The results are out! Now is the time to find out what our students think about their learning experience with us. Big drum roll…………. The National Student Survey (NSS) results say Operating Department Practice (ODP) is 100% overall satisfaction, for the third year running!

The National Student Survey (NSS) is aimed at final year undergraduate students, and gives them an opportunity to feedback their experiences about their course. The NSS informs us about the learning experiences of our students, and helps effect change. The results are publicly available to prospective students, enabling them to make informed decisions about the university and the courses they are applying for. The NSS gives students a powerful voice to inform and shape the future of their course and university.
As a team in ODP, we spend a lot of time developing our curriculum, striving to deliver creative and innovative teaching to stimulate and empower students as they progress on their journey to become registered healthcare professionals. We facilitate student engagement, developing underpinning theory and knowledge that student ODPs will transfer into clinical skills in the clinical placements. We use a variety of resources, from high fidelity simulation manikins, to case studies and role play. We incorporate digital technology, enhancing the learning experience, but reinforcing the human element of the ODP profession – that the patient is at the centre of all that we do. We also work closely with our practice partners to ensure our students have a valuable placement experience.

But the truth of it is, that we can’t do this alone. We work in partnership with our students, acknowledging that they are adult learners who will one day have ‘our life in their hands’. Communication plays a vital part, ensuring students are kept informed of changes and developments. We listen to our students, and respond to their feedback. We are connected, sharing the journey, resulting in 100% employment on completion of the course. We are incredibly proud of our students’ achievements, #proudtobestaffs and proud to be #ODP.

Angela Woolliscroft, Course Leader: FdSc Perioperative Care and Lecturer: Operating Department Practice and Health and Social Care, angela.woolliscroft@staffs.ac.uk

This is not a standard blog because it is deliberately intended for a few people, but bear with me. First and foremost….. congratulations! Your job has a parent is to ‘fledge’ your child and yes, we know it is hard but you have done a really good job! You have managed to bring him or her up so well that s/he has got a place at university. I suspect some of you are wondering how when you remember desperately encouraging revision, getting them out of bed or some of the scrapes that they got into. But you did it! Well done.

I suspect you are right now planning the last meal before they go to university, you are probably looking at their packing and adding things (just in case) and you have possibly had a few episodes of anxiety. Calm down – they will be OK. This is not the last ever meal you will have with them and to be honest they will probably enjoy it so much more after the novelty of eating pot noodles every night for 2 weeks has waned. Similarly, we know that you pack for every eventuality (‘I have just put some anti-venom in your bags in case you are bitten by a snake’), but I suspect they know where to get supplies. So, some advice from someone who has gone through this:

Prepare for the first night away. Secret some treats in their bag with a note encouraging them to share with their new flatmates. You have no idea how much a bottle of wine or homemade cake can help people get to know each other. Don’t forget yourself here – plan something special at home so you are not brooding on their absence.

Agree communication. Stalking them on social media will only worry you (remember you do not know the context of why they are dressing up in a toga and seem to be really good friends with a psychopath). They will be enjoying their new independence, so asking them to call you daily is likely to cause you worry when they don’t because they have forgotten.

Have realistic expectations. Yes, we know that you have seen horrendous initiation ceremonies in the films and fear that your child will take up all sorts of nasty habits. The reality is that they will probably have a really good time initially and then will have no choice but to study. Certainly within the health programmes, students quickly learn that they cannot party too hard and be able to learn their profession. You might not have these fears, your child is perfect and you are confident that they will spend every day tidying their flat and reading, reading, reading. I speak from experience here – I spent 12 hours cleaning my daughters flat when she graduated and am sure there was a cure for any type of disease in their fridge! However, my daughter survived and yours will too.

Be prepared for their intellectual growth. You have been the most influential person in your child’s life and now they are entering an institution where they will be expected to be critical, evaluative and independent thinkers. They might develop different political leanings to you and have different perspectives, but enjoy it. You are now entering a stage in your relationship where you can explore these views together and you will develop a more grown up friendship with them.

Let them be adults. When I dropped my daughters off for the first time, it took all my self-will to resist finding anyone in authority and beseeching them to watch out for them. Yes, your child might find parts of the course tough, but this will develop them. Remember, there are support services in the university and although I am biased, I genuinely think this is where Staffordshire University comes into its own. If they fail something, don’t contact us but please encourage your child to. Our contract is with the student (not you) and we are bound by confidentiality. The way to look at it is that they are entering a very responsible profession, so they need to be autonomous and resilient.

