Students get involved in training Wrexham’s future GPs

A group of students on NEWI’s Theatre and Perfomance honours degree course have been getting involved in training doctors who wish to become GPs.  The students were asked if they would help as part of a training programme, set up to help qualified doctors acquire the skills they need to work as GPs and make the transition from working in a hospital to working in General Practice. 

The Consultation Workshop involved the second year students using their performing skills and taking on the roles of patients in a range of different scenarios.  The workshops gave the doctors an opportunity to put their communication skills to the test as the students improvised as patients to give the doctors experience of reacting to patients needs.

Dr Ian Happs who is involved in delivering the Wrexham District GP Specialist Training Programme explained, ”The Doctors on the programme are all currently working in hospitals. Working as a GP is very different, the relationships with patients aren’t the same so these workshops are all about improving their communication skills.  It has been a great experience to liaise with NEWI over this.  The students have been excellent and portrayed very realistic situations.  We hope that this will become an annual feature in our training programme.” 

Elen Mai Nefydd who is a lecturer on the Theatre and Performance degree was approached to see if the students could help, she said, “We were thrilled to get involved.  Applied theatre and using drama in the community is an important part of the course.  Doing something like this allows the students to apply what they have learnt.  It demonstrates the importance of their skills and highlights the many different ways in which their talents can be utilised in a range of situations.”