Looking inwards and outwards: An aviation and medical education exchange

An exciting new collaboration between Melbourne Medical School, Monash, Deakin and an Australian airline group sees the Department of Medical Education's Liz Molloy researching aviation education processes.

St Vincents aviation

Professor Liz Molloy, Director of Work Integrated Learning in the Department of Medical Education and Academic Director of Interprofessional Education and Practice in the Faculty Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences is working with a team of researchers from Monash University (Associate Professor Michael Henderson, Dr Mike Phillips) and Deakin University (Associate Professor Margaret Bearman) and an Australian airline group.

Our aviation partners engaged the University collaborators to research their workplace-based education processes, including supervision, opportunistic teaching, feedback and assessment in the simulator and cockpit. Part of the agreement involved a ‘disciplinary exchange’ with a compare and contrast of education and training in healthcare and aviation. The research team, including aviation partners, has observed aviation training practices, and were hosted by St Vincent’s Clinical School to observe ward rounds, team-based radiology meetings, and cardiothoracic surgery. The exchange is a vivid example of the merits of working with others from different disciplinary perspectives, and the educational benefits of looking outwards and inwards in order to advance practice.