Dr Pirashanthie Vivekananda-Schmidt

DPhil, C.Psychol, MA(Ed), SFHEA, AFBPsS, Occ.psy

Academic Unit of Medical Education

Lead for Professionalism and Patient Safety

p.vivekananda-schmidt@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5363

The Medical School

Full contact details

Dr Pirashanthie Vivekananda-Schmidt
Academic Unit of Medical Education
The Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX

Profile

I am a Chartered Psychologist with practitioner status in occupational psychology. I am also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK and a senior member of staff of the Sheffield Medical Education team. My interest and experiences are in:

Organisational development, managing change and training; developing and assessing professionalism and ethics and law education; human factors and errors in decision making.
Professionalism and Patient Safety which encompasses developing competencies in ethics and law, developing leadership and team working skills, developing as a reflective practitioner and teacher and values and competencies in developing as a safe practitioner.

I am module lead for the faculty’s compulsory Research Ethics & Integrity training for postgraduate researchers as well as the Faculty's Learning and Teaching Officer for quality.

Research interests

Developing and validating assessment tools for performance
Technology enhanced learning, especially the application of Serious Gaming principles for medical and healthcare training
Understanding factors that influence student performance
Developing ethical training and ethical practice

Selected projects

Developing a serious game based training package the support the development of decision making skills of foundation doctors (Consultancy with Royal College of Surgeons, UK and Leicester); See https://www.surgicalgames.co.uk/
Understanding the role of belongingness in student performance and well being (with Professor John Sandars)

