selection processes in Anaesthesia, ACCS and Intensive Care Medicine.
Research degrees awarded to supervised students
Thuraya Kattan, PhD in Medical Studies. Exploring the Validity of Multimedia Written Assessment in Saudi Arabia. Completed November 2019
Rebecca Baines, PhD in Clinical Education. Can the value and acceptability of a patient feedback tool for revalidating psychiatrists be improved for patients and psychiatrists through its co-production? An action research approach. Completed October 2020
7 students completed masters level dissertations - MClinEd Clinical Education
6 students completed masters level dissertations - MSc Simulation and Patient Safety
Grants & contracts
Aug 20 - Jan 22
Unlocking the potential of fitness to practise data
PI Marie Bryce, Thomas Gale, Sally Hanks, Tim O’Brien, Daniel Zahra
Funding: General Dental Council
£151,711
May 20 - April 21
Unanticipated practice – the experience of Interim Foundation Programme doctors during the COVID-19 crisis
PI Bryan Burford, Gillian Vance, Thomas Gale, Karen Mattick, Nicola Brennan
Funding: General Medical Council
£50,918
July 20 – June 21
Preparedness of recent medical graduates to meet anticipated healthcare needs
PI Thomas Gale, Nicola Brennan, James Read, Hisham Khalil, Karen Mattick, Lorna Burns
Funding: General Medical Council
£94,779
December 19 – May 21
The concept of seriousness in fitness to practice cases
Co-PI Thomas Gale, Co-PI Marie Bryce, Ruth Endacott, Tim O’Brien, Oliver Quick, Tristan Price
Funding: General Dental Council and Nursing & Midwifery Council
£124,675
December 19 – May 20
Drivers of International Migration of Doctors to and from the United Kingdom
PI Nicola Brennan, Marie Bryce, Niamh Humphries, Andy Knapton, Thomas Gale
Funding: General Medical Council
£48,236
October 19 – March 20
Review and mapping of basic dental training in EU member states
PI Thomas Gale, Marie Bryce, Sally Hanks, Daniel Zahra, Lorna Burns
Funding: General Dental Council
£21,026
September 18 – September 21
Online Adaptive International Progress Test
PI van der Vleuten C, van Apeldoorn J, Pêgo J, Freeman A, Gale T, Janczukowicz J, Nowakowski M, Merenmies J
Funding: Erasmus+
€332,720
April 18 – April 20
Remediating doctors’ performance to restore patient safety: A realist review
PI Nicola Brennan, Geoff Wong, Jen Cleland, Julian Archer, Thomas Gale
Funding: NIHR
£200,679
March 17 – September 18
Exploring the impact of patient involvement in the teaching and assessment of vaginal examination skills
Rebecca Baines, Sam Regan de Bere, Thomas Gale
Funding: PEDRIO
£8,970
March 17 – September 18
A Systematic Review of Medical Semiology
John Tredinnick- Rowe, Sam Regan de Bere, Thomas Gale
Funding: PEDRIO
£5,000
March 17 – August 18
What factors predict doctors' successful completion of core training in medicine and anaesthetics and their subsequent decisions to pursue higher specialty training?
PI Thomas Gale, Paul Lambe, Martin Roberts
Funding: Health Education England
£13,764
February 16 – June 18
Development and evaluation of technology enhanced training programme for peripheral intravenous cannulation
Project lead Thomas Gale, Robert Johnson, Arunangsu Chatterjee
Funding: Becton Dickinson (UoPEL commercial contract)
£18,872
September 15 – April 17
Building capacity and sustainability within Sierra Leonean Health Service to improve resilience to future outbreaks of Viral Haemorrhagic fever
PI Thomas Gale, Arunangsu Chatterjee, Austin Hunt
Funding: Tropical Health Education Trust
£134,507
September 14 – June 15
A Systematic Review on the impact of licensing examinations for doctors in countries comparable to the UK
PI Julian Archer, Sam Regan de Bere, Thomas Gale
Funding: General Medical Council
£30,000
December 14 – January 16
Evaluation of Immersive Simulation as training tool for Healthcare workers in West Africa
PI Thomas Gale, Austin Hunt, Arunangsu Chatterjee
Funding: Telegraph Charities Appeal – Masanga Mentor Ebola Initiative
£65,000
June 13 – March 15
Transforming undergraduate learning through interprofessional simulation
PI Thomas Gale, Ruth Endacott, Julian Archer
Funding: Higher Education Academy
£56,550
2008 – 2013
Development and evaluation of shortlisting and interview methods for acute specialties training programmes
PI Thomas Gale, Alison Carr, Jeremy Langton
Funding: Department of Health
£273,689
Publications
Publications
Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
Journals
Articles
(2023) 'Drivers and barriers of international migration of doctors to and from the United Kingdom: a scoping review' Human Resources for Health 21, (1) , DOI Open access
(2023) 'Graduates’ preparedness for the changing doctor‐patient relationship: a qualitative study' Medical Education , DOI Open access
(2022) 'Progress and challenges in the harmonisation of European undergraduate dental education: a systematic literature review with narrative synthesis' European Journal of Dental Education , DOI Open access
