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There is much discussion around the use of technology and social media within Higher Education and how it can be utilised to encourage student engagement and improve the student learning experience. Many Healthcare Professionals now undertake their training within universities … Continue reading
Stafford’s Centre of Excellence open day was held on Saturday 24th June . This was a great event with both academic staff and students available to offer support and guidance for prospective students to inform their career choice. Visitors commented that there was a great vibe, we offered a personal service, were friendly and provided the opportunity of hands on activities.
About 10 people attended the Operating Department Practice (ODP) talk where they were informed about the profession and given in-depth information about the course and their career and employment options. Their questions were answered to enable them to make a choice whether to consider ODP as their profession and to study at Staffordshire University.
The operating theatre skills lab was opened to allow perspective students the opportunity to see the state of the art theatre that provides a purpose designed operating theatre that is used throughout the course.
Skills-based activities are integrated into the ODP curriculum and the operating theatre skills lab provides students with access to the equipment that they will used during anaesthetic, surgical and recovery placements. The skills facility allows several clinical procedures to be simulated in the first instance therefore enabling students to reach a level of confidence and proficiency before carrying out procedures on real patients. Many clinical skills have already been utilised and this has received positive feedback from both students and placement providers.
Essential equipment within the skills lab is an anaesthetic machine, operating table and scrub sink. A high-fidelity SimMan 3G is used to simulate activities ranging from the delivery of basic care through to managing emergency situations. Enabling the students to experience practical skills within a safe learning environment allows them to apply theory to practice, increase their confidence and their ability to perform core clinical skills therefore improving patient safety and reducing learner anxiety.
The skills lab had many visitors who were given the opportunity to use the airway management trainer. The anaesthetic machine was set up and the sim man was prepared for a surgical procedure.
A giant operation game was on show where visitors could take the challenge of removing body parts which proved to be a great success. A few people said “how they enjoyed the day and liked how it was interactive and not just people standing talking to them in one room”.
A small version of the operation games was given as a prize for the person completing the activity in the shortest time.
Karen Latcham, Senior Lecturer, K.W.Latcham@staffs.ac.uk
On 12-14th June 2017 the International Learning Collaborative (ILC) on Fundamentals of Nursing Care http://intlearningcollab.org/ met for its 9th annual meeting. ILC is a member-based organisation, set up in 2008 to bring together like-minded healthcare and nursing professionals, academics and leaders to transform the way we deliver care in high tech environments and to elevate the standard of fundamentals of care around the world.
At the meeting this year in Uppsala Sweden the ILC members from 11 countries were represented and the focus of the one day conference followed by a two-day meeting was ‘Involving the patient’. The first day is held in conference format with a wider audience and then a members meeting was held over the next 2 days. This gives ILC an opportunity to explore issues in depth and ensure we are realising and setting actions each year towards our goals.
At the conference we heard a number of presentations and I was privileged to be part of the expert panel bringing the education perspective to the debate. One presentation by Professor Jack Needleman, economist from the University of California Los Angeles really struck home to me and I wanted to share Jack’s presentation and editorial he has written (Presentation) (Editorial) with Jacks permission of course and to share with you the essence of Jacks thesis and the thoughts it left me with. Jack has been researching in this area for 3 decades and is well placed to propose his thesis.
Can we afford the fundamentals of care – Professor Jack Needleman
In summary from Jacks excellent presentation I took away the following; in short yes, we can afford the fundamentals of care. In more detail, Jack argues that nursing is treated as a cost centre rather than a core service. Efforts to contain costs result in cutting the number of registered nurses or replacing them with lower skilled workforce.
He argues that there is now a strong evidence base established across the USA, Europe and other countries that lowering the % of registered nurses leads to poor patient outcomes including higher mortality, infection, falls and longer lengths of stay. He goes onto to say that the consequences of relying more on less educated staff rather than registered nurses is not so well established in the evidence.
Jack as an economist has undertaken work that has enabled him to estimate that the costs to services is higher when the % of registered nurses are reduced and substituted for less educated staff.
