Course Administrator in Palliative Care Teaching (Fixed Term)
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Palliative Care Teaching Team at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine.
The teaching team delivers engaging, highly evaluated and impactful teaching for medical students in the final three years of their undergraduate course. The team is friendly, supportive and committed to excellence.
The post holder will be a key member of the teaching team and will work closely with Alice Cuttriss (Palliative Care Teaching Administrator). The other teaching team members are:
- Dr Anna Spathis (Associate Professor of Palliative Care and Speciality Director for Palliative Care teaching)
- Professor Stephen Barclay (Professor of Palliative Care)
- Dr Simon Etkind (Assistant Professor of Palliative Care)
- Dr Annabel Price (Associate Speciality Director), and
- Dr Robert Brodrick (Associate Speciality Director).
The successful applicant for this post will be responsible for the administration of the new 'Care of Dying Patients' course. This world-first simulation teaching programme utilises role players and hyper-realistic manikins to give medical students the ability to practice being a doctor in a safe environment.
This innovative addition to the undergraduate training of medical students starts in autumn 2025 and will run on Mondays in Cambridge for all final year students, including:
- Booking Clinical School seminar rooms
- Booking facilitators and professional actor role-players
- Liaising with students concerning each session
- Setting up/take down seminar rooms with the necessary equipment
- Troubleshooting on each Monday, in liaison with Dr Brodrick and colleagues
- Payment of facilitators and role players
- Liaison with senior Clinical School colleagues
They will also lead the administration of the hospice placements arranged for all 300 final year students in 14 hospices across the East of England and beyond.
In addition, the post-holder will spend a proportion of their timing providing support for the pre-clinical course Social and Ethical Context of Health and Illness (SECHI), this will include liaising with seminar leaders re teaching arrangements, making room bookings, ensuring feedback is completed and updating relevant information on the student Moodle pages.
Working in partnership with Alice Cuttriss, they will liaise with medical students concerning these and other aspects of the course. At times, this may involve receiving emails and other communication from distressed students and ensuring that these are promptly forwarded to the teaching faculty. The post does not involve direct contact with patients near the end of life or their family members.
They will also communicate with the wider group of colleagues across the East of England who support the teaching programme and with colleagues across the Clinical School.
They will have previous administrative experience and be skilled in working collaboratively and proactively in a dynamic environment. They will be IT literate in word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint, email and database applications. Time management, team-working and interpersonal skills are essential, with ability to prioritise workload effectively and think proactively.
The post would suit an individual that is reflective, conscientious and interested in being part of innovative medical teaching practice. All training relevant to the simulation parts of the post will be provided during the thorough induction period. Continuing professional development will be supported and encouraged.
We are ideally looking for someone who can work full-time, however we will consider applicants who are interesting in working flexibly.
The funds for these posts are available for three years in the first instance.
Informal enquiries are encouraged and can be arranged with Dr Anna Spathis aos10@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.
The post is based at Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, East Forvie Building, University Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0SR (approximately 2 miles south of the city centre)
Closing date: 5th June 2025
Interview Date: 16 June 2025
Please ensure that you outline how you match the criteria for the post and why you are applying for this role on the online application form.
Please include details of your referees, including email address and phone number, one of which must be your most recent line manager.
For information about how your personal data is used as an applicant, please see the section on Applicant Data (https://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/hr-staff/hr-data/applicant-data) on our HR web pages.
Please quote reference SN45979 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.
The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.