Dr. Elaine Burke

I am an Assistant Professor in the Discipline of Medical Education in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland. I studied Medicine at University College Cork, Ireland, graduating in 2005 with an honours degree, following which I spent 10 years in full-time clinical practice, working in Internal and Palliative Medicine. Since 2015 I have held a formal educational role in Trinity College Dublin when I joined the Trinity Intern Training Network as Intern Lecturer/ Registrar and subsequently Course Co-ordinator for the Master in Medicine, Research Fellow, and now Assistant Professor. In 2018, I graduated with distinction from a Master"s degree in Medicine (Population Health) (TCD), and completed a PhD in Medical Education on the subject of clinical academic careers in 2022 (TCD). I am one of the founders of the Academic Internship Track, a combined clinical and academic training programme for junior doctors in Ireland. My research interests are in the field of clinical academic careers and equality. My goals are to contribute to building and sustaining a diverse and inclusive clinician scientist skills pool in Ireland, and explore how strategies to sustain this workforce could be deployed more generally to improve healthcare professionals' training experiences and retention. Other work has included the creation of an educational board game to help junior doctors navigate collaboration in the clinical work environment, which was awarded funding from the HSE NDTP (National Doctors Training and Planning body) to upscale nationally.

  Gender Equality   Innovation in learning   Medical Education   Medical Sciences, Research

My research goals are to help build and sustain a diverse and inclusive clinician scientist skills pool, and to explore how to improve healthcare professionals" training experiences and retention. My education research forms the basis for the real-world innovations in teaching and learning I have implemented. Research active institutions have better patient outcomes, and in recognition of this, Ireland is moving towards an Academic Health Sciences System. Clinical academics will be leaders in this system, and their skills need to be nurtured from an early career stage. My interest in clinical academic pathways began with my Master"s dissertation and continued with my PhD, titled "An exploration of the role of the clinical academic and strategies to sustain and build the clinical academic workforce". This work has been impactful beyond publication: findings have formed the evidence base for the creation, implementation and expansion of the Academic Internship Track (AIT), a combined clinical and academic training programme for junior doctors. My work in this field continues with investigating equality, diversity and inclusivity in this cohort, e.g., by exploring the social determinants for success in this career. Healthcare staff shortages are a major issue for the Health Service Executive and impact significantly on patient care. The AIT enhances doctor retention in Ireland, prompting my investigation of this phenomenon with the IMAJINE study (Intrinsic MotivAtion, Job satisfaction and retention among INtErns), supported by a TCD MED Seed funding award. This study investigates the hypothesis that the AIT supports interns" (junior doctors) basic psychological needs, thus improving job satisfaction and retention. Improving trainee experience in the workplace was also the focus of my project to develop an educational board game exploring bullying and harassment with junior doctors. This successful initiative was shared with other intern training networks nationally, supported by HSE funding.