Jack further argues that another reason for persistent interest in substituting lower skilled personnel is that work of nurses is not well understood. The most visible work of nurses is task orientated as a result misguided administrators think that nursing can be easily substituted. In contrast Jack argues that the work of nurses is complex both cognitively and managerially. Alongside the visible tasks nurses are assessing, monitoring, risk assessing, intervening, educating patients and families, providing psychological support and have a critical role in team-based care co-ordinating across different professional groups.
My reflections
Whilst I sat listening to Jack presenting the strong evidence base to support the value of registered nurses and the dangers for patients even if not fully quantified of deskilling the workforce I started to think about the recent developments in the healthcare workforce in the UK. I sat there wondering is the motivation to move towards the nursing associate a result of the idea that nursing is a cost
centre and costs needs to be controlled or will healthcare services take the opportunity to increase the number of workforce hours in the system to provide better and safe care. I will leave you to ponder on that one but my plea would be to service providers to avoid the tempting scenario of thinking that the number of hours within the workforce is a valid measure. I would ask service providers and nursing leaders to challenge this and argue for ensuring the ratio of registered nurses is kept at the levels evidenced as having positive patient outcomes.
What does this mean for me and can I translate these reflections into tangible actions? One area I am looking at is how we can support our service partners to best meet their workforce needs under very difficult circumstances. For example, I am aiming that we will work collaboratively with our partners to develop new degree level pathways into nursing alongside the more traditional 3 year undergraduate full time degrees and we shall be supportive of developing new and innovative routes such as degree level apprenticeships.
If we are challenged that the fundamentals of care cannot be afforded then we can give a robust response when asked ‘Can we afford it?’ our response must be – ‘YES WE CAN’ and it is for us all to advocate the value of well-educated nurses in the workforce.
There is a huge amount of value placed on effective mentorship in clinical practice, nursing students spend 50% of their course in clinical practice it is therefore essential that the experiences they have support their ongoing development and guide them to achieving their clinical competencies as required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2010). As a profession, nurses and midwives accept the responsibility for assuring the competence of its workforce to protect public safety, and the mentor plays a central role as a gatekeeper in this process. Students on health profession courses find the support invaluable when effective. It is also important we as academics and student nurses and midwives understand what the term mentor actually means to ensure effectiveness is monitored and expectations are met.
NMC (2008) page 19 define a mentor as:
“A mentor is a registrant who has met the outcomes (of a mentor preparation course) and who facilitates learning and supervises and assesses students in a practice setting”
The NMC (2008) also established a framework to support learning and assessment in clinical practice that describes the knowledge and skills needed to apply in practice this identifies eight domains mentors use to provide effective mentorship. In order to be effective a mentor needs to be able to facilitate pre-registration students’ learning whilst encouraging students to critically reflect on their learning experiences. By supervising, supporting and guiding students in practice mentors are able to provide constructive feedback and manage the failing student by implement approved assessment procedures through summative assessment. This is particularly important as students on NMC approved pre-registration nursing education programmes, leading to registration on the nurses’ part of the register, must be supported and assessed by mentors.
This you tube clip was created for our first mentor conference and demonstrates what our students perceive as effective mentorship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B5TXiiF0ZU
Mentors work closely with clinical placement facilitators, practice educators and academics in order to facilitate students transition from one learning environment to another and ensure they achieve their learning outcomes whilst being accountable for confirming competencies as set out by the NMC (2010) standards. These aim to develop a student’s professional and inter-professional working relationship with members of the multi -disciplinary team. The Shape of Caring report (2015) also emphasises the importance of inter-professional working in the delivery of safe and effective care. This may require a shift from a uni-professional to a multi-professional approach to mentorship.
Mentorship is a vital part of pre-registration nurse and midwifery training, as it helps to establish a positive environment for learning and that nurturing from mentors encourages personal and professional development.
“Good mentorship is important because it instils confidence in the student.”
The importance of ensuring that students are exposed to safe and effective practice leads to good quality patient care being delivered by the next generation of nurses.
Helen Ashwood, Adult Nursing Course Lead, School of Health and Social Care, h.ashwood@staffs.ac.uk
The Queens Nursing Institute celebrated 150 year of District Nursing back in 2009. Few people realise that the origins of District Nursing go back so far, indeed prior to the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948 and the outbreak of war.
