Dr Jack Lockett
With a packed roster comprising an intern training program, two specialist clinics, ward cover and a Ph.D., PA Hospital’s Staff Specialist Endocrinologist Dr Jack Lockett has cultivated a rare talent for excelling at learning and teaching at the same time.
Driven by a lifelong passion for teaching and a commitment to advancing standards of care, Dr Lockett has committed his own time over the past two years to develop and deliver a tailored insulin prescribing training program to first-year doctors, earning him the Award for Clinical Excellence in Medical Education at the 2023 PAH Health Symposium.
After being nominated by the same doctors he trains, Dr Lockett’s win came as little surprise to his department, where his reputation for going above and beyond precedes him.
Director of Endocrinology, Lisa Hayes says that despite being in the role less than three years, Dr Lockett consistently demonstrates excellent communication skills, a willingness to help, and a wealth of knowledge.
“Dr Lockett has a huge amount of clinical expertise and has a lot of knowledge in a lot of different areas, and also excellent communication skills. He always goes above and beyond to help out. He's very well respected by all members of our department, and he's really good at bridging the gap and liaising with all different professions,” she said.
Dr Lockett says the insulin prescribing training program was developed in response to identified gaps in insulin prescribing training and a resulting lack of confidence among junior doctors.
“There's lots of evidence to show that when people come out of medical school, they don't feel confident or comfortable prescribing insulin,” he said. “In a lot of teams in the hospital, it is the interns that do the insulin prescribing, so there's a bit of a disconnect between what they feel confident and comfortable doing, and what they are actually required to do.”
While balancing competing priorities and a full roster, Dr Lockett says the decision to lead the training program came naturally to him.
“I've always enjoyed teaching and been involved in some capacity since I was at university. I like learning, and I like helping other people learn, so over the years, I've just taken every opportunity that I could to be involved in teaching.”
Since the training program was implemented with the Medical Education Unit, alongside other key initiatives in the Diabetes and Endocrinology department, Dr Lockett and his team were pleased to see an affirmative decrease in insulin prescribing errors at PAH.
“What we know from the data is that we have lower insulin prescribing errors than comparable hospitals in Queensland, and compared to the rest of Metro South. While I can’t claim credit for that, amongst a number of other programs that we've implemented and changes we've made, I think the education has contributed somewhat to that, and we have certainly received a lot of positive feedback from the interns about the quality of the sessions,” he said.
As he carves a career dedicated to raising the bar on clinical care, Dr Lockett says knowledge-sharing is key to improving outcomes for both patients and doctors.
“I do a lot of work outside of hours, but mostly I do it because I enjoy it. It is a difficult job, but it is incredibly rewarding because we make a huge difference to peoples’ lives.
“I can only do so much and impact a small number of patients directly that I see throughout my career. If I improve the quality of care that's being offered to many more people, because I've adequately trained junior doctors, then the impact that I can have is bigger, so it's an exponential growth.
“There's a basic standard of care that we need to deliver, but we shouldn't just be accepting of basic. We should be striving for excellence in clinical care, and the best way to do that is to educate as many people as possible, with as much information as possible so they can make the best decisions.”
After joining a long tradition of highly skilled educators to be recognised in the PAH community in record time, Dr Lockett says the win was both personally and professionally rewarding.
“I was surprised that I won. There are a lot of very good educators within the PA Hospital. It has a long history of teaching, a very close affiliation with both UQ, QUT, and Griffith, so there are many people in the hospital that do a lot of good education,” he said.
“It's incredibly rewarding. This has been a passion project of mine, and to be recognised for that feels good.”
Looking forward, Dr Lockett’s sights are firmly set on combining his clinical, research, and teaching expertise to better support the next generation of Endocrinologists and raise the standard of care across the unit.
“My long-term goal would be to have some clinical responsibility, some teaching responsibility, and some research responsibility. They each have their own upsides and their own downsides; each has a different reward, and I think having that variety is important, because they each feed into each other and make you better at the other parts,” he said.
Between training rounds, Dr Lockett can be found extending his own tradition, treating trainees to coffees and cinnamon toast at the hospital’s on-site café.