Think about money. I am not saying that you need to bankrupt the Bank of Mum and Dad but if you are in a fortunate position to be able to subsidise, try thinking of ways that you can protect how they spend the money. Some supermarkets do student cards which means that you can top up the cards so they can at least buy food with it. There are some really good websites which give good advice, try http://www.savethestudent.org/save-money/food-drink/the-students-ultimate-supermarket-guide.html. A useful thing to do is to stock up on cheap tinned foods, so at least you are not imagining your child languishing hungry and miserable in their room (they make good fall back staple foods). It is useful to be aware that the rooms are often small, so it might be worthwhile investing in an underbed storage case (it will also give them somewhere to store items that they do not want ‘liberating’.

Give them memories. In reality, your child will miss you. Do not underestimate how comforting a photo of the family or a treasured cuddly toy can be.

Finally, this is the next stage of your lives. Things won’t be the same again, but it does not need to mean that it won’t be good again – it will be different (and possibly better). So, you need to enjoy it too.

Traci Hudson, Lead Midwife for Education/Course Leader, Traci.Hudson@staffs.ac.uk

One of our lovely 2nd year students recently gave the midwifery team a present.  It was a physical birth register – the idea is that every time a student delivers a baby, they post a token into the slot at the top so it gives them a visual and tangible reminder of their progress in achieving the 40 births they have to manage in order to qualify as a midwife.  Stacey explained that she regards our role as educators as being similar to that of a clinical midwife in that we help midwives to be born (sometimes kicking and screening).

The tokens with the register are shaped like butterflies and the symbolism is not lost on us.  The first stage of the butterfly life cycle is the egg, with some butterflies if you look close enough you can see the caterpillar inside.  This signifies the potential that we see in our new student midwives: their care, compassion and ability to evaluate and problem solve.  The larva forms the 2nd stage, this is a short period of time where all they do is eat.  This is like the first year of midwifery education: the students vociferously digest new knowledge and skills in order to be prepared for the increasing autonomy that the subsequent years bring.  As the students enter the 2nd and 3rd year, they slowly metamorphosis and become recognisable as the midwife they will become (the pupa stage).  Finally, they emerge with all the skills and knowledge needed to be registered midwives and similar to butterflies, they are expected to take on the role of adulthood straight away.

The midwifery journey to becoming an ‘adult butterfly’ is not an easy one.  Our most senior cohort is flying away right now and their reflections are both painful and joyous in equal measure.  They have all cried, laughed and despaired – birth is one of the most intense, emotional and life-changing moments in anyone’s life and it is therefore unsurprising that the students do get affected by the experience.  During their time, they will have sat with a family quietly, letting them talk about what their stillborn baby could have been.  They will have witnessed miracle births which medics told the family would never happen. They will have had sleepless nights over child protection issues and families living in extreme poverty.   They have participated in emergencies where every instinct would have been to run screaming from the room – but they didn’t, they swallowed their fear and did the best they could do to help.  They will have grappled with complex physics, chemistry and biology trying to equate the science with the art of midwifery.  Most of all, however they will have really cared, this will have changed some of their political viewpoints and in doing so, made them question humanity.  Our students did not know whether they helped with the birth of the next Adolph Hitler or the next Mother Theresa but they didn’t care.  I know that each time they worked with families, they did so with warmth, professionalism and a real commitment to doing their best.

As I raise a toast to the newly metamorphosed adult butterflies, I hope that the eggs that are about to enter the larva stage this month become as bright and wonderful as the ones leaving us now.

Traci Hudson, Lead Midwife for Education/Course Leader, Traci.Hudson@staffs.ac.uk

If anyone out there is anything like me, you might be a little baffled by the Teaching Excellence Framework and what it actually means, so I thought I’d do a little investigatory work and summarise my findings and thoughts. Staffordshire University has recently been awarded the ‘Silver TEF award’. This means that we are in the 50% of universities awarded Silver in England for 2017. 26% of universities were awarded Gold with the remaining either not taking part or being awarded Bronze.

The TEF awards are all about measuring teaching quality and excellence with an aim to give students insight into the quality of education they can expect from a particular institute. After looking a little more into the TEF, I was surprised to learn a few things. Firstly, the TEF is a means by which the HEFCE is abolishing tuition fee caps. Universities awarded Silver or Gold can charge their students more in fees to study (the justification being that you can expect to pay more for better quality education). As you can imagine, this has provoked some heavy criticism and I’m not sure it’s something I totally agree with either. Surely, this is going to cause problems down the line? Especially for disadvantaged students, who may only be able to afford a ‘Bronze’ university.