In fact, you have to go back to Victorian times and a wealthy Liverpool merchant by the name of William Rathbone who employed a nurse to care for his dying wife at home. After his wife’s death William then employed the nurse to go into the poorest districts of Liverpool to nurse the poor, teach hygiene and relieve suffering.
Going further he then financed a training school in Liverpool to prepare nurses for working in the community and home setting. Liverpool was divided into eighteen districts hence the name ‘District Nurse’ and with this District nursing was born.
William Rathbone was supported in his endeavour by Florence Nightingale and investment from Queen Victoria that ensured that training of this workforce grew and continued throughout the country.
The first District Nursing students would have to first train in the hospital setting for a year. They would work an eight-hour day with two hours dedicated to study and two hours allowed for leisure. Training would also include the nursing of mothers and infants post childbirth, and if in a rural setting at least three months of approved midwifery training.
“The syllabus reflected Nightingales dual aims of curative care and preventative education by including sanitary reform, teaching health matters, ventilation, drainage, water supply, diets for the healthy and the sick, the feeding of infants, infectious diseases, monthly nursing of lying in women and the care of new born infants”
Howse (2007) Pg.74
By 1876 District Nursing Institutes existed in Manchester, Derby Leicester, London, Glasgow and Dublin. However, District Nursing was not without opposition The Lancet questioned investing money into such a service and felt that the money may be better invested in increased hospital beds or improving housing.
Staffordshire university is extremely proud to have trained District Nurses since 1998 and continues to this day.
For further history related to District Nursing with video footage and gallery follow this link: – http://www.districtnursing150.org.uk/film_05.htm
Sources
The Queens Nursing Institute (2009) 2020 vision: Focusing on the future of district nursing. London:QNI.
Howse, C.(2007) The Ultimate Destination of all Nursing: The development of District Nursing in England, 1880-1925. Nursing History review 15,.pp.65-94.
Shelley Howles, lecturer, School of Health and Social Care, Shelley.Howles@staffs.ac.uk
Social Work Programmes at Staffordshire University
The University offers a range of social work programmes at both pre-qualifying and post-qualifying levels. We deliver a BA (Hons) Social Work; this is a qualifying undergraduate degree, available as full time or part time. The full time route is delivered at Stoke; the part time students attend Lichfield Campus. The undergraduate programme reflects the recommendations of the Social Work Reform Board, the professional regulator (Health and Care Professions Council: HCPC) and the implementation of the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF). The BA programme was approved by the HCPC in 2015.
For more information about the Health and Care Professions click on the link below: http://www.hcpc-uk.org.uk
Range of Involvement
Service-user and Carer involvement in social work education is essential to the quality of our courses and experience of our students. This includes involvement in assessing the calibre of entrants via admissions processes, teaching skills based work, curriculum development and assessment. Members of the group are therefore involved in a range of activities; this includes sitting on admissions interview panels, facilitating group discussions, developing communication skills via role- play work and involvement in assessing student presentations. Members are also involved in validation processes, fitness to practice procedures and research activity. Members can be involved in all these activities, or may prefer to be involved in just one area of work.
Throughout the academic year the service-user and carer group meet to confirm involvement, contribute to the evaluation and development of involvement across the social work programmes, and discuss training needs. These meetings are chaired by Maqsoodah Ashraf and take place approximately every two months. 
Service Users and Carers at their meeting on Wednesday 7th June 2017.
Service Users and Carers discussing and developing written social work based scenario’s.
Thank you everyone for all your hard work and will see you all at the next meeting on Wednesday 16th August 2017
Maqsoodah Ashraf, Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care, Maqsoodah.Ashraf@staffs.ac.uk
There have been some developments in the management of Practice Learning Placements recently to enhance the student experience.
In addition, I delivered a short session with the new starters in September 2016, to show them how to use E:Vision and view their placements, placement contact details and absence reports. This has been well received and commenced also with March 17, students will now have the independence to manage their attendance with an at a glance view of their live absence reports so that they are aware of any hours that needs to be made up prior to them mounting up. This will continue with all new cohorts now for all students.
Sam Davies, Placements Administrative Co-Ordinator, S.C.Davies@staffs.ac.uk
In December 2012, the NHS launched a new initiative underpinned by a set of core values that its staff would endeavour to communicate and demonstrate to every patient using NHS services, be they paramedics, nurses, midwives, operating department practitioners or any other of the host of NHS roles.
