Dear Colleagues,

When reflecting on what we as educators can do to make a difference in caring for vulnerable population groups it will be useful to recognise how broad and complex this area is. Immediate questions that come to my mind as a health workforce educator include, but are not limited to:
• How can we select students in our course who are genuinely there to make a difference to health care consumers?
• How can we start a conversation within our institutions to amend student selection processes if/as necessary to include factors such as attitude and aptitude?
• How can students be prepared for taking pride in working at the coalface and recognising the needs of those who are more vulnerable?
• Who are the vulnerable people, and how can they be supported best? Is it advocacy and doing things for them or doing things with them so that they may become more independent?
• How can health professionals who work at the interface where health services and educational institutions meet be supported to be or become leaders and innovators in best and interprofessional practice?
• How can equity between acute and non-acute care be achieved so that vulnerable population groups get enhanced access to health services?
• What are essential training needs to best support students and professionals to make a difference? For example, is there a place for motivational interviewing, leadership training or understanding evidence-based practice?

I hope that these few thoughts and embedded reference will stimulate some discussion on how this complex area could be improved by health workforce educators.

Schoo A & Kumar K. The clinical educator and complexity: a review. The Clinical Teacher. 2018; 15: 287-293 [DOI:10.1111/tct.12757] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tct.12757/abstract (Commissioned paper).

Warm regards,
Adrian