(2022) 'The development and implementation of a computer adaptive progress test across European countries' Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence 3, , DOI Open access
(2022) 'Recruitment to anaesthesia training posts during the
<scp>COVID</scp>
‐19 pandemic and beyond' Anaesthesia 77, (5) 514-518 , DOI Open access
(2021) 'Preparing Health Profession Students for Practice in Complex Real World Settings: How Do Educators Respond to a Model of Capability?' International Journal of Practice-based Learning in Health and Social Care 9, (1) 50-63 , DOI Open access
(2021) 'Remediation programmes for practising doctors to restore patient safety: the RESTORE realist review' Health Services and Delivery Research 9, (11) 1-116 , DOI Open access
(2021) 'Optimising the delivery of remediation programmes for doctors: A realist review' Medical Education , DOI Open access
(2020) 'A qualitative study using hybrid simulation to explore the impacts of human factors e-learning on behaviour change' Advances in Simulation 5, (1) , DOI Open access
(2019) 'Evaluation of teamwork assessment tools for interprofessional simulation: a systematic review' Journal of Interprofessional Care , DOI Open access
(2019) 'Evaluating the recruitment process into UK anaesthesia core training: a national data linkage study of doctors’ performance at selection and subsequent postgraduate training' Postgraduate Medical Journal , DOI Open access
(2019) 'Sociodemographic and educational characteristics
of doctors applying for psychiatry training in the UK:
secondary analysis of data from the UK Medical
Education Database project' BJPsych Bulletin , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Frameworks and quality measures used for debriefing in team-based simulation: a systematic review' BMJ Simulation and Technology Enhanced Learning , DOI Open access
(2018) 'The International Landscape of Medical Licensing Examinations: A Typology Derived From a Systematic Review' International Journal of Health Policy and Management , DOI Open access
(2018) 'A serious game to train patient safety outside the classroom: a pilot study of acceptability' BMJ Simulation and Technology Enhanced Learning 5, (4) 227-228 , DOI Open access
(2017) 'Factors associated with junior doctors' decisions to apply for general practice training programmes in the UK: Secondary analysis of data from the UKMED project' BMC Medicine 0-0 , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Identifying applicants suitable to a career in nursing: a value-based approach to undergraduate selection' Journal of Advanced Nursing , DOI Open access
(2016) 'The impact of large scale licensing examinations in highly developed countries: a systematic review' BMC Medical Education 16, (1) , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Rising to the challenge: acute stress appraisals and selection centre performance in applicants to postgraduate specialty training in anaesthesia' ADVANCES IN HEALTH SCIENCES EDUCATION 21, (2) 323-339 , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Health Worker Focused Distributed Simulation for Improving Capability of Health Systems in Liberia' Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare 11, (2) 75-81 , DOI Open access
(2016) 'A study to assess the influence of interprofessional point of care simulation training on safety culture in the operating theatre environment of a university teaching hospital' Journal of Interprofessional Care 30, (2) 251-253 , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Experience of Using Simulation Technology and Analytics During the Ebola Crisis to Empower Frontline Health Workers and Improve the Integrity of Public Health Systems' Procedia Engineering 159, 44-52 Publisher Site , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Safety culture and the 5 steps to safer surgery: an intervention study' British Journal of Anaesthesia 114, (6) 958-962 , DOI Open access
(2013) 'The relative reliability of actively participating and passively observing raters in a simulation-based assessment for selection to specialty training in anaesthesia' Anaesthesia 68, (6) 591-599 , DOI
(2012) 'Combined Femoral and Sciatic Nerve Block vs Combined Femoral and Periarticular Infiltration in Total Knee Arthroplasty' The Journal of Arthroplasty 27, (10) 1806-1811 , DOI
(2012) 'Development of workplace-based assessments of non-technical skills in anaesthesia' Anaesthesia 67, (2) 158-164 , DOI
(2011) 'Anaesthetistsʼ peri-operative knowledge and management of patients with pacemakers, implantable cardiac defibrillators and those requiring external emergency pacing' European Journal of Anaesthesiology 28, 217-217 , DOI
(2011) 'The change in safety culture associated with the introduction of the five steps to safer surgery' European Journal of Anaesthesiology 28, 215-216 , DOI
(2011) 'Non-technical skills and recruitment of anaesthesia trainees Reply' BRITISH JOURNAL OF ANAESTHESIA 106, (2) 277-278 , DOI