Publications

Journal articles

Qureshi A, Fino E, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Sandars J & Halti Cabral R (2019) Validating an adapted questionnaire to measure belongingness of medical students in clinical settings. Cogent Medicine, 6(1), 1620087-1620087.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P & Sandars J (2018) Belongingness and its implications for undergraduate health professions education: a scoping review.. Education for Primary Care. View this article in WRRO
Jackson B, Chandauka R & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2018) Introducing quality improvement teaching into general practice undergraduate placements. Education for Primary Care, 29(4), 228-231. View this article in WRRO
Johnsen HM, Fossum M, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Fruhling A & Slettebø Å (2018) Developing a serious game for nurse education. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 44(1), 15-19. View this article in WRRO
Johnsen HM, Fossum M, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Fruhling A & Slettebø Å (2018) Nursing students' perceptions of a video-based serious game's educational value: A pilot study. Nurse Education Today, 62, 62-68. View this article in WRRO
Fowler GE & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2017) Clinicians' perspectives on the duty of candour: Implications for medical ethics education. Clinical Ethics, 12(4), 167-173. View this article in WRRO
Fowler GE & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2017) Letter to Editor of Medico-Legal Journal.. Medico-Legal Journal. View this article in WRRO
Shaw ST & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2017) Challenges to Ethically Managing Parkinson Disease. Journal of Patient Experience. View this article in WRRO
Johnsen HM, Fossum M, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Fruhling A & Slettebø Å (2016) Teaching clinical reasoning and decision-making skills to nursing students: Design, development, and usability evaluation of a serious game. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 94, 39-48. View this article in WRRO
Vivekananda-Schmidt P & Sandars J (2016) Developing and implementing a patient safety curriculum. The Clinical Teacher, 13(2), 91-97. View this article in WRRO
Kaczmarczyk J, Davidson R, Bryden D, Haselden S & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2016) Learning decision making through serious games. The Clinical Teacher, 13(4), 277-282.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Crossley J & Murdoch-Eaton D (2015) A model of professional self-identity formation in student doctors and dentists: a mixed method study. BMC Medical Education, 15(1). View this article in WRRO
Chandauka RE, Russell JM, Sandars J & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2015) Differing perceptions among ethnic minority and Caucasian medical students which may affect their relative academic performance. Education for Primary Care, 26(1), 11-15.
Holden BJ, Burnett AH & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2014) Case-based learning: Integrating medical ethics and law into clinical practice. Education for Primary Care, 25(5), 283-287.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P & Vernon B (2014) FY1 doctors' ethicolegal challenges in their first year of clinical practice: an interview study.. J Med Ethics, 40(4), 277-281.
Fisher P, Holden BJ, Burnett AH, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Beveridge J, Shackles D & Bruce D (2014) Teaching exchange. Education for Primary Care, 25(5), 281-293.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, MacKillop L, Crossley J & Wade W (2013) Do assessor comments on a multi-source feedback instrument provide learner-centred feedback?. Med Educ, 47(11), 1080-1088.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Crossley J & Bax N (2011) Student doctors taking responsibility.. Clin Teach, 8(4), 267-271.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Marshall M, Stark P, McKendree J, Sandars J & Smithson S (2011) Lessons from medical students' perceptions of learning reflective skills: a multi-institutional study.. Med Teach, 33(10), 846-850.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2011) Reflection on developing an undergraduate course: the value of an action research approach.. Educ Prim Care, 22(3), 152-158.
Mackillop LH, Crossley J, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Wade W & Armitage M (2011) A single generic multi-source feedback tool for revalidation of all UK career-grade doctors: does one size fit all?. Med Teach, 33(2), e75-e83.
Crossley J & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2009) The development and evaluation of a Professional Self Identity Questionnaire to measure evolving professional self-identity in health and social care students.. Med Teach, 31(12), e603-e607.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Lewis M, Coady D, Morley C, Kay L, Walker D & Hassell AB (2007) Exploring the use of videotaped objective structured clinical examination in the assessment of joint examination skills of medical students.. Arthritis Rheum, 57(5), 869-876.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Lewis M, Hassell AB, Coady D, Walker D, Kay L, McLean MJ, Haq I & Rahman A (2007) Validation of MSAT: an instrument to measure medical students' self-assessed confidence in musculoskeletal examination skills.. Med Educ, 41(4), 402-410.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Lewis M, Hassell AB & ARC Virtual Rheumatology CAL Research Group (2005) Cluster randomized controlled trial of the impact of a computer-assisted learning package on the learning of musculoskeletal examination skills by undergraduate medical students.. Arthritis Rheum, 53(5), 764-771.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Anderson RS, Reinhardt-Rutland AH & Shields TJ (2004) Simulated impairment of contrast sensitivity: performance and gaze behavior during locomotion through a built environment.. Optom Vis Sci, 81(11), 844-852.
Lange WGT, Tierney KJ, Reinhardt-Rutland AH & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2004) Viewing behaviour of spider phobics and non-phobics in the presence of threat and safety stimuli.. Br J Clin Psychol, 43(Pt 3), 235-243.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Coady DA, Lewis M, McLean MJ, Kay L, Walker D & Hassell AB (2004) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED CONFIDENCE AND ACTUAL PERFORMANCE IN AN OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF SHOULDER AND KNEE JOINT ASSESSMENT. RHEUMATOLOGY, 43, 94-94.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Hassell AB & McLean M (2004) The evaluation of multimedia learning packages in the education of health professionals: experience of a musculoskeletal examination package.. Nurse Res, 11(3), 43-55.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, McLean MJ & Hassell AB (2003) NURSE PROFESSIONALS' PERCEPTION OF THE USEFULNESS OF THE COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING PACKAGE (CAL), VIRTUAL RHEUMATOLOGY. RHEUMATOLOGY, 42, 148-148.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Coady D, McLean MJ, Kay L, David W, Boggis CRM & Hassell AB (2003) LEARNING RESOURCE UTILISATION BY MEDICAL STUDENTS IN UNDERGRADUATE MUSCULOSKELETAL CURRICULA. RHEUMATOLOGY, 42, 68-68.
Coady DA, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Walker DJ, Kay LJ & Hassell AB (2003) CAN VIDEOTAPED OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATIONS (VOSCE) BE THE ANSWER TO ASSESSING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOME?. RHEUMATOLOGY, 42, 69-69.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P & Hooper C () Medical ethics and law for doctors of tomorrow: the consensus statement restructured and refined for the next decade. Journal of Medical Ethics.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P & Crossley J () Student assistantships: bridging the gap between student and doctor. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 447-447. View this article in WRRO