This initiative was called “Compassion in Practice” and these values, known affectionately as ‘The Six C’s’, comprise of:
Each has its own merits and is undoubtedly important in communicating to patients the value we place on human life, that is, their life.
As a lecturer on the paramedic science program, I have the privilege of working with some outstanding paramedic students, many of whom demonstrate these values on a daily basis.
However, what we also encounter, are stories of patients that are difficult to have compassion upon. We have stories of paramedic students being spat at, verbally abused, and attempts of physical assault, things that I have also experienced in my own clinical background.
According to NHS Protect, 70,555 NHS staff were assaulted in 2015-2016; a figure that reflects a steady increase in incidents since 2011.
What does this mean?
I take it to mean that NHS employees, and by extension, our students, are increasingly coming into contact with people that are difficult to have compassion on.
Synonyms of compassion include empathy, understanding, care, concern, sensitivity, warmth, love, tenderness, gentleness, consideration and kindness.
How can we possibly extend these qualities to those who sometimes express the complete opposite qualities towards us?
Well sometimes that is difficult, nigh-on impossible. And there are circumstances which should not be excused or belittled. Attacks on our NHS staff or students are never acceptable, and should never be tolerated.
But, is it possible, in dealing with and experiencing the ugly side of the job, that we lose something of our ability to have compassion on patients?
Possibly. I know I have encountered that challenge.
So how can we ensure that we maintain compassion?
Simple:
Tenacity(n) – “the quality of being very determined”
Synonyms: determination, perseverance, strength of will, resolve
I believe that as clinicians, we can commit to making compassion a non-negotiable quality of our practice. That regardless of our experiences, we can choose to rise above the ugly side of the job, and refuse to compromise on compassion.
That whatever circumstances we encounter, we can endeavour to make compassion a hallmark of our practice.
Compassion is an art form.
The ability to move on from difficult situations, from challenging patients, and greet the next person with warmth, gentleness, understanding and kindness is a challenging, yet beautiful thing.
Can I encourage you to practice the art of compassion.
And refuse to compromise on it.
Tim Davies, Paramedic Lecturer, Tim.Davies@staffs.ac.uk
I am a senior lecturer in nursing with a special interest in travel health, though sadly I am not in a position to give individual advice here is a timely reminder for you all students and colleagues alike.
June is upon us and many of you may be thinking of what you will be doing with your holiday time. Remember if you are heading away from UK shores it is advisable to seek travel health advice six weeks before travel. Book your appointment with your practice nurse soon, you may even need to consult a specialist travel clinic. Some vaccinations are free but others will cost you – remember to factor this into the cost of your holiday. You can find out information about vaccinations and the many other health and safety risks you may encounter on holiday – some may affect you in the UK as well as abroad – by looking at the following websites:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
Two thinks to remember:
Finally just to say don’t forget to enjoy yourself and return safely.
Sharon Graham, Senior Lecturer, Department of Nursing, S.R.Graham@staffs.ac.uk
Building professional resilience in student social workers.
No one ever said it was going to be easy! Social and health care professionals will face emotional pressures within their profession, which comes hand in hand with supporting people in times of difficulty. But, here too lies the job satisfaction in applying professional skills to bring positive changes and even save lives.
Previous research has helped to highlight the impact on social care professionals of occupational stress. For example, a major study by Community Care (2015), in which 2,000 social work staff were interviewed, found that:
As in all research, there are methodological limitations, such as the self-selective nature of respondents, and the focus on the negativity of the role whilst ignoring the positive aspects of a career in the care profession’s. Nonetheless, the importance of developing emotional resilience has now become embedded in the recently revised Standards of Practice for social workers (HCPC, 2017), which now include the need to:
It is argued that HEIs teaching social and health care students have an increasing responsibility to respond to this and explore ways of building emotional resilience within the curriculum. In addition to established methods of support, the social work academic staff at Staffordshire University are exploring and developing further means to support our up and coming social work professionals, with new innovations that include:
Further ideas and suggestions and innovations from across the university on this topic are all welcome – please email me on: F.Basnett@staffs.ac.uk
Fern Basnet, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Work and Social Welfare, F.Basnett@staffs.ac.uk