Transformative learning in public health – Using a ‘Dragon’s Den’ approach

Using the ‘Dragon’s Den’ approach, with each student researching and presenting a programme to improve health for a population they have selected, has proved a popular teaching method. It has encouraged students to think about public health issues in the United Kingdom and globally.

It is transformative in the sense that it has taken them away from the bedside and encouraged them to devise plans to work with other professionals, government, law makers and non-governmental agencies to find ways of improving population health and reducing health inequalities. Their proposals are usually based on evidence based programmes which they have identified in the British and international medical literature.