(2011) 'Content validity of a clinical problem solving test for use in recruitment to the acute specialties' Clin Med (Lond) 11, (1) 23-25 , DOI
(2010) 'Predictive validity of a selection centre testing non-technical skills for recruitment to training in anaesthesia' Br J Anaesth 105, (5) 603-609 , DOI
(2007) 'The Anaesthetic Room - Friend or Foe? An audit to assess the frequency of incidents relating to patient safety, occurring on transfer of anaesthetised patients from the anaesthetic room to the operating theatre' European Journal of Anaesthesiology 24, (Supplement 39) 186-186 , DOI
(2004) 'Anaesthesia for neurosurgery in the sitting position' Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 11, (7) 693-696 , DOI
(1998) 'Differences in detection of alcohol use in a prenatal population (on a Northern Plains Indian Reservation) using various methods of ascertainment' S D J Med 51, (7) 235-240
Chapters
(2019) 'Learner-centred assessment' in forrest K; McKimm J Healthcare Simulation at a Glance Croydon WILEY 58-59
(2019) 'Principles of Assessment' in Forrest K; McKimm J Healthcare Simulation at a Glance Croydon WILEY 56-57
(2019) 'Recruitment and Selection' in Forrest K; McKimm J Healthcare Simulation at a Glance Croydon WILEY
(2007) 'Day Case Anaesthesia' in Aitkenhead A; Smith G; Rowbotham D Textbook of Anaesthesia Edinburgh Churchill Livingstone 533-539
Conference Papers
(2015) 'How does a structured debriefing framework affect the quality of debriefing process for undergraduate interprofessional simulation?' Association for Simulated Practitioners in Healthcare Annual Conference , DOI
(2015) 'Captured debriefing after elective and specific emergencies in obstetric theatre can address latent threats and safety issues and improves the safety culture' 86-86
(2014) '0081 ’can Simulated Patients Replace Physicians In The Assessment Of Communication Skills In An Undergraduate Medical Curriculum?’' Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare Annual Conference 11–13 November 2014 Abstracts The Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare , DOI
(2010) 'A national survey of syringe swap anaesthetic drug errors' 1248-1249
(2010) 'The WHO checklist - not just a tickbox exercise' 1246-1247
(2010) 'A comparison of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in elective and emergency patients for major abdominal surgery' Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) 30-30 , DOI
(2010) 'Effect of WHO checklist implementation on the quality of post-operative prescribing in orthopaedic surgery' Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) 232-232 , DOI
(2010) 'A machine-marked test for recruitment to anaesthesia and acute care common stem core training programmes in the south west of England' 528-528
(2009) 'Validation of a six station OSCE style selection centre model for recruitment to anaesthesia in the South West Peninsula deanery' 317-317
(2009) 'Survey of knowledge and attitudes regarding peri-operative management of patients with pacemakers, ICDs, or requiring emergency external pacing' Wiley 795-796 , DOI
(2009) 'Validation of simulation for recruitment to training posts in anaesthesia' Wiley 805-806 , DOI
(2006) 'Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland machine check guidelines: have we improved our practice?' 87-88
(2001) 'Propofol Anaesthesia via Target Controlled Infusion or Manually Controlled Infusion: Effects on the Bispectral Index as a Measure of Anaesthetic Depth' SAGE Publications 579-584 , DOI
Reports
(2022) Preparedness of recent medical graduates to meet anticipated healthcare needs. General Medical Council London Open access
(2022) The concept of seriousness in fitness to practise cases. General Dental Council General Dental Council Publisher Site
(2021) Drivers of international migration of doctors to and from the United Kingdom. General Medical Council General Medical Council Publisher Site Open access
(2021) Review and mapping of basic dental training in EU member states: final report. General Dental Council Publisher Site
(2021) 2020 Medical Graduates: The work and wellbeing of interim Foundation Year 1 doctors during COVID-19. General Medical Council https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/fiy1-final-signed-off-report_pdf-86836799.pdf Open access
(2015) A literature review on the impact of licensing examinations for doctors in countries comparable to the UK. General Medical Council General Medical Council Publisher Site
Presentations and posters
'O3 Reliability and feasibility of the team emergency assessment measure (TEAM) for self- and external rating of teamwork in paediatric interprofessional simulation' , DOI
'56 Tools assessing teamwork and non-technical skills in interprofessional simulation – a systematic review' , DOI
'How does compliance with TeamGAINS affect the quality of debriefing for undergraduate inter-professional simulation?' , DOI
Personal
Personal