University News Last updated 21 May 2021
Health Education England’s Chair, Sir David Behan, praised the energy and innovative leadership spirit of the University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery during a recent virtual ‘visit’.
Sir David met with nursing staff and students on Tuesday 11 May to learn more about how they have risen to new and unexpected challenges through the pandemic and what it was like for those who were working on the front line in the fight against COVID.
He was taken on a virtual tour of the Seacole building and facilities, attended online skills hub sessions and learned about the virtual clinical learning experience that the School has developed for students over the past 14 months.
Before the Covid pandemic, nursing staff had designed a large scale simulated patient experience – encompassing real-time live interaction with patient actors – to put into practice and test students’ communication, evaluation and reflection skills.
After the outbreak, when it became apparent this could no longer take place on campus, the simulation was redesigned as an online event delivered to 500 students via 10 MS Teams sessions.
Such was the simulation’s success that it was a cited as a case study in the Department of Health Social and Social Care’s announcement in March this year of a £25milion boost for nursing training, a significant proportion of which will go to universities to invest in new simulated training technology.
Sir David also heard about the work the University is doing to widen access to the nursing profession, which includes delivery of a new blended nursing degree, combining online and face-to-face teaching. The University is one of only seven institutions across England selected to deliver this programme, which is being funded by Health Education England.
Sir David said:
“These visits are of great importance to me because I need to hear the voices and lived reality of students, learners and those who are supporting them so that HEE can listen, reflect and have honest conversations about the current challenges and opportunities.
Professor Carol Doyle said:, Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery said:
"We were delighted to welcome Sir David to the University to talk about the work we're doing to train the next generation of nurses, particularly as we are one of a select few chosen to deliver Health Education England’s new, blended in-person and online nursing degree.
“Virtual learning has of course taken on even greater significance over the last year, so we were pleased to give Sir David a glimpse of our simulated teaching technologies, which have been very well received by our students and which have received government recognition as an exemplar of good practice.
“But while practical training has undoubtedly been affected this past 12 months, we continue to provide placements and almost 500 of our students have worked in front-line services to help battle COVID.