On 14 April 2020 Céline Carrera took up the position of Education Director at EIT Health. Her main focus will be the development of the EIT Health’s education strategy and bringing innovation into education programmes to solve the healthcare needs of tomorrow. Céline has been working in medical education for over 15 years. Before joining EIT Health, Céline worked for the European Society of Cardiology, where she was the Head of Education.
What are your key areas of interest and research?
Bringing solid
measurement, innovation and collaboration into education is a real passion of
mine. Needs assessment, impact measurement, eLearning, shared-decision making and
research in medical education are amongst my interests.
In the case of needs
assessment in education, looking at the causality of evidenced gaps and needs
is particularly important to ensure that we are hitting the mark. There is
robust methodology out there using mixed methods that could be more
systematically applied, as this leads to more impactful educational
interventions.
When working for the
European Society of Cardiology, prior joining EIT Health, I was focusing on
medical education (CME, CPD) and in that space I had a keen interest in shared decision
making and engaging patients in the training and continuing development of
healthcare professionals. Engaging patients and citizens in the educational
aspects of health innovation will continue to be a priority for me in my role
at EIT Health.
eLearning / distance
learning and blended learning are also key as we look at differing needs of
learners and the evolution of education delivery. Innovative formats for
educational delivery have been on both mine and EIT Health’s radar for some
time, and I look forward to building this out even further.
What
are the major challenges in your field?
Education in
healthcare is essential, however it can be either considered a quick fix, or a
quick win, or ‘a soft science.’ We must change mindsets here so that it is
considered constant and vital – we all continue to be ‘learners’ every day. To
run effective and successful education is a complex endeavour that requires
science (learning translation science and psychology for example), resources
and time (to measure translation in practice and impact). Combining such with
environmental pressures, strategic agendas and priorities, and sustainability can
be challenging, but not impossible.
What
is your top management tip?
Never take anything
personally and be mindful.
What
would you single out as a career highlight?
Bringing about a
shift in mindset at the ESC where I worked prior joining EIT Health, with
regards to research in medical education. Together with a group of volunteer
cardiologists, I was at the inception of a clinical trial in medical education
in stroke prevention and management in atrial fibrillation. I am very grateful
to have overcome all the hurdles on the way and to have learned so much. This
project has impacted the society from its goverance to its operations,
including legal, IT, education, registry and other activities. It was very
innovative for its time.
If
you had not chosen this career path you would have become a…?
As a child I wanted
to become a clinician. Life took me on another pathway, not too far from health
and healthcare though.
What
are your personal interests outside of work?
Sea-swimming all-year
round, particuluarly in the winter for the pristine state of the water compared
to summer time. Lockdown has been difficult in terms of living by the sea and
not being able to immerse even for a few minutes.
Yoga and meditation
made a welcome entry into my life about 15 years ago and there is no going
back.
Learning foreign languages; reading; cooking (goes with learning languages and discovering cultures); gardening. And many more, I will have a busy retirement ahead of me I suppose. J
Your
favourite quote?
Well, at present, I
have two:
"The master has
failed more times than the beginner has tried." Stephen McCranie
“Never let a good crisis
go to waste. It's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do
before.”
