Overview

I am a clinical education researcher, psychiatrist and Director of Medical Education with Devon Partnership NHS Trust.

Research

My PhD project was titled: Tolerance of ambiguity in doctors-in-training and links with psychological well-being, which I completed in Exeter in 2021. Prior to that I completed a NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Old Age Psychiatry with the University of Exeter (2013 – 2015) and completed a Masters in Applied Health Services Research with the University of Exeter (2014 – 2017).

My research focusses on the constructs of uncertainty tolerance and psychological wellbeing in doctors.

I am engaged in a number of research projects investigating how medical students and doctors respond to clinical uncertainty, the consequences of intolerance to uncertainty in doctors, and how to support doctors to develop more positive responses to uncertainty in clinical practice.

I am also engaged in research projects investigating the broader construct of wellbeing in doctors in training and how doctors can be supported to maintain psychological wellbeing.  

Clinical

I completed my undergraduate training at the University of Manchester medical school before completing my core and higher specialist training in Psychiatry in Devon. I was appointed a Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist with Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT) in 2019. Clinically I have an interest in delivering integrated physical and psychiatric care and have developed a local integrated functional skin clinic with a consultant dermatologist in Exeter.

Education

I was appointed the Joint Director of Medical Education with DPT in 2021 and am committed to ensuring the highest possible quality of psychiatric training for medical students and doctors in Devon.

I am the Clinical Education Research lead for DPT and I am the DPT representative on the Integrated Academic Training Management Group with the University of Exeter.

Twitter: @DrJasonHancock

Qualifications

• MBChB (Hons), University of Manchester, 2009
• PGCMedE, Dundee University, 2011
• MRCPsych, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2014
• MSc, Applied Health Services Research, University of Exeter, 2017
• PhD by publication, University of Exeter, 2021

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Research

Research interests

My research explores how medical students and doctors-in-training experience ambiguity and uncertainty in clinical practice. This includes the individual and contextual factors that may influence an individual’s response to uncertainty and the potential outcomes of uncertainty intolerance, in particular the association with psychological well-being. I have an interest in developing medical education interventions to support doctors-in-training to develop more positive responses to clinical uncertainty, and guidance for supervisors to help them support their trainees to develop these important clinical skills.

I am currently investigating the association between ambiguity tolerance and psychological wellbeing in a population of early career doctors in the UK.

I also have research interests in interventions that support improved psychological well-being in doctors and the factors that influence a medical students career decisions relating to psychiatry.

I am currently a co-PI on the Care Under Pressure 3 project. This project aims to work with and learn from eight NHS Trusts to minimise doctors’ mental ill-health and its impacts on the workforce and patient care.

Research projects

 Publications

• Patel P, Hancock J, (2023) Uncertainty tolerance scales: weighing up the research. Medical Education. In press.
• Patel P, Hancock J, Rogers M, Pollard S. (2022) Improving uncertainty tolerance in medical students: A scoping review. Medical Education 56(12):1163-1173.
• Gibson R, Williams P, Hancock J. (2021) An introduction to the assessment and management of psychodermatological disorders. BJPsych Advances, 2021, 27(5):305 – 312. 
• Hancock J, Mattick K. (2020) Mindfulness, complex interventions and conceptual clarity. Medical Education, 54 (9):774-776.
• Hancock, J, Mattick K. (2020). Ambiguity tolerance and psychological wellbeing in medical training: a systematic review. Medical Education 54(2):125-137.
• Hancock J, Hammond J, Roberts M, Mattick K. (2017) Comparing Tolerance of Ambiguity in Veterinary and Medical Students. Journal of Veterinary medical education 44(3):523-530.
• Hammond J, Hancock J, Martin M, Jamieson S, Mellor D. (2017) Development of a New Scale to Measure Ambiguity Tolerance in Veterinary Students, Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 44(1):38-49.  
• Hancock J, Matthews J, Ukoumunne O, Lang I, Somerfield D, Wenman J, Dickens C. (2016). Variation in ambulance call rates for care homes in Torbay, UK. Health and Social care in the community. 25 (3):932-937.
• Hancock J, Roberts M, Monrouxe L, Mattick K (2015) Medical student and junior doctors’ tolerance of ambiguity: development of a new scale. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 20(1):113-30.

Grants

• 2022-24. Carrieri, Mattick, Pearson, Papoutsi, Wong, Hancock. Care Under Pressure 3: A realist evaluation to optimise the delivery and impacts of interventions to reduce doctors’ mental ill-health in the NHS. National Institute of Health Research HS&DR Project.      £582,985.42.

• 2022-23. McCulloch, Mattick, Hancock, Scott. “Medical students' attitudes to pursuing a career in psychiatry: A realist study” ASME small project grant. £2478.75

Awards

ASME (Association for the Study of Medical Education) institutional commitment to scholarship ward, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, 2022. First author of the application.  

Presentations

External speaker at the Lancashire care psychiatry conference “Uncertainty Tolerance in doctors - association with psychological wellbeing and the role of senior staff”, (2023) and Hull/ York medical school “Medical education as a tool to develop uncertainty tolerance” (2022).

International conference - “Uncertainty Tolerance in Medical and Veterinary Professionals” at The Cornell university (New York) college of veterinary medicine conference “Professions, Professionals and Professional Identity Development” (2022).

Well-being and tolerance of ambiguity in times of Covid-19, invited webinar ASME, 2/9/20.

Generating impact from publication

Hancock, J, Mattick K. (2020). Ambiguity tolerance and psychological wellbeing in medical training: a systematic review. Medical Education 54(2):125-137. In the top 10% of most downloaded papers in the journal Medical Education between Jan 2018 and Dec 2019

Podcast interview ‘Tolerance of ambiguity and psychological well‐being in medical training: A systematic review - interview with Jason Hancock’, Podcast interview with the editor of Medical Education Kevin Eva, 2020: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/tolerance-ambiguity-psychological-well-being-in-medical/id784455563?i=1000464247095

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Publications

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Teaching

I provide teaching and assessments for fourth year medical students in their clinical liaison psychiatry placements.

Postgraduate

I provide joint supervision for an Academic Clinical Fellow in clinical education.  

I have supervised five Masters of Education dissertation projects (2019 – 2023) and marked two Masters dissertation projects.

I provide teaching on the following:

• Masters of Education (UEMS) -  “Designing questionnaires” teaching and workshop, supervision of student dissertation projects
• MSc Advanced Clinical Practice course (UEMS) – “Managing uncertainty, risk and complexity in your Advanced Clinical Practice”

Clinical

I am a clinical and education supervisor for foundation doctors and core psychiatry trainees in my clinical role as a liaison psychiatrist.

I provide regular teaching for acute medical and GP colleagues on the topic of medically unexplained symptoms.

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