Dr Gareth Morrison

Medical Educationalist, Examinations Department

Gareth graduated from the University of Aberdeen with MB ChB awarded with Commendation and completed his postgraduate medical training in NI, where he currently works as a Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Intensivist. He also currently holds the position of Assessment Lead at Ulster University School of Graduate Entry Medicine. He is a medical educationalist and examiner for the membership and fellowship anaesthesiology examinations. A significant focus of his attention is on examination quality assurance and psychometrics. Gareth reviews the candidate performance in each examination component and writes QA reports highlighting areas of good practice along with any potential improvements. As a member of the examinations committee, he presents these findings to all major examination stakeholders. He also assists with guidance meetings for MCAI/FCAI candidates who are struggling with these examinations.

Changes which Gareth has been involved in include changing the FCAI short answer questions into more structured components with detailed mark allocations, the increase in single best answer questions in both the membership and fellowship examinations, borderline regression and Angoff standard setting for the MCAI OSCE, the increase in clinical measurement, physics and equipment for the MCAI structured oral examination. He has also written examiner guides on how to write high-quality examination questions for both the MCAI and FCAI. Gareth reviews questions before being used in an exam and ensures that they follow best educational practice. To ensure transparency for candidates, he has written numerous exam guides for them outlining the structure and standards expected.

When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and affected the College’s ability to host face-to-face examinations, Gareth produced a detailed outline highlighting how to change the assessment instruments into an online format. This was approved by the Irish Medical Council. For example, the structured oral examinations became constructed response questions. These changes required detailed psychometric analysis to ensure that candidates would not be disadvantaged, and that the standard was comparable to the pre-COVID-19 assessments.

Gareth is a trainer recognized by the GMC and an educational supervisor for anaesthesiology trainees. He has developed an acute care course for newly qualified doctors and is an instructor on numerous courses including advanced life support (medical director), challenging airways, acute life-threatening events recognition and treatment, simulated retrieval and transfer course, and safe sedation. His interests clinically include infectious disease in ICU, high-risk colorectal anaesthesia, antimicrobial chemotherapy and toxicology.