Secondly, the TEF has been criticised for not being a valid means of assessing quality. Gone are the days of inspectors assessing teaching quality during ‘OFSTED’ style inspections by the QAA. Those methods of measuring quality have been damned for not appreciating the breadth and unique learning and teaching of adults in Higher Education. The TEF uses ‘soft’ data to award levels of Gold, silver or Bronze and this soft data is mainly gathered from NSS results (Yes, that’s right….our NSS is that important!!). Data is also gathered from DLHE (the Destination and Leavers Survey) and information held about student retention from the Higher Education Statistics Agency. There are six core metrics all gathered from existing data and three of the metrics are gathered from NSS data alone!!

Gathering data wholly from these areas has produced some interesting results, which is changing the basis of university league tables nationally. Some well-regarded universities (who may depend on their historical reputations) have taken a blow with their TEF results and have attempted to appeal their awards. For once, the quality of education is being heavily based upon what the students report. You may see this as a good or bad thing, but personally I think this has got to be positive. After all, isn’t everything about the students and the education we offer them? Interestingly, the results have uncovered that at some of the well-regarded universities student satisfaction is low and as a result these institutions have been given a ‘red flag’ capping the level of TEF award which can be achieved. Quite disappointing for some, but I think it’s positive in terms of measuring real quality in education. It’s when you delve into these statistics you realise that we are in a good position at Staffordshire University. The face of a ‘great university’ is changing and its now through our students that we can become a better university. It’s the students who tell the world whether we are a good university, and now it seems the future of the ‘evolving’ league tables rest on what our students report in surveys like the NSS.

Our challenges exist around doing what we can to ensure that student experience is good, our NSS is continually improving and making sure our student retention is maximised with students remaining highly employable.

Lauren Philp, Lecturer in Midwifery, Lauren.Philp@staffs.ac.uk

Being very new to the ‘art’ of blogging I pondered long and hard as to what the blog content should focus upon. Then, as we all do sometimes, my mind wandered back and a ‘familiar saying’ made me think for a while.

Having been in the health and social care environment for ‘dare I say it’ thirty four years now, the service demands, political drivers, complex patient needs together with the ever changing care provision landscape, presents, as we are all well aware, on-going challenges. However some things never change.

As a novice general student nurse working in the early 1980’s, my aspirations certainly never included ‘becoming a ‘Lecturer in Continuing Professional Development’ within a University. Indeed, way back then my focus, apart from wanting to care for my patients, included making sure the bed wheels ‘faced the same way’ and ‘the end opening of the patient’s pillow cases were correctly aligned’ so as not to face the entry of the old Nightingale wards. This, if not adhered to would induce the ‘wrath’ of the old fashioned ward sisters. I remember how intimidated I felt, we have come a long way since then.

I feel extremely honoured and humbled that my role as a nurse and midwife has enabled me to be present to support and care for a person’s life at birth and ultimately at death, a true ‘cradle to grave’ experience. To be able to offer this, my then ‘training’ and further qualifications gained, empowered my aim to deliver empathic,  safe, effective patient care and support. I know that is the focus of what everyone within the health and social care environment will also want to do. I remember when I came across this quote many years ago it had a profound effect upon my ‘reflecting’ on my role and equally applies to all students and colleagues whether we are working directly at the’ clinical coal face’ or within the health and social care education arena.

People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel! (Maya Angel)

I wonder if the old fashioned’ Sisters’ mentioned above had ever read this quote, probably not I feel. However it shaped the way I mentored students and now within my teaching role.   Definitely ‘food for thought’, which reminds me I must stop procrastinating and focus upon writing a ‘blog’.

Dawn Suffolk, CPD Lecturer CPD, D.Suffolk@staffs.ac.uk

 New dates for our workshops and training courses have just been added to our website and places are available to book now!

The aim is to make a positive difference to the quality of patient care as well as enhancing the personal and professional development of health and social care staff.

Cervical Cytology Initial Training – Sample takers initial training is delivered over one day followed by half a day six months later and is designed for any qualified registered health care professional who will undertake cervical sampling as part of their employed role.

Cervical Sampler update – is an intensive half day workshop aimed at Registered Nurses and Doctors who are cervical sample takers.

Travel Health sessions – Updates and intensive full day sessions available for those who work in a primary care setting

Immunisation sessions – Intensive two day course which delivers a basic introduction and also available a half day session to update registered nurses who regularly immunise patients

Ear Care workshop – Intensive full day course aimed at Registered Nurses and Health Care Support Workers … last course for 2017 in October – places available

Vaccination – two day training course aimed at those who are new to Vaccination against influenza, pneumonia and or shingles. Only one course running in July/August 2017 – places available

… to find out more information and to book your place on all the above

click on this link now:-

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/academic_depts/nursingandmidwifery/courses

On my drive into work this week an item on Radio 4 came on about ‘Sex Robots’ apparently already on the market and much R+D underway in this area. All news to me. An invited speaker was a professor of ethics from Delft University who outlined some of the problems that society may incur with this development such as the potential for ‘Child’ sex robots and the setting of a new norm where sex is not a consenting activity between adults.