Chapters

Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2015) Ethics in the Design of Serious Games for Healthcare and Medicine, Human Rights and Ethics (pp. 245-260). IGI Global
Vivekananda-Schmidt P () Ethics in the Design of Serious Games for Healthcare and Medicine, Advances in Healthcare Information Systems and Administration (pp. 91-106). IGI Global

Conference proceedings papers

Blackburn D, Percox FH, Vivekananda-schmidt P & Reuber M (2017) 28 Developing a teaching aid on dementia diagnosis using conversation analysis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, Vol. 88(8) (pp A24.2-A24)
Johnsen HM, Fossum M, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Fruhling A & Slettebø Å (2016) A serious game for teaching nursing students clinical reasoning and decision-making skills. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, Vol. 225 (pp 905-906)
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Campbell A, Ho A, Knox R & Lee M (2015) Professionalism Symposium 1: Designing Effective Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Professionalism. 12th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference, 4 February 2015 - 8 February 2015.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P & Amin Z (2015) Applying Innovations In Technology To Enrich Learning And Feedback Experiences. 12th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference, 4 February 2015 - 8 February 2015.
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Knox R, Charlton R, Sahota G, Lee S & Prince R (2014) Developing Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) to assess professionalism in medical students, 4 February 2015 - 8 February 2015.
Lewis M, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Hassell AB, Coady D, Kay L, Walker D, Haq I, Rahman A, Dacre J & McLean MJ (2005) Validation of a perceived confidence log in the examination of the shoulder and knee joints. RHEUMATOLOGY, Vol. 44 (pp I79-I79)
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Lewis M, Hassell AB, Coady D, Kay L, Walker D, Haq I, Rahman A, Dacre J & McLean MJ (2005) The computer assisted learning package, Virtual Rheumatology, has a measurable impact on the learning of musculoskeletal examination skills by undergraduate medical students. RHEUMATOLOGY, Vol. 44 (pp I79-I79)
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Lewis M, Hassell AB, Coady D, Kay L, Walker D, Haq I, Rahman A, Dacre J & Mclean MJ (2005) What influences undergraduate medical students to utilise the computer assisted learning package "Virtual Rheumatology"?. RHEUMATOLOGY, Vol. 44 (pp I78-I78)
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Hassell AB, Lewis M, McLean MJ, Coady D, Kay L, David W & Rahman A (2004) The computer assisted learning package, virtual rheumatology, has a measurable impact on the learning of musculoskeletal examination skills by medical students.. ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM, Vol. 50(9) (pp S273-S273)
Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Reinhardt-Rutland AH, Shields TJ & Anderson RS (2003) Visual acuity in negotiating the built environment: Eye motion data and speed. CONTEMPORARY ERGONOMICS 2003 (pp 183-188)
Coady DA, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Lewis M, Kay LJ & Walker DJ (2002) Agreement between medical and non-medical examiners in scoring a musculoskeletal OSCE.. ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM, Vol. 46(9) (pp S209-S209)

Datasets

Crossley J & Vivekananda-Schmidt P (2016) Professional Self Identity Questionnaire.
MacKillop LH, Crossley J, Vivekananda-Schmidt P, Wade W & Armitage M (2014) Multi-Source Feedback Questionnaire.

Research group

Assessing the utility of a simulation based curriculum for undergraduate medical students (with Dr Michelle Marshall, Sheffield)
Teaching clinical reasoning skills to nursing students (with Dr Mariann Fossum, Norway)

Teaching activities

Curriculum development in ethics and law, patient safety education, and research ethics and integrity
Application of medical ethics and law to medical or healthcare practice; and Research ethics and integrity
The role of human factors in patient safety, including biases in thinking
I lead on the Curriculum Development Module for the PGCert in Medical Education course

Professional activities

Trustee and member of the Education Committee, Institute of Medical Ethics, UK
Editorial Advisor - Walker, H. (Editor). 350 Questions for the Situational Judgement Test (Medical Finals Revision Series). CRC Press. Taylor and Francis Group.
National and International medical and healthcare education collaborations (e.g. Norway, Sri Lanka and Leicester)