PPI in education and engaged learning

Public and patient involvement (PPI) in education is embedded throughout the RCSI student journey as they learn from expert patients who educate by sharing their stories, enabling understanding of the patient experience and supporting final-year exams.

Simulated patients and actors portray the patient experience, assess and provide individualised feedback, enabling student reflection. Patients and the public also help to shape the future of RCSI education by getting involved in case design for interactive learning sessions, shaping curriculum, and committee membership.

Community engaged teaching and learning are academic approaches that seek to engage and accredit students, within the curriculum, for working in partnership with civic and civil society organisations (CSOs) to act on local societal challenges.

One of the core educational principles at RCSI is experiential learning where all our students and trainees gain knowledge and expertise from exposure to ‘real-life’ experiences alongside academic theory. This supports career readiness and transition from university to clinical and healthcare practice.

Experiential learning includes engaged learning, PPI in education and student volunteering. We are committed to embedding the principles and practices of engaged learning into our medicine and health sciences curricula, where appropriate.

During the period of our Engage Strategy 2023-2027, RCSI aims to enhance our suite of credit bearing modules across our programmes where public, patient and community groups learn with RCSI students.