Pamela Ferrada, PhD | Training to Teach in Medicine
Pamela Ferrada, PhD, designs Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs on ethical and legal compliance training at the Medical Indemnity Protection Society. Focusing on health law principles, medical malpractice court cases, and legal updates, she prepares health care practitioners to deliver high-quality care while minimizing the risk of medical negligence allegations, complaints, or regulatory investigations. “As much as possible,” she says, “we aim to better protect and support medical professionals while they care for their patients by equipping them with expert knowledge and effective strategies they can readily implement in their daily clinical practice.” Looking to enhance her skills in adult learning and case-based teaching, she enrolled in the Training to Teach in Medicine program at Harvard Medical School.
Setting the Course for a Journey of Discovery
Ferrada’s path to medical education has taken many twists and turns. She completed her PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Queensland, Australia. Shortly after submitting her PhD thesis for assessment, she worked at a learning center in Melbourne, Victoria, supporting children with learning difficulties. This experience prompted her to engage in deep self-reflection about how learners make sense of abstract concepts and sparked a lifelong passion for education. After being awarded her PhD, Ferrada worked at Pearson Australia, helping the publisher to bring chemistry and physics textbooks to life and solidifying her commitment to the field of education. While working as a chemistry teacher in underserved rural communities, she earned a Master of Teaching degree through the Australian Catholic University.
Addressing the Lack of Legal Training in Medical Education
The Training to Teach in Medicine program provided Ferrada with a platform to channel her passion for education into actionable initiatives. Her capstone project focused on creating a court-based educational program on compliance with legal and ethical obligations following a patient’s death. She recognized that medical practitioners often interact with a variety of legal requirements, particularly with the Coroner’s Court, yet typically receive no training in this area. She aimed to alleviate the stress around these situations and support Australian teaching hospitals in addressing the issue of increasing volumes of incorrectly completed death certificates. The innovative online program that Ferrada developed includes a four-section learning journey that guides practitioners through self-study and self-reflection, peer engagement, and community formation. The program also established a learning contract for practitioners after engaging with the coroner and medico-legal experts in death certification. This framework has not only been implemented for this certification but has also been expanded to cover a variety of other topics, further demonstrating its effectiveness.
Fostering Collaborative Learning and Professional Growth
Although Ferrada lives in Australia, the program’s virtual platforms enabled her cohort to engage in meaningful discussions, collaborate on research projects, and make deep personal connections. “One of the main takeaways for me was the strength of forming communities of practice with peers across the world.” Despite having different professional backgrounds, the team she worked with throughout the program recently presented their work at an international conference, and they are currently preparing papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
“Understanding how medicine is practiced and viewed in other jurisdictions is very valuable in my context,” she notes. “The discussions with clinicians from Mexico, the U.S., and Europe were enlightening, both personally and professionally. I learned that my peers faced similar challenges to those experienced by health care practitioners here in Australia, but due to cultural differences as well as variations in the legislative and regulatory systems in their jurisdictions, their solutions to some of those problems were very different. These conversations have been opportunities for learning and broadening our local perspectives.”
Empowering Health Care Practitioners to Shape the Future
As Ferrada reflects on her learning experience, she emphasizes the impact that the program has had on her career trajectory and on her ability to shape the future of health care. Armed with newfound insights and teaching strategies, she is dedicated to empowering medical practitioners with the knowledge and skills to navigate complex clinical and ethical landscapes.
“This has been a very rewarding experience. The Training to Teach in Medicine program made a huge difference in my career and in the work that I do. We’ve received excellent feedback from practitioners on the new learning journey training, supported by adult learning theories, and it’s all based on what I’ve learned from this program.”