When asked what the advantages to society would be from these robots she answered that they could help the elderly and disabled. I didn’t think much about it in that moment but then I got to thinking about what she had said. When did the need for human to human intimacy belong to the young and able bodied?
Is the best society has to offer older people and people with disability who may be experiencing isolation and loneliness a sex robot? Surely this can’t be the right narrative. I am not saying there is no role for these robots but I would be against seeing them as the answer to real human and society issues which is about connectedness, human interaction and a sense of having a valued place in society.

I then started wondering (and dredging my memory from my days of studying sociology) whether the work by Durkheim on suicide where he describes a social condition known as anomie would provide me with a link to my thinking. Looking at the definition of anomie I think it might.

‘Anomie is a “condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals”. It is the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and the community, e.g., under unruly scenarios resulting in fragmentation of social identity and rejection of self-regulatory values.’

Although needing to be mindful that much of Durkheim’s work was driven by his concern for morality and the rules needed in society to maintain morality. I am not trying to be moralistic about sex and the use of sex robots but more want to really unpick what was said by this ethicist and whether this kind of narrative reinforces the view that only the young and able bodied are of value and that others in society are lesser and can have their basic needs such as intimacy met in this way.

I don’t know the answer but it left me thinking and reinforced for me my belief that healthcare professionals need to have this capacity to think and question as it is likely that they will encounter these things in their work with service users. Society is complex, issues that arise are complex and graduate level critical thinking skills will be needed by healthcare professionals to help people if asked to navigate around these kind of issues

Ann Ewens, Dean – School of Health and Social Care, Ann.Ewens@staffs.ac.uk

On June 28th, 2017, the Council of Deans of Health celebrated their 20th anniversary at the Museum of the Order of St John in London. This was a well-attended event with council members and invited guests from a variety of organisations. The format of the event was a 10-minute presentation from 4 leaders on the topic of leadership followed by an address from Dame Jessica Corner the outgoing chair of the Council of Deans and from the incoming chair Brian Webster-Henderson.

The 4 speakers included Jacqui Lunday, AHP Officer Scottish Executive Health Department, Jean White Chief Nursing Officer Wales, Danny Mortimer CEO NHS Employers and Professor Thomas Kearns Executive Director Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

As the speakers shared their views on leadership I started to think about what they were saying and whether this matched my own view of leadership and what I expected of both myself as a leader and what I expected in others involved in healthcare.
Certainly, I found myself agreeing about a lot of what was said about for example needing to engage in collaborative team working, ensuring we act as influencers and getting a place around the decision-making table. Good advice from Jean White was don’t wait to be invited and take your own seat if there isn’t one left for you!
All the speakers engaged in discussion on the workforce shortages being faced in health and social care and the challenges facing us and how we ensure safe and effective practice. As the presentations unfolded I got to thinking about the role of leaders in this context where on the one hand the call for person centred, safe care but a reminder that globally there is increasing demands and globally a shortage of 12 million skilled healthcare workers. It struck me has people talk about needing registered healthcare professionals to work ‘at the top of their license’ a term I heard again today used by Professor Ian Cummings to address the challenge of a limited workforce that we need to be clear what we mean by this term.

My concern is that in trying to address the workforce issues we will see the continued pressure for registered healthcare professionals to take on more and more of the ‘technical’ aspects of healthcare seeing these as the ‘top end’ end of their scope of practice in the mistaken belief that the more hidden but actually more complex graduate levels skills of communication, education, negotiation and decision making that take place alongside what looks like more ‘basic’ tasks will be delegated away to a less educated workforce.

My role I feel as a leader is to voice my concerns that there is a danger of failing to protect the poor and vulnerable thinking that their healthcare needs can be addressed by others whilst we use our limited resource of graduate level practitioners to do what looks like highly skilled technical things that in the future (possibly quite near future) will be done by the technology without human intervention. Inequalities in health are widening despite increased healthcare, we need our best educated healthcare professionals to be working at their ‘top’ using their graduate level skills to address the big health issues facing our society and not doing more and more technical tasks.

Ann Ewens, Dean – School of Health and Social Care, Ann.Ewens@staffs.ac.uk