Dr Susan Somerville

Susan is a Lecturer (Teaching and Scholarship) at the University of Dundee in the Centre for Medical Education (CME). She is a module leader for core and specialist modules of the Masters of Medical Education Programme, particularly the Healthcare Simulation blended learning modules, which she has developed for the CME, since 2018. The CME programme of simulation modules has been developing and increasing in response to UK and international demand and now includes new pathways leading to Cert/Dip/Masters of Medical Education (Simulation).

Susan’s education, scholarship and research interests are focused on simulation in healthcare education and she has been integral to curricular developments in the undergraduate School of Medicine programme related to teaching and assessment using simulation. Susan has been an adviser, collaborator, and contributor to similar programmes across the Schools of Dentistry and Nursing at the University of Dundee. A graduate of the School of Education and Social Work, University of Dundee, her master’s dissertation explored simulation-based education through a socio-material lens using qualitative research methods. She has recently undertaken a PhD funded by NHS Education for Scotland on The Mobile Skills Unit, a facility for clinical skills training and simulation in remote and rural Scotland. This research adopted realist research methodologies (Realist Synthesis and Evaluation) to explore programme implementation and complexity. This has led to opportunities to showcase and share realist research methodologies with and among peers and colleagues in Scotland following a Scottish Medical Education Research Consortium Travelling Fellowship awarded in 2018.

Susan’s experience in the development and delivery of post graduate education programmes in the Clinical Skills Centre at the University of Dundee, includes International collaborations with the Kuwait-Scotland Health Innovation Network Masters programme in Diabetes Care, Education and Management for health care professionals in Kuwait for the Gulf Region. Susan has also worked with the Scotland-Malawi Anaesthesia project, a project designed to deliver and embed clinical skills training and practices for multidisciplinary clinical staff in Anaesthesia, Obstetrics and Paediatrics in Malawi. This programme was also designed to deliver a Train the Trainers programme mentoring Malawian Clinical Officers to undertake a clinical educator role. Susan has a professional background in adult nursing with a specialist qualification in intensive care nursing. She remains involved in clinical practice of relevance to her simulation-based education interests and responsibilities. She has also worked on quality improvement projects in NHS Tayside with clinical colleagues in diabetes care.